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Articles by Jacqui Smith
Early-life risks for transition from normal to impaired cognitive status after age 50
Abstract Objectives Explore whether early-life physical and mental health and early family environments are associated with cognitive outcomes in later life using a life course approach.
Canberra’s Coro performs Cloudburst: A concert of dreams, visions and incantations
Coro | Cloudburst A stunning spring Saturday in the capital called for an afternoon of choral music in one of Canberra’s oldest churches – All Saints Anglican Church in Ainslie. It has been 20 years since I visited (and performed) in this Barnett beauty – originally constructed as the first Rookwood Cemetery railway station in Sydney and rebuilt stone-by-stone in Canberra in the late 1950s.
Ready or Not? Oral Health Therapists' Preparedness for Dental Practice in Aotearoa New Zealand
1 Introduction Good oral health is a cornerstone for good general health, and in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ), oral health therapists (OHTs) play an integral role in promoting the prevention of oral health disease across diverse communities [1, 2]. Oral health therapy, in NZ, is a three-year bachelor's degree offered at two public universities, the Auckland University of Technology and the University of Otago [3, 4].
Teaching Assistant
Full Time Northfield Longwill Primary School for Deaf Children profile 2 Permanent Full Time Level 2 Teaching Assistants Required to start 5th January 2026 Grade 2 Scp 3 – 8 (£24,796 – £26,824 + SEN Point pro rata) 32.5 hours per week Term Time Only Head Teacher – Miss Jessica Rosser Longwill Primary School for Deaf Children, Bell Hill, Northfield, Birmingham B31 1LD Telephone: 0121 475 3923, Email: enquiry@longwill.bham.sch.uk Website: www.longwill.bham.sch.uk Our outstanding innovative and...
Teaching Assistant
Full Time Northfield Longwill Primary School for Deaf Children profile 2 Permanent Full Time Level 2 Teaching Assistants Required to start 5th January 2026 Grade 2 Scp 3 – 8 (£24,796 – £26,824 + SEN Point pro rata) 32.5 hours per week Term Time Only Head Teacher – Miss Jessica Rosser Longwill Primary School for Deaf Children, Bell Hill, Northfield, Birmingham B31 1LD Telephone: 0121 475 3923, Email: enquiry@longwill.bham.sch.uk Website: www.longwill.bham.sch.uk Our outstanding innovative and...
Skills minister hails 'partnership between government and business that works for local people'
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Upskilling the workforce is how we deliver change
One of the reasons I have been so excited to return to the Department for Education is because it has, to my mind, the greatest potential to deliver change. I’m not just talking economically, vital though that is. No, it is its huge capacity for change on a human level, to make sure everyone has the means to live the life they dreamed of, doing a job they’ve always wanted.
Good programming, outstanding singing - Luminescence Chamber Singers
Luminescence Chamber Singers and Roland Peelman AM | Old Airs The mood was set for tonight’s concert in the Drill Hall Gallery (ANU) a wonderful backdrop of paintings by Euan Macleod featuring dramatic vistas from the Haupapa Tasman Glacier in New Zealand. Macleod was fascinated with the danger and drama of mountain climbing and the inherent human need to be near other humans.
Sydney Chamber Choir - 90 minutes of choral splendour!
Sydney Chamber Choir | Heirs & Rebels After several busy weeks, including an interstate move, an afternoon in the newly renovated Sts Peter and Paul Old Cathedral in Goulburn was just the Salve. I have been a long-time fan of the Sydney Chamber Choir, who turn 50 in 2025. Under the helm of Sam Allchurch, the Sydney Chamber Choir with guest narrator John Gaden AO reading from letters and poetry, our spirits were lifted with 90 minutes of choral splendour on a sunny Spring afternoon in Goulburn.
What A Drag!
If you have never been to Melbourne, Australia, let me paint you a picture. It's a multicultural city, vibrant with theatre, music and the arts. As generations of migrants brought their own coffee style to the city, it became renowned for its coffee culture, sidewalk cafes and...
Deep Dive Prompt... What if?
I have been enjoying the writing prompts posed by Subhi Najar. They always spark a lot of thought. If you would like to join in this week's prompt, you can find the link here:
Deep Dive Into Writing on Medium
By Jacqui Smith What keeps me coming back to the platform Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Thanks to Subhi Najar for the new prompt, even though I am a bit late to the party, having been wading through a couple of uni assessments for the last week or two! 1. How did you hear about Medium? If there is an interesting story behind it, please share it.
The Most Beautiful Rose I Never Received
By Jacqui Smith True love is not always romantic It was a bustling weeknight at the supermarket. Shoppers propelling their trolleys through the commotion, anxious to get home after a busy workday. Posters and banners, shouting red and pink, trumpeted the impending Valentine's Day, but I barely noticed, intent on finding something cheap and hopefully nourishing, to cook for dinner.
