𝑫𝒓 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒉𝒂 𝑷𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒌𝑨𝒍𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒕

Starting a new job tomorrow & reflecting on the last 3 years as a King’s DPMG. Graduated this summer from my BDS with Honours, 19 months in achieving the prize for the highest marks in BDS4 finals. Worked very hard and now dual qualified in medicine & dentistry! #omfs #milestone

This is what doctors a paid. They have over £100k in student debt.

NEW: Women who graduate today could lose £80,000+ in pension wealth - because the student loan system was designed without any gender impact assessment. 57% of students are women. The 9% repayment deduction falls hardest on those who earn less, work part-time, and take career breaks. Our white paper explains why. Read it here: moneyshe.com/white-paper-br… #BreakingTheGraduateTrap #studentloans #genderinequality #IWD

Resident doctors get blamed for many things especially when strikes are on the cards -but their overall annual absence remains lower than nurses, ambulance staff, and the NHS average even when strike days over the years they have been striking are counted in.

🚨BREAKING: If you've used ChatGPT for writing or brainstorming in the last 6 months, your creative ability may already be permanently damaged. A controlled experiment just proved the effect doesn't reverse when you stop using it. 3,302 creative ideas. 61 people. 30 days of tracking. Researchers split students into two groups. Half used ChatGPT for creative tasks. Half worked alone. For five days, the ChatGPT group outperformed on every metric. Higher scores. More ideas. Better output. AI was making them better. Then day 7. ChatGPT removed. Every creativity gain vanished overnight. Crashed to baseline. Zero lasting improvement. But that's not the bad part. ChatGPT users' ideas became increasingly identical to each other over time. Same content. Same structure. Same phrasing. The researchers called it homogenization. Everyone using ChatGPT started producing the same ideas wearing different clothes. When ChatGPT was removed, the creativity boost disappeared -- but the homogenization stayed. 30 days later, same result. Their creative range had been permanently compressed. Five days of use. Permanent damage 30 days later. A separate trial confirmed it. 120 students. 45-day surprise test. ChatGPT users scored 57.5%. Traditional learners scored 68.5%. AI reduces cognitive effort. Less effort means weaker encoding. Weaker encoding means less creative raw material. You're not renting a productivity boost. You're financing it with your originality. The interest rate is permanent.

Hm… No other industry would expect an expert to: Greet a client Assess their history Examine them Manage their expectations & emotions Formulate a high risk action plan Communicate that plan to the client verbally Write a letter to a colleague & client In 10-20 minutes

The govt's Student Loan Plan 2 repayment freeze in April 2027 must be reversed. It isn't moral. I'm concerned that my debate with Kemi Badenoch this morning distracts from the most immediate problem. In April 2027 Rachel Reeves will freeze the Plan 2 student loan threshold until 2030 which by then will increase graduate repayments by £300/yr more. This is effectively a unilateral negative breach of the student loan contract. Students were told the threshold would rise with average earnings. No commercial lender would be allowed to do this. The govt shouldn't do it either. Changing the terms of future students loans is a political decision - people may not like it but it is transparent. Negatively changing the terms of contracts already signed, and long in place, is a breach of natural justice.

An entire generation has been sold out by successive Governments, trapped by Student Loan interest rates so high even a loan shark would hesitate. I graduated as a doctor with around £75,000 of debt. After years of repayments, I now owe close to £90,000. That is the reality of Plan 2 loans: extortionate interest rates mean balances can rise even while regular deductions are taken from your salary. We’re told this system is “fair.” The Chancellor, @RachelReevesMP, has defended it as such. But I struggle to see how a system can be described as fair when those who can afford to pay upfront leave university owing nothing beyond the headline fee, while those from less financially secure backgrounds carry escalating balances for decades. Freezing repayment thresholds while interest continues to accrue increases the real burden on graduates year after year. The Labour Education Secretary, @bphillipsonMP, may prefer to debate who first introduced tuition fees, but that does not change the fact that the current Government is actively maintaining this structure. Successive governments may have built this structure, but the current Government is choosing to maintain it. And that choice has consequences. For many of us, this no longer resembles a conventional loan. It functions as a long-term graduate tax that quietly removes a significant portion of our income every month, often well into our 40s or 50s. If this Government believes in growth, productivity and social mobility, it cannot defend a model that disproportionately burdens those without family wealth. Reform is within its power: cap the interest, review the thresholds, and redesign the structure so that repayment reduces debt in a meaningful way. Governing is about taking responsibility for the system you oversee. The question now is whether this Government intends to defend the status quo or change it.

