Ben Goldacre
@bengoldacre
Followers
451,381
Following
3,473
Media
2,012
Statuses
71,375
Prof of EBM @UniOxford , author, Bad Science, more. I run making tools+papers from data
Oxford, England
Joined June 2007
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Kendrick
• 790537 Tweets
Drake
• 717456 Tweets
Rocky
• 252321 Tweets
#BANOBAGIxTEN
• 179138 Tweets
みどりの日
• 86845 Tweets
Hope Hicks
• 80063 Tweets
WNBA
• 69900 Tweets
Padres
• 58109 Tweets
#แบมแบมอินราชมัง
• 54832 Tweets
#ENCOREAREA52DAY
• 53878 Tweets
スパコミ
• 47696 Tweets
Kdot
• 34515 Tweets
Aubrey
• 32487 Tweets
Caitlin Clark
• 29209 Tweets
Cavs
• 28331 Tweets
Thiago Silva
• 25143 Tweets
Kul Ka Crown
• 24192 Tweets
設営完了
• 16638 Tweets
Emilia
• 15277 Tweets
Garland
• 14558 Tweets
Rick Ross
• 12029 Tweets
Marlins
• 11420 Tweets
結束バンド
• 11179 Tweets
Drizzy
• 11015 Tweets
Donovan Mitchell
• 10974 Tweets
Arraez
• 10291 Tweets
Pinned Tweet
WE ARE HIRING
PPIE Lead
Epidemiologist / Data Scientist
We build beautiful open source tools that make health data accessible, securely and efficiently, for researchers and NHS analysts.
We also have a small research and analytics team that use these tools themselves.
JOIN…
5
7
12
THIS IS JUST THE WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT.
It will take YEARS AND YEARS to negotiate the actual Future Relationship with the EU.
That's YEARS of neglecting to discuss schools, hospitals, social care.
YEARS of endlessly discussing Brexit.
YEARS of waste.
YEARS of anger.
211
5K
16K
STUDENTS!
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO REGISTER TWICE: once at home, AND once at your uni address.
You are allowed to vote in BOTH places in LOCAL elections.
You are allowed to vote in ONE place in NATIONAL elections, but you can CHOOSE WHICH at the last minute.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
Students. Young people. People who rent and move a lot.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
It takes five minutes here:
63
6K
5K
193
8K
6K
Jo Cox MP was murdered by a far right fanatic shouting "Britain First".
The French honour her: name a street after her.
The US president retweets racist hatred from Britain First.
Are you sure Brexit is a good idea?
Because the world is changing, for the worse, very fast.
66
3K
5K
REGISTER TO VOTE.
Students. Young people. People who rent and move a lot.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
It takes five minutes here:
63
6K
5K
RIGHT.
I've written down why Brexit is a stupid choice, using words.
Here they are.
171
4K
4K
OUR NEW PAPER.
Factors associated with COVID-19-related hospital death in the linked electronic health records of 17 MILLION adult NHS patients.
Largest study of its kind ever, anywhere.
The power of UK / NHS data, realised.
187
2K
4K
Now there is a big chance of an election bang on the end of term, this information is more important than ever:
STUDENTS can REGISTER to vote BOTH at home AND at university, then CHOOSE where to vote at the LAST MINUTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE NOW.
STUDENTS!
YOU ARE ALLOWED TO REGISTER TWICE: once at home, AND once at your uni address.
You are allowed to vote in BOTH places in LOCAL elections.
You are allowed to vote in ONE place in NATIONAL elections, but you can CHOOSE WHICH at the last minute.
193
8K
6K
66
5K
3K
This photograph should follow Boris for the rest of his career. Printed on banners. Shouted from loudhailers.
147
4K
3K
I'm delighted to receive a nerdy MBE "for services to Evidence in Policy".
And very delighted that this kind of nerdy work is valued.
Onward!
