Dr Chris Kirk
@chriskirkasp.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer Sheffield Hallam University; Applied sport scientist Altius Sports Performance; PhD FCASES CSci CSCS; MMA, BJJ 🟫; All views are my own.
https://linktr.ee/chriskirk_asp
https://linktr.ee/chriskirk_asp
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
I am on strike this week, in support of colleagues placed at risk of compulsory redundancy.
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...
If you a student and want to know more/how to support the strike, see here: ucu.group.shef.ac.uk/industrial-a...
@sheffielducu.bsky.social
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...
If you a student and want to know more/how to support the strike, see here: ucu.group.shef.ac.uk/industrial-a...
@sheffielducu.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 9:21 AM
I am on strike this week, in support of colleagues placed at risk of compulsory redundancy.
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...
If you a student and want to know more/how to support the strike, see here: ucu.group.shef.ac.uk/industrial-a...
@sheffielducu.bsky.social
www.ucu.org.uk/article/1423...
If you a student and want to know more/how to support the strike, see here: ucu.group.shef.ac.uk/industrial-a...
@sheffielducu.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
'Face of the Moon.' (1797) John Russell was the finest British pastel artist of his time. One of his sitters, the astronomer William Herschel encouraged him to buy a telescope, and with this he produced a number of remarkable pastel drawings of the moon.
November 17, 2025 at 10:14 PM
'Face of the Moon.' (1797) John Russell was the finest British pastel artist of his time. One of his sitters, the astronomer William Herschel encouraged him to buy a telescope, and with this he produced a number of remarkable pastel drawings of the moon.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
November 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
POV: you are a young woman celebrating a recent academic success
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
The Founders were so concerned about bribery that the Constitution forbids it three separate times. Two emoluments clauses ban officials—unambiguously including the president—from accepting things of value, plus bribery is the only named impeachable offense besides treason.
Unprecedentedly corrupt.
Unprecedentedly corrupt.
To negotiate a trade deal with the President of the United States, the Swiss government arrived with a "special Rolex desktop clock" and "a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar"
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
www.axios.com/2025/11/14/t...
How to lobby Trump with Swiss precision: gifts, gold and gab
How the Swiss broke a diplomatic logjam on tariffs by arriving with tributes fit for a king.
www.axios.com
November 16, 2025 at 1:50 PM
The Founders were so concerned about bribery that the Constitution forbids it three separate times. Two emoluments clauses ban officials—unambiguously including the president—from accepting things of value, plus bribery is the only named impeachable offense besides treason.
Unprecedentedly corrupt.
Unprecedentedly corrupt.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
November 5, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Mamdani: "We can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves. After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him."
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
7m Britons can't work or do limited amount of work due to sickness
Result of
Poverty, austerity, profiteering - people can't afford good food, housing.
NHS queues
Can't see GP, dentist
Insecure work, anxiety, mental health problems
Lack of support from employers.
Need good income & public services
Result of
Poverty, austerity, profiteering - people can't afford good food, housing.
NHS queues
Can't see GP, dentist
Insecure work, anxiety, mental health problems
Lack of support from employers.
Need good income & public services
Why millions of Britons are off work long-term sick
Almost seven million people have a health condition that has forced them out of work or limited the amount they can do. As workers and businesses await government plans to grapple with the spiralling ...
news.sky.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:10 AM
7m Britons can't work or do limited amount of work due to sickness
Result of
Poverty, austerity, profiteering - people can't afford good food, housing.
NHS queues
Can't see GP, dentist
Insecure work, anxiety, mental health problems
Lack of support from employers.
Need good income & public services
Result of
Poverty, austerity, profiteering - people can't afford good food, housing.
NHS queues
Can't see GP, dentist
Insecure work, anxiety, mental health problems
Lack of support from employers.
Need good income & public services
Kidnapping in broad daylight.
No different to the Nazis.
No different to the Nazis.
I'm shaking almost too hard to type. I entered SLC airport and heard screams and cries for help. I could see people gathered around, watching. I sped over to discover this woman face down on the floor, four grown men pushing her down, while she cried "HELP ME" and pled for her child.
October 30, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Kidnapping in broad daylight.
No different to the Nazis.
No different to the Nazis.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Problems with pharma don't mean that quackery works.
Problems in aircraft design don’t mean that magic carpets can actually fly.
- Ben Goldacre
Problems in aircraft design don’t mean that magic carpets can actually fly.
- Ben Goldacre
October 9, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Problems with pharma don't mean that quackery works.