This or That: 20 Answers
Responding to BJ’s This or That Challenge: New Year’s Edition The New Year has begun and I have been tagged in a writing challenge by . So let’s have a bit of fun. The challenge is issued by and if you want to join in, you can find it here: Here we go: 1. Resolutions or No Resolutions For me, it has always been no resolutions. I watch with bemusement as friends make heartfelt promises of what they will (or won’t) do each year, only to forget them entirely a week or two later.
I Don't Like Cats
By Jacqui Smith The story of the accidental kitten I am not a cat person. Sorry, all cat lovers, it is just the truth. I don't know why. I just never knew any cats as a child and so we never developed a rapport. I wouldn't hurt a cat. I just don't want to have one myself. You need to know that for this story to make sense.
It's Halloween! Let's Celebrate!
By Jacqui Smith WRITER CONTRIBUTION Christians, take a chill pill! Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay I t's that time of year again: Halloween, when children, decked out in the scary best, knock on doors, enthusiastically calling, "Trick or treat?" and hoping for some goodies. Until the 1990s, Halloween as a celebration did not really take off in Australia. I knew what it was...
Apologies and Flowers
By Jacqui Smith It will never happen again Photo By Tomasz Zajda on Adobe Stock Images The sun was warm on my back with the fresh glow of a new day. I closed the gate behind me and it seemed symbolic as I walked to the corner shop for the newspaper. It was Saturday and both the week and the last 21 years had ended. When I was sixteen, I became pregnant. It was a brief encounter with a young man who was as inexperienced as I. He was seventeen...
Associations of mental health and chronic physical illness during childhood with major depression in later life
Method Data came from the 2016 United States Health and Retirement Study (n = 18,483). Logistic regression tested associations of childhood chronic physical illness burden with childhood mental health status and major depression in later life. Path analysis quantified mediation of the association between chronic physical illness burden and major depression by childhood mental health status.
Childhood vulnerability in England 2019
The Children’s Commissioner’s 2019 childhood vulnerability report examines the latest scale of, and trends over time in, rates of childhood vulnerability. As with last year, we have estimated the total number of children in England currently receiving statutory support or intervention (those who are ‘in the system’). Based on the latest available data, we believe this to be 723,000 children – slightly higher than last year’s figure of 710,000.
Childhood vulnerability in England 2019
The Children’s Commissioner’s 2019 childhood vulnerability report examines the latest scale of, and trends over time in, rates of childhood vulnerability. As with last year, we have estimated the total number of children in England currently receiving statutory support or intervention (those who are ‘in the system’). Based on the latest available data, we believe this to be 723,000 children – slightly higher than last year’s figure of 710,000.
I finally have the strength to talk about my traumatic birth
Liz Tenety and I lived parallel lives for nearly a decade—though we never met—before we started Motherly. We both attended Georgetown (Liz as an undergrad, me for grad school), worked in DC (me in strategy management consulting for defense and intelligence agencies, Liz in journalism at the Washington Post), and both married Naval Academy graduates—and lived as Navy wives while our spouses deployed abroad.
The NHS crisis of caring for staff
The latest NHS staff survey data reinforces this understanding. For years we have recorded high levels of stress that damage staff health, causing a range of issues including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, addictions, cancers, sleep disorders and depression. Fifty per cent more NHS staff now report debilitating levels of work stress compared to the general working population, and year after year, around 40 per cent report being unwell as a result of work stress during the previous year.
A properly funded NHS is not available on the Google Play store
Matt Hancock’s fascination with tech is papering over the cracks in our health service, writes Nathan Hodson As secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, Matt Hancock became the first member of parliament to launch his own app, utilising the knowledge developed growing up in a family of software entrepreneurs. However, since becoming secretary of state for health and social care he has remained fixated on digital, much to the dismay of doctors across the country.
Radicals against populism
Populist narratives of good versus evil, national decline and secret control by elites could lead the left down some dangerous paths, writes Chris Clarke What does a non-populist left-winger look like? Does such a thing exist? This question was invited by the ‘How populist are you?’ quiz – published in the Guardian late last year. The test places you on a chart with two axes, the first running from populist to non-populist, the second from left to right.
Local government is in crisis, illegal budgets are not the answer
At Labour women’s conference 2018 Dawn Butler said that it is ‘better to break the law than break the poor’. This is misguided, writes Marian Craig As councils across the country come back to work after the festive season, they will be looking ahead and planning their budgets for 2019. Despite warm words from Theresa May at the most recent Conservative party conference, it is clear that after eight painful years – austerity is far from over for local authorities.
Brexit means higher food prices
The hard Brexiteers’ desired approach to our negotiations with the EU reveal them to be as ignorant as they are reckless, writes Andy Tarrant Priti Patel has asked why the trading dependence of Ireland on the United Kingdom revealed in leaked UK government papers, particularly in relation to trade in food, is not being used to force Ireland to drop its demand for the backstop. This demand is illuminating as to the mindset of the Brexiteers.