185
495
3K
My wife, who is excellent, went over as we were leaving and said: "excuse me. If you're going to express offensive homophobic views in a restaurant, it would be polite to do so more quietly." He said "sorry". I did a stern Paddington frown at the smallest man. We left.
158
89
3K
I see a lot of angry men on the internet hiding their faces and names are angry about veils.
38
689
3K
Stop calling tax a burden. You're buying healthcare, an educated workforce, roads, national investment, judiciary...
76
3K
3K
According to
@Femi_Sorry
a third of 18-34 yr olds are NOT registered to vote.
DO IT NOW.
REGISTER TO VOTE
REGISTER TO VOTE
DO IT NOW.
REGISTER TO VOTE
REGISTER TO VOTE
DO IT NOW.
REGISTER TO VOTE
REGISTER TO VOTE
DO IT NOW.
REGISTER TO VOTE
67
3K
3K
NEWS.
NHS England have just won the case brought by the British Homeopathic Association.
Mercifully it turns out that the NHS is allowed to say "no" to doctors prescribing magic sugar pills.
42
816
3K
A masked group of UKIP thugs storms a socialist bookshop, chanting about Muslims and paedophilia, they tear up books, threaten staff, and the
@BBCNews
call it a "PROTEST".
This country is in very, very big trouble.
70
2K
2K
So basically Brexit has been cancelled but we're still going to spend loads of money lose all influence over eu law lose lots of business through uncertainty lose the EMA and EBA create vast new UK-only bureaucracies foment social division and lose status. Well done Brexiteers.
65
1K
2K
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
REGISTER TO VOTE.
54
1K
2K
Big shout to all the care workers out doing home visits right now, in the snow, for people who would be lost without them, on near minimum wage. True heroes.
15
818
2K
I wrote a stern letter to The Times about the young rising up to eat the old if they don’t stop crowing.
http://t.co/TlA1s0Qazu
156
3K
2K
So... basically we wasted a year of negotiation fantasising we wouldn't need to pay £50bn, and now we will pay £50bn.
By definition, nobody negotiating Brexit is competent, because no competent person would want to Brexit.
This is all going to cost us.
70
956
2K
Front page lies, tiny correction buried in the paper.
This is why people think the yooman rights act is all about giving money and cuddles to terrorists. Because they're lied to.
36
2K
2K
Brexit was a magic lens through which everyone saw a different political fantasy. A lot of people are going to be very upset by the reality.
32
2K
2K
"asking for a friend"
Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?
29K
203K
200K
27
892
2K
Today the world is appalled that Trump is a torturer.
Today my PM is cosying up to him.
Everyone is watching.
I feel ashamed, and unsafe.
45
865
2K
The far right, with striking support from Putin, has brought us:
- Brexit
- Division of Europe
- Trump
- Attacks on the UN
- Division between US and Europe
and so on
This is groundwork for grave trouble ahead. Anyone voting for decay of our peaceful world order: you did this.
43
673
1K
I am honoured to share with you that the doctor on the right, in this naked protest demanding PPE for healthcare workers during covid, has used a Spanish edition of my second book to cover his penis and testicles.
44
160
1K
SUPPORTERS OF JEREMY CORBYN:
Everything that happens to Labour in this election is on YOU.
NOBODY else is responsible.
You own this.
317
656
1K
This letter is without doubt the best thing I've read on Brexit. Let the generation who voted for Brexit.. bear its consequences.
64
620
1K
"Blue Monday" is a bogus "equation", created to market Sky Travel holidays.
The evidence shows low mood doesn't vary with season.
Using pseudoscience to "just start a conversation" is not helpful. Mental health discussions should be built on honesty.
