Did you watch ‘Kevin McCloud’s Listed Britain’ on More4 last night, venturing inside the 375ft cooling towers at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire? The last coal-fired power station in Britain, Ratcliffe was decommissioned in 2024 and now exists on borrowed time.
From a peak of 240 cooling towers in the 1960s, today only 34 remain across the country and almost all are due to be demolished by the end of this decade. We’re campaigning to preserve one set of these majestic structures; icons of our industrial heritage and, in the words of artist Sir Antony Gormley, the ‘Stonehenge of the Carbon age’.
✍🏼 Follow the link in our bio to sign and share C20 Society’s @change petition, and help to save Britains cooling towers!
https://t.co/1qcPrQhFCA
Awkward. Speaking in parliament in 2022, John Swinney railed against the economic illiteracy of people suggesting he had the right to spend ringfenced money on other things.
Awkward. Speaking in parliament in 2022, John Swinney railed against the economic illiteracy of people suggesting he had the right to spend ringfenced money on other things.
The impending closure of Queen's Park Glasshouse in August due to @SRUC leaving as an anchor tenant is disappointing.
I have a keen interest in Glasgow's Victorian hothouses, and there is an interesting proposal for Queen's Park Glasshouse in development. https://t.co/VVUOWAJnjY
Between 1948-1950, Keith Vaughan made a series of images depicting steelworkers in a foundry. In this work from 1949, three furnacemen are taking a tea break. The image is related to a sketchbook he made entitled 'Steel,' which is now housed in the Tate Britain archive.
Wings Over Scotland has today filed a new complaint with Police Scotland and COPFS against the SNP, on grounds of suspected fraud, theft by appropriation, embezzlement and false or misleading statements, based on new evidence POST-Operation Branchform. https://t.co/orUI13zN5g
The big question in all of this is why were these messages between Darren Jones and Peter Mandelson not released on Monday alongside all the other Humble Address documents?
The Humble Address is clear that "electronic communications… between Lord Mandelson and ministers… during his time as Ambassador" must be released to Parliament - that is exactly what these messages between Darren Jones and Peter Mandelson are.
The Cabinet Office, which Darren Jones is in charge of, oversees this process, and it is beginning to look as though that department cannot be trusted to make politically sensitive decisions.
In my mind, we now need an independent third party, not subject to the pressures of the Government, to review this matter.
The most natural option would be for the National Audit Office to look at this. When I was chair of the Public Accounts Committee, the NAO had access to every single document in government no matter how highly classified.
The NAO could review the information and documents the Government holds and provide reassurance that the demands of the Humble Address are being properly complied with.
https://t.co/BXZKw3DoyR
BOVAER: COW KILLER DATA TODAY
HUMAN KILLER DATA LATER
Full PPE to Handle Bovaer
Fertility Risks for Farm Workers
First Signs of Toxicities in Herds in Denmark
• digestive disorders
• metabolic issues
• reduced feed intake
• reduced milk yield
• behavioural changes
• fertility irregularities in some herds
This is one of the most important developments in the entire Bovaer story, and it happened because real‑world farm data did not match the original controlled‑trial data.
🟩 Why EFSA Reopened the Bovaer Safety Review (2026)
EFSA (the European Food Safety Authority) reopened the safety assessment of Bovaer for two reasons:
⭐ 1. Denmark reported widespread cow‑health problems after Bovaer rollout
⭐ 2. EFSA realised the original approval relied on short, controlled trials that did not reflect real‑world farm conditions
Let’s break each one down.
🟦 1. The Danish Trigger: Health Problems in ~25% of Bovaer‑Using Farms
When Denmark rolled out Bovaer across dairy herds, farmers began reporting:
• digestive disorders
• metabolic issues
• reduced feed intake
• reduced milk yield
• behavioural changes
• fertility irregularities in some herds
The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) analysed the reports and found:
Around one quarter of the 1,600 farms using Bovaer had notable health issues temporally associated with its introduction.
This does not prove causation — but the scale and consistency were enough to raise a red flag.
Denmark then formally notified EFSA.
This is what triggered the review.
🟦 2. EFSA realised the original safety file had gaps
The original EFSA approval (2022) was based on:
• short‑term trials
• small numbers of cows
• controlled, idealised conditions
• no multi‑lactation studies
• no large‑scale field data
• no cumulative environmental modelling
• no long‑term reproductive studies
In other words:
Bovaer was approved based on “laboratory‑style” data, not real‑farm data.
Once Denmark provided real‑world evidence, EFSA had to reassess.
🟦 3. Specific concerns EFSA is now re‑examining
EFSA’s reopened review focuses on:
🔹 A. Safety for dairy cows under real‑world feeding conditions
Including:
• long‑term digestive effects
• metabolic stress
• rumen microbiome shifts
• interactions with different feed types
• effects on high‑yielding cows
🔹 B. Safety for breeding cows
This is important because:
• original studies used non‑breeding cows
• reproductive effects were not fully assessed
• 3‑NOP is classified as “suspected of damaging fertility” for workers
EFSA wants to ensure no reproductive impacts occur in cows.
🔹 C. Dose‑response uncertainty
Some Danish farms used:
• slightly higher doses
• continuous feeding
• different feed mixes
EFSA is checking whether small deviations increase risk.
🔹 D. Cumulative effects
Daily use for years may have:
• rumen effects
• metabolic effects
• microbiome effects
These were not studied originally.
🟦 4. Why this is scientifically significant
This is the first time EFSA has reopened a feed‑additive safety file after rollout, not before approval.
It signals:
• the original data was insufficient
• real‑world effects may differ from trials
• regulators are concerned about scale‑up risks
• the safety margin may be narrower than assumed
This is extremely rare in EU regulatory history.
A HEALTH DISASTER INCOMING?
YES…