As healthy life expectancy dips below 61 for men, a reminder that the state (and NHS) pension age is 67.

@RoyLilley What’s even more outrageous according to commentators on the Times website, compound interest is charged every month rather than annually whereas the amount paid by the debtor is only applied to the balance at the end of the year! That’s exploitation.

The quilting section at Spotlight makes the 'are women suited to surgery?' discussion seem ludicrous. Quilters have been piecing fabric and driving needles through complex designs for centuries. Needle holders, right angle forceps, cutting blades- all here. #ILookLikeASurgeon

Not sure why people can’t comprehend how student loan/debt should be treated as a scandal. Most of us were TOLD at school…. When we were CHILDREN, you’ll get a loan which will have minimal impact on you, don’t worry about it too much, just apply on UCAS and hope for the best. No one told us about the increase of crippling interest, how it will affect your ability to buy a house and your general take home income, with little hope of paying it off….. No one thought …. Let’s ensure these financial products are fully understood by these bunch of KIDS who have never even had a credit card or an overdraft in life. How can people understand misselling for car loans, Accident claims, loans sharks, but not this??

Alex Pretti’s last words: “Don’t touch her!” “Are you okay?” Renee Good’s last words: “I’m really not mad at you dude…” And this administration wants you to believe these fellow Americans were “domestic terrorists.” This must end. Abolish ICE.

Coeliac disease in the ancient world: This young woman was buried in an improvised sarcophagus made from roof tiles, known as a 'cappuccina' burial, in the necropolis of Roman Cosa in southwestern Tuscany. Though she had been buried with gold jewellery, experts noted that her skeleton showed clear signs of chronic ill health including short stature, enamel hypoplasia, anaemia, and early-onset osteoporosis. A subsequent DNA analysis revealed the presence of genetic markers strongly associated with coeliac disease. The death of the 20-year-old woman was therefore judged to be almost certainly due to her diet, which would have been rich in grain, making this one of the oldest scientifically documented cases of coeliac disease. Even more remarkably, experts examined plaque that had accumulated on the young woman’s teeth and found a heavy presence of herbs and spices, such as turmeric and ginseng, commonly used in Eastern medicine to treat intestinal disorders. It seems that, without our modern scientific understanding of the disease, the woman and her family were using traditional herbal remedies to treat her chronic gastro-intestinal problems and nutritional deficiencies, but sadly, their efforts were ultimately in vain. Archaeological Museum of Cosa

"Ukrainians 🇺🇦 never wanted war, that is why they deserve peace" Frederik, King of Denmark 🇩🇰, in todays new year speech.

Facts: ✅Russia started the war with Ukraine unprovoked. ✅ Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia are Ukraine. ✅Putin is a billionaire oligarch and a criminal. ✅Trump is a traitor ✅Zelenskyy did nothing wrong

The only reason why Russia cares so much about Ukraine not joining NATO in peace agreements is because they’re actively looking to invade them again in the future

Finally, Spain has taken a stand for animals and recognized pets as true family members. A new law has changed everything, officially recognizing dogs, cats, and other pets as living beings with feelings, not objects. This shift means animals in Spain now have stronger protections in cases of divorce, abuse, abandonment, and accidents. Judges must consider the animal’s well-being, just like they would with any other family member. It also allows survivors of domestic violence to keep their pets safe, prevents animals from being seized for debt, and ensures they cannot be mistreated without serious consequences. Animal rights groups have called the move historic, saying it reflects what millions of people already knew in their hearts. Pets are companions, emotional partners, and part of daily life, not possessions to be divided or ignored. Spain now joins a growing list of countries recognizing the emotional bond between humans and animals. Many hope this change will inspire others to follow. A world where every pet is treated like family feels a little closer.

The Sudetenland was ceded to Germany. It did not stop World War II. Do not let history repeat itself.

“You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have war.” Winston Churchill spoke these words to Neville Chamberlain, who sought “peace with Hitler” by appeasing the dictator and handing him part of Czechoslovakia in 1938. But instead of preventing war, that appeasement led to World War II. Today, the United States risks choosing dishonor again — proposing “peace with Putin” by giving him parts of Ukraine, hoping it will somehow stop russia from waging further aggression. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Credit: Marijn Markus