Selina Wallis

🔁 All policy & campaign writing has moved to @safe_by_default: ➤ Digital safety ➤ Neurodivergent rights ➤ Safeguarding failures If you followed me for that work, please head there. Red Apples & @UnlockingBirth will now focus on #research #LivedExperience #PublicHealth #memoir

Suicide clusters - where deaths are linked - may be more common than we used to realise. They need to be handled with vigilance & urgency. New Govt guidance out today from @OHID. gov.uk/government/pub…

On Mother's Day we revisit our blog on what it means to be a Mother. "Surrogacy doesn’t remove the reality of how babies are made, however inconvenient it may be. Everyone has a mother, whether she wants to be thought as one or not." stopsurrogacynowuk.org/2026/03/15/mot…

We keep asking platforms to remove harmful content faster. But what if the real problem is how digital systems are designed in the first place? A new California bill hints at a shift: From apps → to architecture. #OnlineSafety #TechPolicy open.substack.com/pub/saferbydef…

Two teenage parents were arrested on suspicion of possessing an indecent image. Six days later they were dead. Raising questions about how safeguarding systems respond when vulnerable adolescents become the focus of criminal investigations. New piece open.substack.com/pub/saferbydef…

“Red vs Blue” school fight rumours spread across UK social media this week. Schools issued alerts. Police sent patrols. Two arrests followed. Yet the fights themselves may never have been real. What this reveals about youth safety & platform design: open.substack.com/pub/saferbydef…

Pages from a beautifully illustrated account of a journey made from Venice to the Middle East. Although the book was once purported to reflect a journey made in 1465 it is actually a German translation of an account from more than a century earlier: publicdomainreview.org/collection/jou…

Reviewing EHCPs at 11 as children enter secondary school risks a support cliff edge at a known stress point. Adolescence + bigger schools + digital exposure is not the moment to weaken protection. saferbydefault.substack.com/p/send-reform-… #SEND #EHCP #Inclusion #EducationPolicy #PublicHealth

Boys aren’t necessarily falling behind in school because they lack motivation—they face a “psychological tax” on academic effort. @UChicago’s Marianne Bertrand, @Ariel_Kalil, and Noah Liu explain that when peers can observe their choices, boys are far more sensitive to social pressure than girls. aibm.org/research/schoo…

Front cover of Vogue, 1st February 1923.

Enjoyed talking to Frank playing the piano in @Liverpoollib and he told us all about a notation that reads down not across

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet. Let it not be a death but completeness. Let love melt into memory and pain into songs. Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest. Let the last touch of your hands be gentle

An emphasis on autonomy makes it very difficult for the health services to manage people with violent or aggressive tendencies, writes @TraytonBaker thecritic.co.uk/issues/februar…

Leveson recommends increase in the No of defendants who appear on video for their 1st magistrates' court appearance. This would be a disastrous move for defendants' effective participation, for lawyer's ability to communicate with their clients & for Nos on short prison sentences

In moments of public reckoning, there’s pressure to speak now. This piece is about why #memoir resists that demand and why understanding power matters more than spectacle. redapples.substack.com/p/on-writing-a…

Enjoying today's @arc_nwc Internship Showcase. Fascinating learning about all the projects. #research #coproduction #SocialCare

The UK social media ban debate is moving fast but it’s still asking the wrong question. Bans and “digital literacy” can’t carry the weight of structural gaps in care, education and safeguarding especially in AI-shaped environments. Our latest piece saferbydefault.substack.com/p/beyond-bans-…

👀 We're hosting a workshop at the Liverpool Festival of Data! We'll be running our Data Detectives game at @ACCLiverpool all day on 7th Feb. Come along and join the fun😀 To find out more and secure your place, visit festivalofdata.co.uk. @CivicDataCoop #data #festivalofdata

@LucyGoBag Agree. This is not a neutral context, it involves a fatigued and traumatised community of women and families who have already been asked to give more than should reasonably be required therefore process design is a moral act, not an administrative one.

And the absolute golden rule is nobody is asked to share their pain, their trauma, their valuable and personal data unless you can swear that it will be used for a meaningful purpose and not just to tick a “lived experiences collected” box ✅

I have learnt that there is a very, very fine line between “co-production” and abuse

Baroness Amos is asking women and families to share their experiences of maternity and neonatal care in England, through a public Call for Evidence. Have your voice heard: matneoinv.org.uk/call-for-evide… #NMNI

This is an important reminder that safeguarding systems too often act late, not early. In our final guest post for @safe_by_default , we argue for prevention by design Read Part 10: saferbydefault.substack.com/p/navigating-t… Context: liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/uk-world-…