John F. Allen
@profjohnallen.bsky.social
#Cells | #Energy | #Evolution | #Photosynthesis | #Chloroplasts | #Mitochondria | #Science | Honorary Professor, #UCL
Reposted by John F. Allen
Farage just said “I didn’t wear a mask last time and I won’t wear them this time. This is nonsense.”
Here he is, not only wearing a mask, but also getting vaccinated…
Here he is, not only wearing a mask, but also getting vaccinated…
December 11, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Farage just said “I didn’t wear a mask last time and I won’t wear them this time. This is nonsense.”
Here he is, not only wearing a mask, but also getting vaccinated…
Here he is, not only wearing a mask, but also getting vaccinated…
Reposted by John F. Allen
The Epstein Files STILL have not been released.
If he wasn’t in them.
He’d have released them.
If he wasn’t in them.
He’d have released them.
December 9, 2025 at 6:40 AM
The Epstein Files STILL have not been released.
If he wasn’t in them.
He’d have released them.
If he wasn’t in them.
He’d have released them.
Reposted by John F. Allen
So this week shall I write about how killing unarmed civilians is murder or about how unwise it would be to limit the human right against torture.
Western liberal democracies in 2025.
Western liberal democracies in 2025.
December 8, 2025 at 7:57 AM
So this week shall I write about how killing unarmed civilians is murder or about how unwise it would be to limit the human right against torture.
Western liberal democracies in 2025.
Western liberal democracies in 2025.
Reposted by John F. Allen
The only mention of climate in the new US National Security Strategy (NSS)
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
![From the NSS: Energy Dominance – Restoring American energy dominance (in oil,
gas, coal, and nuclear) and reshoring the necessary key energy
components is a top strategic priority. Cheap and abundant energy will
produce well-paying jobs in the United States, reduce costs for
American consumers and businesses, fuel reindustrialization, and help
maintain our advantage in cutting-edge technologies such as AI.
Expanding our net energy exports will also deepen relationships with
allies while curtailing the influence of adversaries, protect our ability
to defend our shores, and—when and where necessary—enables us to
project power. We reject the disastrous “climate change” and “Net
Zero” ideologies that have so greatly harmed Europe, threaten the
United States, and subsidize our adversaries. <last sentence emphasised by me]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kwttqrd6vwu4dhnyqhx5akpp/bafkreif2pnod56qjhkm6slgkyu4hqzdmsoqv5bxbzixog7npg77rzjj644@jpeg)
December 8, 2025 at 9:51 AM
The only mention of climate in the new US National Security Strategy (NSS)
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Reposted by John F. Allen
On the bicentenary of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, I took a look for @nature.com into the way this celebrated tradition has evolved since Faraday's time.
rdcu.be/eTDKt
rdcu.be/eTDKt
How the Royal Institution made science a seasonal spectacle | Nature
From flaming raisins to robots and rockets, the institution’s Christmas Lectures have educated and entertained for two centuries. From flaming raisins to robots and rockets, the institution’s Christmas Lectures have educated and entertained for two centuries.
rdcu.be
December 8, 2025 at 10:18 AM
On the bicentenary of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, I took a look for @nature.com into the way this celebrated tradition has evolved since Faraday's time.
rdcu.be/eTDKt
rdcu.be/eTDKt
Reposted by John F. Allen
My latest commentary: how to populist-proof your democracy before it's too late…
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My guide to populist-proofing your democracy – before it’s too late | Timothy Garton Ash
From public service broadcasting to an independent judiciary, these are the things that we must fight to keep, says Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash
www.theguardian.com
November 25, 2025 at 9:01 AM
My latest commentary: how to populist-proof your democracy before it's too late…
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by John F. Allen
Another fine piece on defending democracy from @fromtga.bsky.social (I would add to the mix freely accessible libraries and archives of course) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
My guide to populist-proofing your democracy – before it’s too late | Timothy Garton Ash
From public service broadcasting to an independent judiciary, these are the things that we must fight to keep, says Guardian columnist Timothy Garton Ash
www.theguardian.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Another fine piece on defending democracy from @fromtga.bsky.social (I would add to the mix freely accessible libraries and archives of course) www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by John F. Allen
A timeline of Earth’s average temperature since the last ice age. Spoiler alert: It’s definitely getting warmer. And it’s happening increasingly, scarily fast. xkcd.com/1732/
Earth Temperature Timeline
xkcd.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:58 PM
A timeline of Earth’s average temperature since the last ice age. Spoiler alert: It’s definitely getting warmer. And it’s happening increasingly, scarily fast. xkcd.com/1732/
Reposted by John F. Allen
Look at this!
Another triumph for xkcd
Another triumph for xkcd
A timeline of Earth’s average temperature since the last ice age. Spoiler alert: It’s definitely getting warmer. And it’s happening increasingly, scarily fast. xkcd.com/1732/
Earth Temperature Timeline
xkcd.com
December 5, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Look at this!
Another triumph for xkcd
Another triumph for xkcd
Reposted by John F. Allen
But still doesn’t beat the fact that Cleopatra is closer to us in time than she was to the building of the Great Pyramid.
😱 "For example, the release of The Beatles’ first UK number one, Love Me Do, is closer to the reign of Queen Victoria than it is to the present day." @jackkessler.bsky.social
Time catches up with us all
When your memories become someone else’s history
www.linestotake.com
December 5, 2025 at 5:26 PM
But still doesn’t beat the fact that Cleopatra is closer to us in time than she was to the building of the Great Pyramid.
