Reposted by John RowanColin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 19hLab-acquired infections happen. Only a small percent ever become public information, in part because they never need to. The plague thing is interesting and unfortunate, and also the pandemic risk of wild type Yersinia pestis in 2026 is indistinguishable from zero. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... 110834
Reposted by John RowanJonathan Jones @sirjjkc.bsky.social · 4hIt turns out that much “red tape” is not imposed by bureaucrats or lawyers but the result of conscious political choices which can only be reversed at a political and practical cost 76513
Reposted by John RowanJohn Oxley @joxley.jmoxley.co.uk · 23hI think there is such an interesting ideological block on the Cons analysing defeat in 2024 through a lens that says "Maybe people like public services". 511915
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 04/10/2026Notes from a hotel breakfast. Friend of mine works in aviation, was talking about how the US is going to be dependent on AI for air traffic control, because they don't have enough controllers and aren't doing anything to address this, so the problem will get worse. 110
Reposted by John RowanQusay Noor @qusaynoor.net · 03/10/2026Marqab Castle, one of the best-preserved Crusader fortresses in the Middle East, sitting above Baniyas. 🏰🇸🇾 1185
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 03/10/2026It's the annual Dads military history weekend away, so we had dinner in one of the few surviving Dunkirk small boats. 181
Reposted by John RowanBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Martin Degville of Sigue Sigue Sputnik having breakfast in a Newcastle B&B, 1986, photo by Homer Sykes. 1224950
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 02/10/2026This is definitely true. People have ended up with some very strange ideas about what the EU is and does. 010
Reposted by John RowanSteven Seggie @stevenhseggie.bsky.social · 01/10/2026The death penalty is barbaric and has no place in civilized society. 3928
Reposted by John Rowanmtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 30/09/2026i think the much-discussed "what's wrong with the video game industry" issue falls along similar lines. weaponization of dark patterns to turn what should be a fun activity into a grim addictive grind that serves to benefit the game's publisher 617427
Reposted by John RowanDave Keating @davekeating.substack.com · 30/09/2026The signage right now outside the 🇪🇺EU's foreign office. Implied: unlike 🇺🇸 1277
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 30/09/2026This is an excellent thing, not least since the planes will be much safer in an actual war zone than on a Belgian air base. 140
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Hard to overstate how jaw-droppingly bonkers and ill-advised the Allied intervention in the Russian civil war was, as per this book. www.theguardian.com/books/2023/n...theguardian.comA Nasty Little War review – the west’s chaotic campaign to undo the Russian RevolutionJournalist Anna Reid’s thrilling history throws much-needed light on the dark, bloody and sometimes absurd attempt to overthrow the Bolsheviks by the US, Britain and others 121
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 27/09/2026There are special punishments set aside in the afterlife for people who are late to pick their children up from other kids' parties. 150
Reposted by John RowanUrsula K. Le Guin Bot @leguinbot.bsky.social · 26/09/2026All too often the heroes of such fantasies behave exactly as the villains do, acting with mindless violence, but the hero is on the “right” side and therefore will win. Right makes might. 05116
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 25/09/2026'Ludwig' is great fun so long as it sticks to the correct ratio of 'this week's baffling but entertaining murder' vs 'the meta mystery, the ongoing investigation of which provokes tension between the main characters'. It's about 3:1, I reckon. 070
Reposted by John RowanHello, it's Dan McDaid @danmcdaid.bsky.social · 25/09/2026You know what's weird, I've never heard the surname "Wogan" in any other context. Not among all the people I've met or heard of, not in all the TV shows I've watched. Not a single Wogan. How can this be? 12246
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 25/09/2026It's a sunny late summer evening, so it's a pre-dinner drink and this absolute banger of an album youtube.com/playlist?lis...youtube.comBlackheart Man - YouTube 120
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Got to take your joy where you can find it in these dark days, and watching this - entirely predictably - come crashing down around the greedy bastards' ears is most satisfying. www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-...bbc.comR360: Rebel series given ultimatum on overdue accountsThe company behind R360, the controversial all-star rugby start-up, has been ordered to publish overdue accounts or face being dissolved. 020
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Developing on this from yesterday, since I see we're arguing about whether the UK would need to adopt the euro and join Schengen. Basically, during accession negotiations, joining countries get to ask for some special favours. 22813
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 25/09/2026[hooded Assassin severs Templar's spinal column with a savage sword blow, slashes his throat with a dagger and rams a hidden blade deep into his right eye] Templar: well, this is unfortunate. Nevertheless, there are a few surprisingly articulate sentences I would like to utter before I die. 350
Reposted by John RowanDuncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 24/09/2026- Honestly my dear grandchildren, you’ll never believe how low rates were in the 2010s. - at least you built a load of infrastructure when borrowing costs were so low grandad? Right? Right? 251171183
