John Barrett

What the U.S. Government Is Dismissing That Could Seed a Bird Flu Pandemic Egg producers suspect bird flu is traveling through the air. After a disastrous Midwestern outbreak early this year, we tested that theory and found that where the wind blew, the virus followed. Vacci...

To combat bird flu spread, other countries have authorized poultry vaccines.

The U.S. hasn’t, amid political and economic pushback.

Without a vaccine, experts say the virus poses an escalating threat: “The minute it transmits to humans, it’s done.”

(Published Nov. 2025)

The question was raised how bad a task would it be to clear the Strait of Hormuz if it was mined. The answer is "pretty bad".

The most prominent cryptic lineage in the world right now is from Lincoln, Nebraska.

It's a B.1 infection (about 5 years old) that has been detected in their wastewater every week for about the last 18 months.

Sooo....
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Visit a heat pump Visit a heat pump near you in real life. See it in action and get your questions answered by heat pump owners.

A good time to push www.visitaheatpump.com

‘Why I left the Green Party and joined Labour’ – LabourList With the seemingly endless trickle of announcements from people defecting from Labour to the Green Party, I’ll explain why I have been one, although certainly…

💬 "But Labour doesn’t need to become a pale imitation of Zack Polanski and the Greens any more than it needs to become a pale imitation of Nigel Farage and Reform."
🔴 Darren Johnson, writes for LabourList after going viral for announcing he had left the Green Party and joined Labour👇
buff.ly/RGeITh9

Years ago I wrote about naive cynicism, which is the posture of being sophisticated, knowing, and worldweary often worn by those who don't actually have a firm grasp on what's going on but have surrendered to what they claim to oppose and are trying to convince others to do the same.

How the Iran war could create a ‘fertiliser shock’ – an often ignored global risk to food prices and farming Without this form of fertiliser, crops will not produce yields on which the world’s population depends, leaving people starving.

Without this form of fertiliser, crops will not produce yields on which the world’s population depends, leaving people starving.

Grabbed my lecture notes in a big hurry, walked in, announced to the class I was going to solve a particular problem. I opened the notes to find a piece of paper written by me in pencil: "This page is missing."

Here's the latest variant picture for the United Kingdom, to early February.

BA.3.2.* "Cicada" continued its sharp grew suddenly and took over dominance at 44%.

XFG.* "Stratus" continued falling to finish at 32%

#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #UK #BA_3_2 #Cicada
🧵

Matt Goodwin and his election agent will not face any legal sanction over 81,000 leaflets that were sent to residents in Gorton and Denton without the required imprint declaring that they were campaign material & their origin

The leaflets were designed to appear like a letter from a local pensioner

This is the chart in question

We have updated the PCR map to align with UKHSA's new date periods.

Short version: a big improvement with more up-to-date data

BUT

the new data shows levels are higher than we thought.

Long version below 👇

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Here's the latest variant picture for the United Kingdom, to late January.

XFG.* "Stratus" continued falling sharply to finish at 38%

BA.3.2.* grew suddenly and is challenging for dominance at 34%.

#COVID19 #SARSCoV2 #UK #BA_3_2 #Cicada
🧵

Just a hole in the ice, then - water on top of the plastic?

Fantastic! I'll guess that water vapour from underneath the plastic was expelled through a hole (expansion on heating by the sun?) and froze on contact with cold air above. Maybe?

The problem is that most extreme personal wealth is in the ownership of businesses. So either a tax on capital disadvantages UK-owned business vs foreign owned ones, or businesses are exempted from the tax and it does not raise much money. Reforming council tax is much more important.

Labour Unveils Sweeping Elections Reform Bill The Representation of the People Bill had its first reading in the Commons today.

What does the Representation of the People Bill include?

Votes at 16
Automatic voter registration
ID checks for candidates
Reformed postal & proxy voting
Risk checks for large donations
Ban on non-UK business & shell company donations
More Electoral Commission powers
Action on election intimidation

this strikes me as a key bit. OHHH WELLLLLLLLLL

Rare, dangerous side effects of some COVID-19 vaccines explained “Groundbreaking” study uncovers why adenovirus-based shots caused life-threatening blood clots and bleeding in some people

Five years after the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines started, it seems the mystery of why the Astra-Zeneca and J&J vaccines led to a rare but deadly side effect of unusual blood clots and bleeding has finally been solved. 

It's a fascinating case of molecular mimicry that may help make vaccine safer.🧪

An imprint says "Published by ... Printed by...". It's an offence not to have one (but I'm not sure what the penalty is).

Need to put the left bloc back together. Anything else is irrelevant.

I don't expect the Returning Officer can do much. It sounds like you've been defamed, for which you would need to get your own legal advice.

3 million disgusting nudified images were produced by Grok in just 11 days.

Existing safeguards don’t work; we need preventative measures for AI.

My letter with other MPs to @lizforleicester.bsky.social.

Juliet and Sureena Brackenridge MP at the Ministry of Justice

Sureena Brackenridge MP, Jake Richards, Minister for Sentencing, Youth Justice and International Justice and Juliet

I met with Jake Richards, Minister for Sentencing, Youth Justice and International Justice, to raise the urgent need for a National Dyslexia Strategy to help reduce the number of dyslexic people within the criminal justice system.

“I’m really excited [about the shingles research in particular] because it’s big data. These studies are not small or speculative or hypothetical, but solid and credible,” Altmann says…

Presumably, UK nationals with an EU passport can still fly to Dublin and take the train to Belfast?

Here's what I put together after several more days on the ground there:

margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/our-neighb...

Rita Hinden memorial lecture: Why Labour mustn't lose: social democracy vs the bros’ Dr. Rita Hinden (1909-1971) was a socialist and internationalist activist who played an important role in the intellectual life of the mid-twentieth century Labour Party - most notably as founder of…

Am pleased that my editorial for @renewaljournal.bsky.social is now online.

It was written back in September, but it seems even clearer now that the choice really is between social democracy and the (tech) bros.

renewal.org.uk/articles/rit...

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says dramatic falls in immigration visa numbers should offer an opportunity to reset the immigration debate, and to make a clear case for the contribution of controlled immigration, speaking at the Fabian conference today

🧵 @jburnmurdoch.ft.com is spot on about the conditions in his FT piece. Liberal democracy held it together thanks to growth, good demographics, and the promise of a better future. Those days are gone, and that’s the "why" behind the erosion. However...