HEADLINE: big win for Labour, disastrous result for Tories. SMALL PRINT: Low turnout. Labour vote static. Reform (populist right) surge. Lots of sectarian voting on religious/ethnic lines. We might be closer to France than we think. And I don’t mean Eurostar. #UKElection2024

A thoroughly well deserved peerage for Dr Hilary Cass. I saw first hand her professionalism and fearless dedication to public service. Huge congratulations.

My Election Day Monologue on @TimesRadio. In praise of British democracy. It’s election day in the United Kingdom, a seminal event we too often take for granted. We also do it in a very British way.  There will be no armed guards at the polling stations. No intimidating mobs. Just paper and pencil, trusted tellers and friendly canvassers.  If the British people decide it’s time to change governments, that will happen quickly and without fuss. The military will not be mobilised. Barbed wire will not be arranged around public buildings. Defeated candidates will not be fleeing the country. Riot police will not be assembling on side streets.  But a removal van — something we’ve all had to use at some stage in our lives — will turn up sometime Friday morning to help the incumbent move out. Another will bring the belongings of the new prime minister and family.  A few words from the winner outside 10 Downing Street, a round of applause as he goes through the famous door — and the business of government continues as before. Even with a new broom there will be a sense of continuity. And calm.  Nobody will contest the overall integrity of the result, whatever minor challenges there are at the margins. The loser will concede defeat and wish the winner well. The winner will try to be magnanimous.  Nobody will be exiled. There will be no talk of being cheated, of a rigged election, or lawyers getting rich on endless court challenges. No mob will descend on the Palace of Westminster determined to overthrow the result. The pigeons will continue to peck away, undisturbed, on Parliament Square.  However people voted the result will be accepted. Folks will just get on with their lives and wait to see what the next government has in store for them.  Such a peaceful, uneventful, very British passage of power is to be treasured. It is perhaps THE distinguishing hallmark of democracy that power is passed in this way, without upheaval or protest, at the behest of the people.  Democracy requires a winner to be gracious and a loser to accept that they’ve lost, without quibble. That is the British way. It is not now true of that great democracy across the Atlantic.  It is also the case, if today heralds a change, that a centre right government will give way to a centre left one. Whatever the result the numbers in Parliament who might be deemed hard right or hard left will be de minimis. Pretty much irrelevant.  There is something quite British about that too. It will not be the case when that great democracy across the Channel votes on Sunday, where the extremes on both sides of the political divide are likely to make up almost two thirds of the National Assembly.  We broadcasters don’t do British party politics on election day. That can wait until you’ve voted and we know the result sometime after 10 o clock tonight.  So we will spend the next hour looking at elections in France and America, two countries with their own strong democratic traditions.  Also two countries, as we shall see, with democratic challenges we don’t face, whatever else may confront us.  They are our allies — fellow democrats in a world threatened by autocrats — and we must wish them well in overcoming their problems, as we tackle ours. While taking some comfort and pride from the fact that there is something quite special about our own British democracy.  So let us savour this important day.

1/2 As today’s inflation news confirms, despite massive global shocks our country’s prospects have been transformed under Rishi’s leadership. It will be my honour to fight with every bone in my body to get him re-elected because we need a government that takes the difficult decisions necessary to unlock our nation’s extraordinary potential.

A drenched prime minister standing in the pouring rain as “Things Can Only Get Better” blares out in the background. Surely the worst optics for any major political announcement in recent history.

Things can only get wetter

Rishi has clearly concluded that things can’t get much better for the Tory party but he probably didn’t bank on D:Ream almost drowning out his election announcement.

The hot take is @RishiSunak knows it will only get worse, so he’s calling an election… But another take is: If we are going to lose, disrupt things, put @UKLabour under pressure, try to expose how empty their cupboard is. It’s high-risk - but you can see why he’s done it.

Superb paragraph from Charles Moore in @spectator this morning.

Another first class column by @DrRobgalloway on how we can only really solve the A&E crisis if we help people live healthier lives

Our CEO, @MaryClarkOpt will be in San Francisco for the busiest week in healthcare #JPM24 Please reach out if you would like to connect with Mary there! #OptimumStrategicCommunications

@MISSIONTherapeu will be kicking off the New Year at the 42nd Annual @JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco from January 8th-11th. Reach out to us if you would like to meet the team. #JPM2024 #Parkinsons #acutekidney

The FDA has just granted IND status for @Missiontherapeu's lead candidate MTX652, so we will be starting a P2 trial in the New Year. We'll be testing it in up to 160 at high risk of acute kidney injury following heart surgery, in N America & Europe. See: bit.ly/4ahY7Hj

@MISSIONTherapeu has just been granted a CTA by the UK's @MHRAgovuk for a multi-part, adaptive P1 trial of MTX325, our potentially disease-modifying treatment for #Parkinsons. We plan to dose first patients in Q1 2024. Up to 160 volunteers, both healthy & with PD, will take part

Human trials will begin soon of a potential new Parkinson’s disease drug after promising research from @MISSIONTherapeu @Cambridge_Uni and @harvardmed bit.ly/3MPNJMR cambridgeindependent.co.uk/n…

🚨Important news🚨 Varicella (Chicken Pox) to be included in the national vaccination programme What changed JCVI’s mind? “true extent of hospitalisations caused by varicella is underestimated through routine data sources due to errors in coding” gov.uk/government/publicatio…

A first-in-human trial of Mission’s MTX325 for Parkinson's is expected in early 2024, after the therapy showed promise in a mouse model. buff.ly/479rj1p

Our CMO, Qasim Ahmad, MD, is a featured speaker at the upcoming @DDWJournal webinar - Turning Science into Business Summit, ‘Cancer research opportunities and advances’ on November 16 at 10AM EST/3PM GMT. bit.ly/3tNf37Y Register here: bit.ly/3tlXF9Y

Paediatricians around the nation will rejoice! JCVI recommend 2 doses of varicella vaccine added to routine schedule for all children - at 12 months then 18 months Chicken pox and its complications are about to become rare diseases in the UK🥳 mirror.co.uk/news/health/bre…