40
468
1K
REGISTER TO VOTE
DEADLINE TODAY
REGISTER TO VOTE
DEADLINE TODAY
REGISTER TO VOTE
DEADLINE TODAY
REGISTER TO VOTE
DEADLINE IS TODAY
REGISTER TO VOTE
DEADLINE TODAY
REGISTER TO VOTE
DEADLINE TODAY
REGISTER TO VOTE
DEADLINE 23:59 TODAY
15
2K
1K
In case you'd forgotten over the past two decades Viz continues to be magnificent
19
407
1K
This test is ridiculous. Try it. PHE's tool tells a woman in her 30s that her heart age is older than her real age because she's not had her cholesterol done. And tells her to get her cholesterol done by GP. There is no evidence for this, pointless excess GP workload...
Did you know, having a heart age older than your actual age means you are at a greater risk of having a heart attack or stroke? Check your heart age using our
#HeartAgeTest
:
90
347
252
144
527
1K
Just cycled around the centre of Oxford. Normally congested with cars. It *smells* *gorgeous*.
Let's think carefully about whether we want all those cars back when the new world is born.
33
181
1K
I am very pleased to say that TWO NEW PAPERS are out TODAY from my group.
They represent one of the most challenging, interesting, and exciting projects I have ever been involved in, across my entire 44 years of nerdy life-course.
Ladies and gentlemen:
@COMPare_Trials
is out..
28
548
1K
"Throw out your books" captures the very essence of puritanical, dead-inside, "No Clutter" fascism. Take a lovely picture of your perfect, featureless life. I will suffer your existence on this earth but we can never be friends. Viva clutter. Viva 1500 half-read books. Viva viva.
Marie Kondo, the decluttering guru, says you should have no more than 30 books in your collection. Do you agree?
180
18
43
87
210
1K
THIS is an *extraordinary*, clear, solid, fair, and (it's sad to have to say) brave speech by Simon Stevens. Please, watch. Applause.
NHS England's boss says the public want the £350m promised to the NHS by Vote Leave during the EU referendum to be "honoured".
266
2K
3K
25
678
1K
Just to recap.
The "first time buyers" tax break:
1. Doesn't help first time buyers
2. Gives money to existing owners.
3. Reduces tax revenue.
It literally takes money away from the state to give it to existing property owners.
It's the most perfectly Tory policy, ever.
The
@OBR_UK
themselves point out that the Chancellor's "help to bubble" scheme and stamp duty break for first time buyers will DRIVE UP PRICES and benefit sellers. Like when we last tried it. Govt knew this before they announced, and did it anyway.
4
92
53
43
1K
1K
Don't cosy up with a rapey, racist, muslim-hating, torture-supporting, liar.
Even tho Brexit has made us desperate.
Not in my name.
No.
19
532
1K
Look at the news. "TERROR ATTACK". No: that's exactly what the bad people want. It's a "Twat Attack". We must address the "Twat Threat".
I despise the word terrorism. This was an act of twattish cowardice, perpetrated by a loser, who was going through a phase.
106
313
805
42
600
1K
Brexit trade negotiations going well then. It's not a conspiracy. It's not remoaning. It's just how the world works.
67
1K
1K
I'm in a restaurant in Oxford. Nearly empty. Four very loud American evangelical Christians are very loudly expressing some very, very offensive homophobic views. What do I do? It's horrible.
644
183
1K
No children died in traffic anywhere in Norway (pop. 5,3 million) in 2019.
In the UK drivers get let off after killing children while parking on pavements.
We can change this if we want to. Healthy streets, healthy people, active transport.
This makes me happy:
Road deaths in Oslo (pop. 673.000) in 2019:
Pedestrians: 0
Cyclists: 0
Children: 0
The graph shows the reduction of road deaths since 1975.
Article in Norwegian:
#VisionZero
82
2K
5K
27
513
1K
okay no more politics.
HERE'S A GIF OF A DUCK LANDING ON ICE.
back to work.
21
672
1K
This account exists solely to shout "IN MICE" at news headlines that misreport animal research. BRAVO!
12
435
1K
Brexit. Mindblowingly silly. This will inflict needless harm on British medicine, industry and research, while creating upheaval and delay in medicines regulation.
Goodbye EMA. Thank you for your support on transparency and more. I hope we can still be friends and share ideas.
