iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

1/3 Too many highly distressing accounts of shocking treatment of patients with #ME continuing to emerge. Despite some advances in recent years, the patient community has yet to change an entire culture. Until that happens, there will be little substantive change in attitudes/treatment.....

131

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Today I attended my GP practice, having been offered an appt for the shingles vaccination. I was then told I cdn't have it after all. NHS eligibility means I am both too old AND too young (by 28 days). Apology but absolute refusal (partner level) to use discretion. "You can have it in 28 days time".

010

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Worrying: "Health is the topic vertical most vulnerable to losing clicks as a result of Google’s AI Overviews..... [H]ealth sections on major news brands will have seen links to articles supplanted by an AI-written summary 72% of the time in Google search results." pressgazette.co.uk/media-audien...

pressgazette.co.uk

Health coverage is getting killed by Google AI Overviews

Google AI Overviews are hitting publisher traffic in health, tech and other topic areas. What publishers can do about it.

010

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Thanks, Adam. Yet again, this represents a masterful preservation of the status quo ie. the one that's kept ME in roughly the same place for the last half century. Have things moved on? Yes. Is life for most pwME's better now? No. I sound like a broken record but WE HAVE TO DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY.

061

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

From today's AI Secret daily newsletter (always worth a read). "AI may not replace managers overnight, but it’s erasing the path to becoming one — and that’s how a talent shortage becomes structural."

010

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

I had some passing contact with Chris Patten in the early 1980's. At the time, I felt we had little in common, politically speaking. Funny how things can change so radically over time, now united by the desire for an independent, robust media landscape and an old-fashioned requirement for "truth".

020

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

1/2 IRONY ALERT: the UK's Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is awarding a contract to IBM to work on AI projects. Translation: the department for work is introducing the same tools blamed for eroding jobs.....

110

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

1/2 Today is #SevereMEDay Despite recent events we have yet to change an entire culture, as I've detailed ad nauseam in my blog (link in 2/2 below). Only then will proper funding, research, education, health & social care start to catch up. History matters: screenshot of a post from 10yrs ago.....

150

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

@bmj.com's dangerous & inconsistent approach to #ME + long Covid resembles psych propaganda more than balanced reporting (notwithstanding the "Opinion" header), especially in relation to Professor Paul Garner's long covid "journey", as described in my 2021 post valerieeliotsmith.com/2021/02/01/p...

14313

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Not good: RSF downgrades global press freedom index to all-time low: UK at no 20 & "The US, which had already dropped down to a 'problematic' overall rating, fell a further two spots from its 2024 position to 57th place, immediately behind Sierra Leone and Romania" pressgazette.co.uk/news/rsf-mov...

pressgazette.co.uk

RSF downgrades global press freedom index to all-time low

The global average press freedom score has fallen for the first time into RSF's "difficult" territory.

130

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

My website valerieeliotsmith.com has recently experienced an increase in traffic, causing it to slow down when downloading documents. I've been checking it periodically and it is still working but you may need to be patient & try more than once. Apologies for any inconvenience.

010

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

There's been some recent discussion on social media about the "secret" files on #ME. The discussions include some misinformation. For clarification purposes: I got both files (DSS/DWP & MRC) opened up in 2012 (using FOIA 2000) & published on my blog. Still some redactions but most info is available.

172

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Excellent letter to @gwynnemp.bsky.social from solicitors representing #LongCovid groups regarding airborne transmission of virus (pp 2 & 3 in comments). This is a great example of how campaign groups can use proactive legal routes to advance their concerns. #ME & #mecfs communities shd take note.

162

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Just returned from a routine outpatient screening (yes, on a Sunday afternoon; not my choice). Apparently the UK is in the middle of a "quademic". We wore masks. Not one single other person in the hospital - patient or HCP - was masked up. How many more potentially preventable deaths will there be?

040

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

"This is an extinction-level event for the idea of objective truth on social media – an organism that was already on life support, but was clinging on in part because Meta was willing to fund independent factchecking organisations". www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

A new era of lies: Mark Zuckerberg has just ushered in an extinction-level event for truth on social media | Chris Stokel-Walker

The Meta boss’s decision to get rid of the platform’s 40,000 moderators has set the stage for a fact-free four years online, says author Chris Stokel-Walker

033

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

Wishing everyone peace and joy in the festive season and for coming year.

040

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Thread: 1/4 The AGM of the MEAssociation is being held today. With the current interest in, and focus on, governance at the Charity, I requested remote access to the meeting, as an observer (I am not a member). My request was denied on the basis of a "members only" attendance policy.

2126

Valerie Eliot Smith @valerieeliotsmith.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

INTRO POST: just got set up here although not migrating from the other place(s). Will be expanding my presence here in due course but interested in connecting with other members of the #ME or #MEcfs (sic) community. Interests include health/science, law, journalism, tech. Blog valerieeliotsmith.com

104510