A bottom-up approach to tackle knife violence
Stopping knife crime needs local leadership, says Ashley Dalton – but first we must recognise it is more widespread than many realise There has long been an assumption that knife crime is an ‘inner city’ problem. That assumption, however, has been blown apart by a series of violent incidents where I live on the Essex coast in Rochford and Southend East. In May this year, a 19-year-old man was fatally stabbed in the centre of Southend.
Standing up to crime, standing up for the vulnerable
In this guest editorial, ex-home secretary Jacqui Smith makes the social justice case for putting crime at the top of our agenda When I became home secretary, I said that there was no greater honour for an elected politician than to be tasked with keeping people safe so that they can get on with their lives.
Khan’s knife crime conundrum
The mayor of London faces a difficult choice on knife crime, forced by a pro-austerity government keen on taking political advantage, warn Jacqui Smith and Conor Pope Police cuts became a prominent campaigning topic for Labour during the 2017 general election. This came as a surprise to some, as the section of the left that the current Labour leadership hails from has long had an uneasy relationship with the police.
In Conversation with Jacqui Smith: Editor of The Honourable Ladies
The Centre for the Study of British Politics and Public Life will be holding an 'In Conversation' with Jacqui Smith, CO-editor of The Honourable Ladies: Volume I Profiles of Women MPs 1918–1996 The book focuses on the lives and achievements of the Women who served as MPs between 1918-1996 and have shaped the political landscape today. There will be a chance to purchase a signed copy of the book after the event. Jacqui Smith was Labour MP for Redditch from 1997 until 2010.
Off The Beaten Track: Explore Eastside Sydney
If you’re visiting Sydney for the first time, you’re sure to make a bee-line for the sparkling harbour, followed shortly after by iconic Bondi Beach, but for a truly authentic Sydney experience, make like a local and discover Eastside Sydney, which is nestled between the two and a mere stone’s throw up the hill from the CBD.
Metropolitan elite
It has been a long journey for women to reach the top of the police service, writes Jacqui Smith The appointment of Cressida Dick as the first female commissioner of the Metropolitan police is excellent news for policing and another crack in the glass ceiling. The reaction to her appointment has been very positive from within policing – she clearly commands respect and admiration.
The first rule of relaunch
Message discipline and effective media work is like good underwear. You do not want to wave it around but you notice if it’s not there. What have we learned about the importance of this in the last few days? This time last year, Labour’s day of action on rail fare rises was completely thrown off course by Jeremy Corbyn’s reshuffle briefing – an event which enraged then shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood who had worked hard to set up the campaign.
Jacqui Smith: After the abuse, how should ministers treat Trump?
The unexpected election of Donald Trump as US President raises many profound questions about the growth of populist politics around the world and the nature of his future policy programme at home and abroad. In the short term, however, it also raises the tricky question of how British politicians should treat someone they have previously called every name under the sun who is now ascending to the most powerful political role in the world.
Jacqui Smith: Beware the plight of the former minister, Theresa
It’s a ‘brave’ prime minister who sacks more ministers than the size of her parliamentary majority. However that’s what Theresa May has done. All reshuffles mean some people return to the backbenches, but it is unusual to perform such a purge of ministers who’ve held big jobs and who are politically and personally loyal to each other. What will they do next? Firstly, they will grieve and readjust.
Time to build a plan ahead of the onslaught
Through bitter and angry tears at 4.30am this morning, my overriding feeling was that I had let my children down. Parents of teenagers often know what this feels like, but today I realise I have let everyone else’s children down too. One of the reasons for the Leave vote is a feeling of immense alienation from the political class and institutions.
Jacqui Smith: What’s the point of a Ministerial speech?
One of the many joys of being a former Minister is that I no longer have to make large numbers of speeches to conferences where the audience ranges from sceptical to downright hostile. I reflected this as I sat at a recent NHS conference waiting to hear from Jeremy Hunt. Most of those around me were at the sceptical rather than hostile end of the spectrum, but there were pretty low expectations and various negative mutterings. I felt for Jeremy. In fact he made the right call.
Privy to the privy council
Despite some public misgivings, Jeremy Corbyn has followed in the footsteps of other leaders of the opposition and joined the privy council. I suspect he will not be quite as excited about the swearing in ceremony as I was. My enthusiasm in kissing the Queen’s hand resulted in a smacker which echoed around the room.
Changes in Optimism Are Associated With Changes in Health Over Time Among Older Adults
Little is known about how optimism differs by age and changes over time, particularly among older adults. Even less is known about how changes in optimism are related to changes in physical health. We examined age differences and longitudinal changes in optimism in 9,790 older adults over a 4-year period. We found an inverted U-shaped pattern between optimism and age both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, such that optimism generally increased in older adults before decreasing.
Votes are precious - do not take them for granted
Having been one of the original ‘Worcester women’ in my Midlands marginal seat, and previously a loyal shopper at Sainsbury’s and Tescos, I realised on Saturday that I am once again on political trend as I tried to find a parking place in my crowded local Lidl. This weekend the Sun on Sunday ran an interesting piece by its political editor, David Wooding, about how parties will need to woo ‘Lidl man and woman’ to win in May.
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