Reposted by John F. Allen
🚨🚨 God #America, this is grim and a very stark wake-up call to European political ledaders on the (non) future of the "transatlantic alliance":
December 5, 2025 at 6:56 AM
🚨🚨 God #America, this is grim and a very stark wake-up call to European political ledaders on the (non) future of the "transatlantic alliance":
Reposted by John F. Allen
It's a mark of our moral disintegration that there's even a discussion about Ukraine giving up land. To even countenance it is to reward colonialism.
December 4, 2025 at 6:23 PM
It's a mark of our moral disintegration that there's even a discussion about Ukraine giving up land. To even countenance it is to reward colonialism.
Reposted by John F. Allen
President of Ukraine:
The Russians started the war, and there are no alternatives to this wording. The whole world is a witness. They came with aggression to destroy us.
We stopped them. Europe helped, America helped.
The Russians started the war, and there are no alternatives to this wording. The whole world is a witness. They came with aggression to destroy us.
We stopped them. Europe helped, America helped.
December 2, 2025 at 5:30 PM
President of Ukraine:
The Russians started the war, and there are no alternatives to this wording. The whole world is a witness. They came with aggression to destroy us.
We stopped them. Europe helped, America helped.
The Russians started the war, and there are no alternatives to this wording. The whole world is a witness. They came with aggression to destroy us.
We stopped them. Europe helped, America helped.
Reposted by John F. Allen
Good time to repost this, after he’s been caught out lying about Reeves, too.
Who the f%*k is Chris Mason? Just watched his dreadful interview with Starmer. Who the hell does this weaselly third rate journalist think he is, presuming to grotesquely insult and trivialize the British PM? Starmer may have some challenges, but he shd not have to put up with this uninformed crap!
December 2, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Good time to repost this, after he’s been caught out lying about Reeves, too.
Reposted by John F. Allen
What a wonderful story - and a beautiful illustration of the power of the arts.
Great writing expands our imagination. It helps us to see the world in new ways.
And that has consequences that can never be measured by "average starting salaries" or "contribution to GDP".
Great writing expands our imagination. It helps us to see the world in new ways.
And that has consequences that can never be measured by "average starting salaries" or "contribution to GDP".
December 2, 2025 at 9:35 AM
What a wonderful story - and a beautiful illustration of the power of the arts.
Great writing expands our imagination. It helps us to see the world in new ways.
And that has consequences that can never be measured by "average starting salaries" or "contribution to GDP".
Great writing expands our imagination. It helps us to see the world in new ways.
And that has consequences that can never be measured by "average starting salaries" or "contribution to GDP".
Reposted by John F. Allen
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
I would have agreed, too, but found in my last job that honesty is a sacking offence. So please add senior management to the list
I used to say that I'm happy to be in academia because it was one of the few jobs in which it was still possible to be honest.
That isn't as true as it used to be. Thanks to degree mills like this, paper mills and thanks above all to #AI which is the cheats' best friend.
That isn't as true as it used to be. Thanks to degree mills like this, paper mills and thanks above all to #AI which is the cheats' best friend.
Does anybody know if anybody has completed a DBA in a year, online at a cost of $199?
The image is a Facebook advert, but the URL to their (DBA( web site is buff.ly/jEzf8h6 (archived at buff.ly/PNDlLJq (on 10 JUl 2025))
The image is a Facebook advert, but the URL to their (DBA( web site is buff.ly/jEzf8h6 (archived at buff.ly/PNDlLJq (on 10 JUl 2025))
December 1, 2025 at 4:43 PM
I would have agreed, too, but found in my last job that honesty is a sacking offence. So please add senior management to the list
Reposted by John F. Allen
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:55 AM
"We followed everything we were supposed to do"
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Legitimate green card applicants with US spouses are being
arrested by armed, masked men at scheduled immigration interviews, taken away from their children, sent to prison
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Reposted by John F. Allen
All the coverage of Reeves ‘lying’ debagged in a single sentence.
I’m quite enjoying the 180 turn on a six pence from “you’ve wrecked the economy and created a black hole” to “there was no black hole and this is even worse”.
November 30, 2025 at 9:57 AM
All the coverage of Reeves ‘lying’ debagged in a single sentence.
Reposted by John F. Allen
#BBCWATO still obsessed with the non-scandal of the budget. The uncertainty was whipped up by journalists, badgering Reeves for answers while knowing that she couldn't answer in advance. She said that more tax would be needed and she did it. I have never felt more critical of journalists.
December 1, 2025 at 1:26 PM
#BBCWATO still obsessed with the non-scandal of the budget. The uncertainty was whipped up by journalists, badgering Reeves for answers while knowing that she couldn't answer in advance. She said that more tax would be needed and she did it. I have never felt more critical of journalists.
Reposted by John F. Allen
My latest.
When the six Democrats said military officers ”can refuse illegal orders”, they were correct—indeed they went no further than that the Department of Defense’s own guidance, writes @davidallengreen.bsky.social.
When is an order an ‘unlawful command’?
And why has Trump reacted so furiously to six members of Congress correctly stating the law?
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 1:06 PM
My latest.
Reposted by John F. Allen
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.
Headline on The World at One just now:
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
"Sir Keir Starmer has denied putting the Labour Party before the country by ending the two-child benefit cap".
Can we please go back to reporting the actual news, not someone's partisan take on it?
November 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
It's such a bizarre framing. Labour MPs think taking 450k kids out of poverty is putting the country first! That's why they wanted it to happen! It's not because they personally benefit.