John Topham
johntopham.bsky.social
John Topham
@johntopham.bsky.social
30 year RAF Veteran, retired after 20 years oil & gas.
Tech/Science/Health/Environment information junkie, scuba Divemaster and travel enthusiast. Atheist/Humanist. Here for pleasant company since X's descent into Dante's deeper circles of hell #FBPE 🗿七七
Pinned
How to identify and avoid ultra-processed 'food' - highly profitable, intensely appealing and intrinsically unhealthy
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them
The present commentary contains a clear and simple guide designed to identify ultra-processed foods. It responds to the growing interest in ultra-processed foods among policy makers, academic research...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Alarming stats, sharks are in decline too. The best estimate is that 100 MILLION are killed every year

Shark kills rise to more than 100 million per year—despite antifinning laws | Science | AAAS share.google/g9G8W9A6NQ4r...
November 10, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Sustained attack on the BBC today. Ex-editor of the telegraph saying it's left wing was no surprise, but there has been no robust defence. Plenty of Media bias monitors online, all say BBC reporting is accurate, trusted and either centre or centre left leaning.
GB 'news' on the other hand....
November 10, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The problem is the paid influencers on social media and the traditional right wing media are winning the propaganda game.
I've seen SO many posts recently casting doubt on the science. Politicians reflect the electorate, there's no appetite for change
#climate
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Rich countries have lost enthusiasm for tackling climate crisis, says Cop30 chief
Brazil’s André Corrêa do Lago says countries should follow China’s lead on clean energy as conference begins
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Love this. It proves underwater habitats can recover, with a bit of help and protection.
Now, if we just protected our Marine Protected Areas off the coasts instead of plundering them.....
Supported by the River Hamble Harbour Authority, the partnership has yielded the first ever continuous underwater footage of the River Hamble oyster reef a vibrant, football pitch sized ecosystem now home to an estimated 30,000 native oysters. oceanographicmagazine.com/news/royal-n...
Royal Navy captures footage of thriving oyster reef in the Solent - Oceanographic
Royal Navy and Blue Marine Foundation capture footage of a thriving native oyster reef in the River Hamble - a success for Solent restoration.
oceanographicmagazine.com
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Looks like we're in for more flooding around here in the future to go with the increasing coastal erosion
#climate

BBC News - Climate change threatening Norfolk and Suffolk Broads - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Climate change threatening Norfolk and Suffolk Broads
The outgoing boss of the Broads Authority on the challenges facing his successor and the waterways.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 11:12 AM
I posted about this earlier, here's a more 'reader friendly' version

newatlas.com/medical/prot...
Breakthrough gel can regenerate tooth enamel within weeks
An innovative gel that forms a layer over teeth and then recruits calcium and phosphate ions from saliva to build new enamel has the potential to change dental treatment. To date, we don't have any wa...
newatlas.com
November 8, 2025 at 10:12 AM
It's time for my favourite read-

Could the Mamdani style influence UK politics? Could an outspoken, honestly presented left leaning leader emerge to counter the current lurch to the right in a hopeless quest to appeal to the racists?
@eastangliabylines.co.uk
eastangliabylines.co.uk/pecksniff/pe...
Pecksniff: Mamdani victory hints at dramatic change to a new politics here too
In which Mr Pecksniff lays before his readers for their approval certain observations and speculations reflecting on the political life
eastangliabylines.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 9:51 AM
This is appalling
#climate
How thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists got access to UN climate talks – and then kept drilling | Fossil fuels | The Guardian share.google/OEJuXsfk6W49...
How thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists got access to UN climate talks – and then kept drilling
Exclusive: Research shows oil, gas and coal firms’ unprecedented access to Cop26-29, blocking urgent climate action
share.google
November 8, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Let's be clear:
The scientific consensus is clear, humans are causing an existential crisis by causing climate change.
The consensus that has gone is political, fuelled by the neverending chase of growth in the name of profit.
Doing nothing will be more expensive in the long term
#climate
Rainforests, far away, climate change and reliance on the Amazon, everywhere.

Starmer is an idiot.

'On Wednesday night, in a blow to the Brazilian hosts, the UK chose to opt out of its flagship $125bn (£95bn) fund to support the world's rainforests.'
COP30: Starmer warns 'consensus is gone' on fighting climate change
World leaders address COP30 climate summit in Belém and take aim at Trump record on climate change.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 8:27 PM
The signs are already there. The AMOC is slowing and that will have an effect on the lives of people alive today.
I hate to be negative, but I think it will take a tangible effect from climate change before people wake up and take it seriously. This would be it.
Today the 2025 State of the Cryosphere report was published by over 50 leading cryosphere scientists.
An urgent warning about the global consequences of the meltdown of ice, including the risk of shutdown of the Atlantic Ocean current system #AMOC. 🌊
iccinet.org/statecryo25/
November 7, 2025 at 8:14 AM
How reform get their policies - wait for someone to pay them to have one.