Problems in aircraft design don’t mean that magic carpets can actually fly.
- Ben Goldacre
Problems in aircraft design don’t mean that magic carpets can actually fly.
- Ben Goldacre
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
UK workers using food banks, bosses feast.
Melrose CEO, 1,112 times the average employee wage.
Tesco, 375
Person, 355
Compass, 330
Marks & Spencer, 261
British Associated Foods, 218
Sainsbury's, 195
Can't rebuild economy/society without equitable distribution of income and wealth.
Melrose CEO, 1,112 times the average employee wage.
Tesco, 375
Person, 355
Compass, 330
Marks & Spencer, 261
British Associated Foods, 218
Sainsbury's, 195
Can't rebuild economy/society without equitable distribution of income and wealth.
The government must ensure fair distribution of income
'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'
leftfootforward.org
October 5, 2025 at 10:55 AM
UK workers using food banks, bosses feast.
Melrose CEO, 1,112 times the average employee wage.
Tesco, 375
Person, 355
Compass, 330
Marks & Spencer, 261
British Associated Foods, 218
Sainsbury's, 195
Can't rebuild economy/society without equitable distribution of income and wealth.
Melrose CEO, 1,112 times the average employee wage.
Tesco, 375
Person, 355
Compass, 330
Marks & Spencer, 261
British Associated Foods, 218
Sainsbury's, 195
Can't rebuild economy/society without equitable distribution of income and wealth.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Johnson’s cull of MPs prepared to tell the truth about Brexit consigned the Tories to the absurdity & irrelevance they currently enjoy. The media’s pitiful complicity in & failure to explain this lets Farage move in to the vacated space despite embodying the stupidity & bigotry that did for them.
October 4, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Johnson’s cull of MPs prepared to tell the truth about Brexit consigned the Tories to the absurdity & irrelevance they currently enjoy. The media’s pitiful complicity in & failure to explain this lets Farage move in to the vacated space despite embodying the stupidity & bigotry that did for them.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
George Carlin would never have taken blood money to perform comedy for a Saudi Arabian tyrant.
October 4, 2025 at 7:12 PM
George Carlin would never have taken blood money to perform comedy for a Saudi Arabian tyrant.
Facism.
NEW: ICE is planning to hire a team of nearly 30 people to surveil social media 24/7, build dossiers on people, and flag them for arrest and deportation. @dell.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/ice-so...
ICE Wants to Build Out a 24/7 Social Media Surveillance Team
Documents show ICE plans to hire dozens of contractors to scan X, Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms to target people for deportation.
www.wired.com
October 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Facism.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Yep.
"The credo of MAGA: create a health crisis based on data that are unavailable & may not exist; misleading appraisals of the science; single studies that are preliminary, misinterpreted, or half remembered; and general amplification of misinformation."
MAGA mayhem www.bmj.com/content/391/...
"The credo of MAGA: create a health crisis based on data that are unavailable & may not exist; misleading appraisals of the science; single studies that are preliminary, misinterpreted, or half remembered; and general amplification of misinformation."
MAGA mayhem www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Tylenol, vaccines, and autism: the medical mayhem of the MAGA methodologists
Are the MAGA methodologists out of control? The chief methodologists of the Make America Great Again cult are Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr—and, as with everything that Trump reigns over, the w...
www.bmj.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Yep.
"The credo of MAGA: create a health crisis based on data that are unavailable & may not exist; misleading appraisals of the science; single studies that are preliminary, misinterpreted, or half remembered; and general amplification of misinformation."
MAGA mayhem www.bmj.com/content/391/...
"The credo of MAGA: create a health crisis based on data that are unavailable & may not exist; misleading appraisals of the science; single studies that are preliminary, misinterpreted, or half remembered; and general amplification of misinformation."
MAGA mayhem www.bmj.com/content/391/...
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
If journals want me to give a shit about their time to publication metric, they can pay my ass to edit/review and offer an incentive to publish with them. People who get my effort for free don’t get to make demands on timeliness.
October 2, 2025 at 6:09 AM
If journals want me to give a shit about their time to publication metric, they can pay my ass to edit/review and offer an incentive to publish with them. People who get my effort for free don’t get to make demands on timeliness.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Lancet editor: "I can’t forgive Bhattacharya and Makary...both know reliable evidence does not exist to restrict paracetamol use during pregnancy...both know evidence linking vaccines to autism simply doesn't exist. What are they doing?"