Today, EMA staff lowered the 28 EU flags and symbolically said goodbye to their London offices. Guido Rasi expressed his thanks to the UK for its contribution to the work of the Agency and for having been a gracious host of EMA since 1995.
966
7K
7K
12
601
1K
Took a while but the morons lost. Or, at least, they moved on to some other health frauds.
The measles, mumps & rubella vaccination target for 5 year olds in England has been met for the first time. Well done parents & NHS staff.
18
570
1K
21
348
922
Whatever you're trying to achieve, if you have to suspend parliament, you've gone very very wrong.
15
208
911
Farewell Stephen Hawking. Let's all protect the NHS in his honour. Health and death are driven by luck, choice, and politics.
5
493
890
Wild, inflammatory inaccuracy: huge letters, at length, front page.
Tiny correction, buried in the paper.
"Why don't ppl trust the media?"
"Remember that black student yesterday, the one on the front cover, who was attacking white authors? Yeah, we made that up. Sorry."
784
33K
47K
23
681
885
In case you couldn't guess.
I fully support UK academics' strike over their massive pension cut.
Academics commonly take lower salaries than they could get elsewhere, to do public good.
This is a pay cut selectively on younger workers.
(It doesn't directly affect me btw).
10
289
888
America you've elected a racist who wants to promote racism around the world.
Sort it out very quickly please.
This is not funny. Things like this can make the world go very badly wrong.
19
340
871
We cut tax, and we cut services, under "austerity".
Now councils can only survive by putting up Council tax.
But Council tax is regressive: it hits the poor more than the rich.
So: we've cut services, cut tax for the rich, and now we're upping tax for the poor.
43
665
863
Your life is not on hold during covid.
This is your life right now. It's different, it's interesting, it has horrible bits, but some of it is really great.
262
105
848
On train. Sitting at table. My laptop screen just pressed up against the laptop screen of the chap opposite. I said "sorry we might..." He immediately replied "...kiss?". He is now appalled. We are sitting in silence, alone. England is good.
22
47
847
So, I'm chairing a new Health Tech Advisory Board for
@MattHancock
We have all the ingredients for an industrial revolution with data in healthcare. But we need focus on getting the right nerds to do the right stuff.
There will be some easy wins, and some hard slogs!
Onward!
107
191
845
I was caught doing 37 mph in a 30 mph zone by mistake. It's ABSOLUTELY FAIR. I have a clean license. I am happy to pay my dues in full. Road safety matters: I fully support all our driving laws and I think they should be tighter. I try to drive carefully. I will try harder.
53
49
839
NEW JOB KLAXON
As of 11am today I am the Bennett Professor of Evidence Based Medicine at the University of Oxford and Director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science
We are
We will do many, very great things together
53
81
846
Twitter today is full of idiotic older people telling young people they could afford a house if only they "cancelled their Spotify subscription".
Here's my angry letter to the Times on Vampire Economics: the old, ripping off the young, while lecturing them about hard work.
I wrote a stern letter to The Times about the young rising up to eat the old if they don’t stop crowing.
http://t.co/TlA1s0Qazu
156
3K
2K
36
400
827
I wish the self-defeating stupidity of the UK voting Brexit was as easily reversible as the self-defeating stupidity of the US voting Trump.
38
219
817
RIGHT.
I wrote down why Brexit is a stupid choice, using words.
Here they are.
57
1K
810
The loss of the European Medicines Agency is a staggering loss of soft power and global influence for the UK. Where are the pro Brexit think tanks setting out their detailed implementable vision of how it can all be great? Just vague fantasies and lies.
16
564
816
My argument with Peter Fisher, the Queen's homeopath, in the Times. Features our and a rather poor cohort study.
46
378
814
The true genius of Brexit is to politicise a personality trait that splits humanity into two basic groups. "Do you want to fix your own complex problems, and take responsibility for them? Or do you want to blame other people for them in an unwarranted but very rewarding fashion?"