"I only ask because if you take a look at how they get their money, the suspicion quickly grows that pretty much anyone can get Reform...to say pretty much anything as long as their request comes with a ‘donation’."
November 6, 2025 at 2:11 PM
The benefits of exercise keep coming
November 5, 2025 at 2:21 PM
At 6 months, vaccine effectiveness was estimated at 29% against Covid-19–related emergency department visits, 39% against Covid-19–related hospitalizations, and 64% against Covid-19–related deaths.
www.jwatch.org/na59358/2025...
nejmJW_1L_RGB-b
www.jwatch.org
November 5, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Yet another reason to keep up with exercise.
5 hours of brisk walking or 2 hours of running each week over 3 decades was sufficient to achieve optimal benefit in reducing digestive system cancer risk
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Consistent Adherence to Physical Activity Guidelines and Digestive System Cancer Risk and Mortality
This cohort study using data from 3 large US prospective cohorts assesses whether adherence to the recommended physical activity level measured in metabolic equivalent task over time is associated wit...
jamanetwork.com
November 4, 2025 at 10:41 PM
The UK government could make a start by removing itself, its departments and any national utilities from X.
Why are they on a social media network where the owner is openly calling for the rule of law to be overthrown?
@bylinetimes.bsky.social

bylinetimes.com/2025/11/04/t...
The UK Must Urgently Distance Itself From Elon Musk and Space X, Warns Parliamentary Report
The UK's infrastructure has become far too reliant on the far-right billionaire, who could 'politicise' our reliance upon his companies, the report warns
bylinetimes.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:57 AM
So, I'm not wasting my heart beats with exercise then.
Resting heart rate of 47 isn't bad for my age though.
www.victorchang.edu.au/news/exercis...
New study: Exercise Could Actually Save Heartbeats
New Australian research shows fitter people use fewer total heartbeats per day - potentially adding years to their lives.
www.victorchang.edu.au
November 2, 2025 at 10:40 AM
"Since leaving the EU, the U.K. hasn’t just ditched free movement with the bloc, it has also significantly liberalized its rest-of-world visa system — resulting in a large increase in migration from other countries”
No shit. Block our near neighbours, someone else has to fill those jobs.
Brits are pining for the pre-Brexit migration system.
The idea was that leaving the bloc would give the U.K. back “control” of its borders and create a fairer system. But the widespread perception is it didn’t turn out that way www.politico.eu/article/labo...
Brits are pining for the pre-Brexit migration system
The idea was that leaving the bloc would give the U.K. back “control” of its borders and create a fairer system. But the widespread perception is it didn’t turn out that way.
www.politico.eu
November 2, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Wow, how many targets does @pecksniffsdiary.bsky.social hit this week?
* Corruption Pecksniff can’t publish: Tory donor gets rich off asylum contract
* Polls show fears over immigration are media-driven, not real-life
* Tory HQ loses contact with 1 in 5 local parties

Read this and more in the latest diary ⤵️

@eastangliabylines.co.uk @pecksniffsdiary.bsky.social
Pecksniff: Evidence of corruption in refugee hotel contracts must remain unpublished
In which Mr Pecksniff lays before his readers for their approval certain observations and speculations reflecting on the political life
eastangliabylines.co.uk
November 1, 2025 at 12:11 PM
A dark part of our history, intolerance and fear of the different.

As the article hints though, is it history, or are modern day witch hunts isolating and judging others that are different today?
Hopkins’ so-called “tests” were barbaric. If you bled, you were innocent. If you floated, you were guilty.

Justice turned upside down by superstition and greed.

Stuart Burrell looks at some very dark history.
The Witchfinder General: East Anglia’s dark secret
As we tell ghost stories to children, it is time to remember a true horror that stalked these lands
eastangliabylines.co.uk
October 31, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Another good reason to avoid COVID infections.

Maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnancy was associated with increased risk of adverse neurodevelopmental diagnoses by age 3 years
journals.lww.com/greenjournal...
journals.lww.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Also see:
Financial misinformation
Migration misinformation
Historical misinformation
And just plain denial of reality
🔴 Reform UK Just Won Britain’s Least-Prestigious Award – For ‘Promoting Pseudoscience’

Nigel Farage’s party was recognised for “widespread embrace of climate change denialism and antivaccine misinformation.”
bylinetimes.com/2025/10/29/r...
Reform UK Just Won Britain's Least-Prestigious Award – For 'Promoting Pseudoscience'
Nigel Farage's party were recognised for “their widespread embrace of climate change denialism and antivaccine misinformation.”
bylinetimes.com
October 30, 2025 at 12:56 PM