[politics - that's what]
www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
[politics - that's what]
www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
www.thelancet.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Lancet editor: "I can’t forgive Bhattacharya and Makary...both know reliable evidence does not exist to restrict paracetamol use during pregnancy...both know evidence linking vaccines to autism simply doesn't exist. What are they doing?"
[politics - that's what]
www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
[politics - that's what]
www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
The US military also vows to disobey unlawful orders & to protect the constitution. If the generals in that room obey Trump then they are: a) in agreement with him & therefore tools of facism; b) are not following the oath they took when they enlisted, which means their oath was meaningless.
Trump declares war on Americans: "Our history is filled with military heroes who took on all enemies foreign and domestic. That's what the oath says -- foreign and domestic. Well we also have domestic."
September 30, 2025 at 6:54 PM
The US military also vows to disobey unlawful orders & to protect the constitution. If the generals in that room obey Trump then they are: a) in agreement with him & therefore tools of facism; b) are not following the oath they took when they enlisted, which means their oath was meaningless.
One of the most disgraceful aspects of capitalism is allowing private firms to profit from things that are essential for life. All energy and water should be nationalised, no exceptions.
Whilst not essential for life, transport is fundamental to everything else - that should also be nationalised.
Whilst not essential for life, transport is fundamental to everything else - that should also be nationalised.
Since privatisation England's water companies paid £88.4bn in dividends.
90% of water companies owned by foreign investors/govts.
90% of dividend not recirculated in the UK economy. No UK tax paid on dividends.
Public ownership would make a difference.
90% of water companies owned by foreign investors/govts.
90% of dividend not recirculated in the UK economy. No UK tax paid on dividends.
Public ownership would make a difference.
If the government wants economic growth it must bring essential industries into public ownership
Successive governments clobber households and small businesses by hiking interest rates to manage inflation, but don’t inconvenience corporations.
leftfootforward.org
September 30, 2025 at 6:35 PM
One of the most disgraceful aspects of capitalism is allowing private firms to profit from things that are essential for life. All energy and water should be nationalised, no exceptions.
Whilst not essential for life, transport is fundamental to everything else - that should also be nationalised.
Whilst not essential for life, transport is fundamental to everything else - that should also be nationalised.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Since privatisation England's water companies paid £88.4bn in dividends.
90% of water companies owned by foreign investors/govts.
90% of dividend not recirculated in the UK economy. No UK tax paid on dividends.
Public ownership would make a difference.
90% of water companies owned by foreign investors/govts.
90% of dividend not recirculated in the UK economy. No UK tax paid on dividends.
Public ownership would make a difference.
If the government wants economic growth it must bring essential industries into public ownership
Successive governments clobber households and small businesses by hiking interest rates to manage inflation, but don’t inconvenience corporations.
leftfootforward.org
September 30, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Since privatisation England's water companies paid £88.4bn in dividends.
90% of water companies owned by foreign investors/govts.
90% of dividend not recirculated in the UK economy. No UK tax paid on dividends.
Public ownership would make a difference.
90% of water companies owned by foreign investors/govts.
90% of dividend not recirculated in the UK economy. No UK tax paid on dividends.
Public ownership would make a difference.
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Hegseth's words seem especially chilling in light of his whitewashing of the Wounded Knee Massacre as a heroic "battle" only a few days ago. The message would seem to be that the Trump Administration is willing to forgive any atrocity US troops may commit as an "earnest mistake."
Hegseth: "You should not pay for an earnest mistake for your entire career. That's why today, at my direction, we're making changes to the retention of adverse information on personnel records."
September 30, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Hegseth's words seem especially chilling in light of his whitewashing of the Wounded Knee Massacre as a heroic "battle" only a few days ago. The message would seem to be that the Trump Administration is willing to forgive any atrocity US troops may commit as an "earnest mistake."
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
“Fascism is a political system built on control, fear, and loyalty to a strong leader. Fascism attacks democracy.”
A quick primer on fascism and anti-fascism:
A quick primer on fascism and anti-fascism:
September 28, 2025 at 3:40 AM
“Fascism is a political system built on control, fear, and loyalty to a strong leader. Fascism attacks democracy.”
A quick primer on fascism and anti-fascism:
A quick primer on fascism and anti-fascism:
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
Reposted by Dr Chris Kirk
From the original Swedish researchers.
Paracetamol use during pregnancy not linked to autism, our study of 2.5 million children shows
Our research provides strong evidence against the concerning claims made recently by US president Donald Trump.
theconversation.com
September 25, 2025 at 5:52 AM
From the original Swedish researchers.