19
276
805
I despise the word terrorism. This was an act of twattish cowardice, perpetrated by a loser, who was going through a phase.
106
313
805
I've got that new thing where you are allowed to write long tweets.
I don't like it.
I think it's stupid.
I don't read other people's long tweets.
I'm not going to use it.
The point of twitter is pith.
Breaking your USP is dumb.
Please stop this twitter.
Stop it now.
40
193
796
A thousand times this.
May has negotiated the best possible deal.
You can't compare a real negotiated deal against fairytales.
Brexiters sold the country lies.
Now we have the real deal.
The next step is simple.
#PeoplesVoteNow
Then we can all get on with our lives!
I can’t seem to find the second page of Raab’s letter where he sets out, based on his experience in four months of negotiations, what deal he would have got that would have been better
172
2K
7K
15
298
811
If your child has this stuff on their computer please ask them to send me a CV we're always looking for bright new staff.
This utter crap is being distributed through schools from the 'local authority' so presume
@WalsallCouncil
today. The level of disinformation is staggering. I'd be proud to find my kids learning to use any of these. Except Discord but that's nothing to do with hacking.
755
3K
10K
18
151
798
This BBC infographic is so bad it might cost lives.
The bars suggest that dry stopping distance at 30mph (23 metres) is ONE THIRD of a car length.
They suggest that ice/snow stopping distance at 30mph (149 metres!!) is two car lengths.
Murderously bad.
46
405
788
Just taken a mo to read up on DUP. Religious folk really do love trying to control women and the gays. It all looks a bit Sharia Law to me.
52
329
783
So, according to this comparison crib card, all those rightwing fruitcakes who go on about Sharia Law have got a surprise coming in the DUP.
36
822
776
OUR NEW PAPER on HOMEOPATHY
We found that GPs who prescribe homeopathy are more likely to be bad at evidence based medicine, on a huge range of other prescribing behaviours.
47
640
781
VOTERS!
I made you a graph of NHS spending. See if you can spot something in 1997, and then in 2010? Your choice.
109
1K
781
NHS crisis.
We need a massive death tax.
Use the older generation's unearned housing bubble cash to pay for their state pensions, social care, and the NHS.
Bonus: prevent inherited house bubble wealth creating an entitled rentier class; reward productive work, not inheritance.
120
238
772
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
VOTE TODAY
DO IT NOW
NOW.
29
461
788
Okay. Everyone. Can we agree that when you're living under a regime like Trump's, we don't snitch? Not for lols, nor attention. No snitching
15
641
752
Hideously
@richardbranson
SUED the NHS because his company didn't win an NHS contract. He was paid £2m to let it drop.
Our NHS can't afford this. Please sign and RT. Ask
@richardbranson
to give back the money he took from the NHS, and never sue it again.
39
1K
762
I'm not going to share the story of my great grandfather, and my great grandmother's brother, best friends who fought together in WW1, it's just too horrible.
But we should all remember all our sadness and anger every time any idiot takes us even 1mm closer to war than peace.
8
126
778
Norwegian public news site makes readers answer questions to prove they understand story before posting comments lol
22
417
765
Where are the skilled workers of tomorrow coming from? Corbyn is absolutely right. Poverty is a waste. Educate + train for the future
#bbcqt
8
521
752
If this is true it's an appalling and very tangible example of the human cost inflicted by the current NHS cuts you're all about to vote for
Tories cut security support for outdated NHS computers a year ago despite warnings hospitals would be open to hacks
294
5K
2K
66
1K
761
There's a fairly direct line from Colston's actions to "I can't breathe". Norms change. Because of that it would be great to see these plackards sealed under glass for the next 200 years.
This is the current scene next to the plinth on which Colston’s statue stood until earlier today.
134
3K
10K
16
132
769
The Nightingale hospitals were a true triumph of politics, people, and health service delivery. Someone should make a browser plugin to mute any commentator stupid enough to say they were a waste of money.