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 24/09/2026I'm six foot six, does that make me a large family parent? 140
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Bluntly, accession negotiations involve the country joining jumping through hoops, and occasionally asking for a bit of a favour in return for having jumped through some hoops particularly smartly. This goes on until the EU says stop. The idea you 'leverage' these negotiations is radio rental. 1233
Reposted by John Rowanelias isquith @eliasisquith.blog · 23/09/2026this was a great piece. what is happening among thought leader-type elites — what has been happening among them for years — is a willing abdication of their most fundamental intellectual responsibilities. 113930
Reposted by John RowanJason @nickmotown.bsky.social · 23/09/2026That moment when you’re absolutely hammered at a wedding reception, and you hear the opening guitar chord off Dizzy by Vic Reeves. 0215
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Posted this two weeks ago about that lifeboat-attacking fascist. As ever, I am not some Ultimate Politics Knower, this is just bloody obvious. 093
Reposted by John RowanNeil Goodrich @ngoodrichhsg.bsky.social · 23/09/2026This is more or less the correct response. These idiots have moron-holed themselves into stupidity. Fuck them. Fuck their petty little lives. I'm not interested in hearing both sides when the other is made of those who only see grievance and hate. 48116
Reposted by John RowanSarah O'Connor @sarahoconnorft.ft.com · 22/09/2026Great charts from an ace "Stop calling Europeans welfare-loving slackers" piece from @chrisgiles.ft.com www.ft.com/content/362b... 04212
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Even if I don't understand it, I've come to accept that not everyone is as obsessed with the opening bars of 'Gimme Shelter' as I am. 020
Reposted by John RowanNick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · 19/09/2026The RNLI is the closest you will ever get to actual Batman. When rescue is visibly, viscerally, obviously impossible; when the water is a smothering, thundering black wall and the wind is screaming straight from Hell; when you are absolutely going to die: someone’s hand pulls you out and you don’t. 61260351
Reposted by John RowanDisappointed Optimist @disappoptimism.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Imho a law needs passing indicating whenever someone talks about AI publicly they must disclose their investment into it. Because pretty much every figure who says “this is scary” is also heavily invested & I’m so very tired of this game now. 23410
Reposted by John RowanMorgan Golf-French @zenothankyou.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Tempura and the style of battered, fried fish used for fish and chips were brought to Japan/Britain by 16thC Iberians (in the former case Christian, in the latter Jewish). They have the same origin and are nearly the same dish, but one has immense cultural cachet and the other is routinely mocked. 0218
Reposted by John RowanTyron @tyron.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Lmao, AfD fumbling their one shot at forming a state government in Saxony-Anhalt in the most predictable way possible 201072247
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 20/09/2026I got this out of nostalgia (the shanties!) but it's reminded me that the AC games are... bad games? Badly written, bad controls, think that being an RPG equals 'endless minor gear upgrades', repetitive and unfun gameplay. 110
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 19/09/2026As soon as I saw that interview, I thought it was likely to end up with her being driven from the village. It's all very dark. 070
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Imagine being so wealthy you can essentially do anything you want, but the persuading yourself that you are constrained to live in a different country for tax reasons. 163
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Black Flag Resynced sticking with the grand Assassin's Creed tradition of having a control system so janky it makes proper stealth functionally impossible to achieve. 010
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Could everything, rugby included, stop being so weird for no good reason, please? www.bbc.com/news/article...bbc.comNorthampton Saints cancel memorial wall project for fans' ashesThe club says there has not been enough demand for the project. 011
Reposted by John RowanMags L Halliday @magslhalliday.bsky.social · 18/09/2026I cannot comprehend anyone targeting RNLI volunteers with hate and threats. I cannot understand how anyone can have anything but respect and awe for people willing to set to sea in hurricanes, with waves as high as houses, to try to save lives. 1255890
Reposted by John RowanElizabeth Zelle @kohizeri.bsky.social · 17/09/2026"the assessment did not consider the crocodiles" is my new metaphor for people choosing to just ignore the data point that doesn't agree with them 14842286
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Drivers are potentially more dangerous than cyclists, who are in turn potentially more dangerous than pedestrians, but all of them should move around safely, not least by following basic rules of the road and being aware of others around them. There, how difficult was that? 030
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Is there any evidence *at all* that Pollock has attracted new fans to rugby? Or is it just one of those things that some commentators have decided must be true? www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-... 000
John Rowan @jrowanbxl.bsky.social · 16/09/2026This is well worth a read. I find point 2 particularly compelling this morning - witness the willingness of politicians to endlessly indulge the Piddingtons of this world - would be interested to know how we've reached this point. 231