49
113
769
This is just wrong from the outset.
The EU is the UK's biggest trading partner, bigger than the US by a factor of four.
That's why Brexit will fail. It's based on nonsense and it's being implemented by people who believe their own fantasies.
Reality won't reward this.
The US is the UK’s single largest trading partner, accounting for £100bn of UK annual exports.
👉 Last month
@LiamFox
was in San Francisco to discuss investment ties
👉 have your say in our public consultation here
1K
100
146
28
358
733
Thanks for the nappy changing room in the gents, Sutton Scotney A34 Services, but I'm not clear why I have to wear a kilt to use it?
25
199
738
Covid test 8pm last night. Negative result 6am this morning. People work through the night to make that happen so thank you, every one. My kids can go to school on Monday, and I can work all day. Bravo.
10
25
742
Prohibition means society distributes drugs thru criminals, who sometimes use violence. For a serious discussion, prohibitionists must own the benefits and hazards of that policy. Take cannabis and supply of addicts away from gangs, u'd have a pretty slender criminal market left.
25
289
710
I've had my birthday. I've got a face mask printed with John Snow's cholera map. I am invincible.
31
50
733
Theresa May is not the problem with this Brexit deal.
All forms of Brexit, once they become concrete reality, are bad.
All forms of actual Brexit are worse than the deal we have in the EU today.
Only an imaginary unicorn Brexit could ever seem good.
#PeoplesVote
on the deal.
24
202
714
We cannot have politicians who flatly deny what they plainly said. Not in any party. Not ok.
33
957
700
One thing conspicuously missing: TV footage of police carrying boxes of documents and computers out of Grenfell's management offices...
32
528
696
@COMPare_Trials
We sent correction letters on every misreported clinical trial in the world's biggest medical journals, to see how the editors - and the trialists - would react.
What happened next?
...
20
481
698
Just to reiterate: Andrew Wakefield, struck-off fraudulent anti-vaccine godfather, is at Trump's inaugural ball
Well, here's Andrew Wakefield using periscope to broadcast from President Trump's inaugural ball. History is amazing
25
65
69
53
1K
662
Here's one reason I'm a remainer: what will the populists burn next? The EU wasn't in the top 10 things voters cared about in 2015. Suddenly it's the focus of an irrational bonfire that will trash our economy. If we senselessly burn bridges with the EU, what gets burned next?
56
149
674
Brexit is the reason we're so weak we need to cosy up to a torturer. We shld be standing with Germany.
Brexit racists have destroyed the UK
39
286
668
You DON'T need your poll CARD to vote.
You DON'T need any form of ID (except in NI).
You JUST GO to the polling station and give them your name and address.
Now get out there TOMORROW and vote LEAST TERRIBLE OPTION.
FIND your polling station HERE:
16
637
670
This is what happens if you don't have cycle infrastructure, don't police car driving properly, and normalise hatred of people on bicycles.
How can we expect parents to let their kids ride to school if this is how their neighbours drive towards them? He's five by the way and this is 100m from his home.
@theJeremyVine
@MikeyCycling
@TheWarOnCars
@London_Cycling
@KingstonCycling
@markandcharlie
@cyclegaz
5K
650
6K
63
60
664
Brexitters are going to lose their minds when they find out Brexit was the problem, not one woman's plan to implement it.
13
106
667
I wrote a long thread explaining how a small overlooked detail in today's Brexit "no deal" documents from the govt seem likely to cost the NHS £billions per year due to us not being able to approve new cheap generic versions of recently approved medicines.
Every step a new mess.
The generics market has a lot of turnover, new products, tight margins. The NHS benefits from the low cost medicines this market produces.
The govt's no-deal Brexit plan looks to me like it will block approvals, and hit generics hard. This could get expensive for the NHS...
29
405
385
24
684
658
Brexit is stupid.
You cannot persuade smart people to implement stupid damaging ideas.
Therefore Brexit will be implemented badly, by idiots.
.
17
328
652