"Pope Leo XIV has hit out at those who minimise the "increasingly evident" impact of rising temperatures in his first major statement on climate change.

Reiterating the words of his predecessor Pope Francis, the new pontiff lambasted critics who "ridicule those who speak of global warming".

The Pope's remarks, at a speech in Castel Gondolfo near Rome, will be seen as an implied criticism of US President Donald Trump, who last month called climate change a "con". Pope Leo also called for greater action from citizens the world over on climate change, saying there was no room for indifference or resignation.

Pope Leo condemns climate change critics

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgl1pgr2zn8o 

Thousands of Airbus planes have been grounded after it was discovered that intense solar radiation could interfere with onboard flight control computers, leading to delays around the world.

Around 6,000 A320 planes are thought to be affected, half the European firm's global fleet, but it is understood most will be able to fly again after undergoing a quick software update.

Planes grounded after Airbus discovers solar radiation could impact systems

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8e9d13x2z7o 

Joseph Banks' voyage of scientific discovery - listen

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0mbm70y 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl995e99ypo 

Polar bears are used to eating fatty and seal-based diets that they might not get in warmer climates because the sea ice platforms they use for hunting are melting, the study said. Researchers said changes had been found in gene expression areas of DNA linked to fat processing, which is important when food is scarce and could mean the southeastern bears are slowly adapting to the rougher plant-based diets.

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/news/three-norths-align-great-britain  (Nov 2022)

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/three-norths-set-to-leave-england-and-not-return-for-hundreds-of-years/  (Dec 2025)

"Even as weather extremes worsen, the voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influential."

Under water, in denial: is Europe drowning out the climate crisis?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/feb/21/under-water-in-denial-is-europe-drowning-out-the-climate-crisis 

I vaguely remember that in the local news at the time. Thanks for the reminder of the story David. 

Interesting summary there

I think this is a good example of what sort of things to expect under Climate Change.

We tend to think of Climate Change in terms of hotter summers and warmer winters - becoming a more "Mediterranean Climate" in effect - but we have also become subject to "Unexpected Consequences" as the Weather System is full of complex feedbacks  many of which are not fully understood. This is where Climate and Weather interface to give us unusual weather in various parts of the globe

The warming of the planet whilst averaging just below 1.5C since pre-industrial times is not uniform even in the long term (leaving aside short extremes such as this winter in NE USA) and we have so called "Arctic Amplification" where the Arctic has warmed perhaps 4x faster than the global average. This in effect weakens the temperature gradient between the tropics and the pole and this may well have profound effects on the Polar Vortex and the northern Jet Stream in position, amplitude and shape. It could well lead to areas of increased storminess being relocated and perhaps "blocking" situations changing position and frequency - we really don't have much of a a clue yet 

For those interested in a very technical discussion of what might be going on, I came across this document the other day although I will be the first to admit much of it is beyond my level of background knowledge needed to follow it. It does try and explain some of the day to day "weather" effects of longer term climate change

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2752-5295/ad93f3/pdf 

"Birdwatching may reshape the brain and build its buffer against ageing"

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2516604-birdwatching-may-reshape-the-brain-and-build-its-buffer-against-ageing/#Echobox=1771875443 

Here you go:

https://archive.is/7Wfok 

Personally I find bird-watching about as interesting as Peruvian politics, or the form of Piddlington United over the past six matches, but different strokes for different folks! One of the things I'll be interested in seeing, in due course, is what effect playing computer games has on mental ability into old life: we're getting to the point now where even 80-year-olds will have played computer games for decades, and I would expect that to have sharpened their minds into old age. (Note I'm not on about casual games like Wordle, but things like Diablo or real-time strategy games - things which require co-ordination and thinking ability, rather than just mentally juggling letters or numbers). 

I used to joke with my dad that if he ended up in a care home we'd have to ensure he had a PC in there, so that he could keep up with his football team's forum and continue playing his beloved Diablo 3 ! He would have been 78 this year, and even my mum (who preferred blowing monsters into bloody chunks in Doom , or killing heroes in Dungeon Keeper ) would have been 74. The age where old people were content with sitting in a chair knitting or vegetating by just watching TV for hours and hours is coming to an end - tomorrow's care home residents will expect much more!

It's a cheerful thought, but I'm doubtful whether it will be borne out in practice. I know a number of people who were able to carry out challenging mental activities  into their 70s (including my wife who completed a second degree at that age) who a few years later collapsed into dementia.

Maybe computer games will do something which running businesses, doing crosswords etc, do not. But for those in care homes for other reasons e.g. mobility problems you may have a point.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-20f878f1-f4af-4022-9f62-b0515b9f4b20 

23.88GW = 53.5% of UK needs from 1330-1400  - and gas down to 2.3%  at that time

Village at the heart of the race for longitude - Barrow-upon-Humber

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3ex18pxeggo 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_ (book)

Yes - I have it. Also see this piece: extract...

..."Whiston was pissed on, and Ditton sh*t on, but surely these Men ought to be besmear'd or bespatter'd with both, who, after the Longitude was had by a good and easy Way, wanted to have it from a very troublesome, tedious, difficult, and uncertain endless Method!"

http://rogerparsons.info/harrison.html 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20260403-how-bad-odours-affect-your-health 

"Every 16 hours, more or less, a Starlink satellite falls out of the sky. It's part of the SpaceX business model: Old obsolete satellites re-enter to make way for newer models.

So far this year, 171 Starlinks have reentered, adding more than 5 metric tons of aluminum oxide to the stratosphere and mesosphere. How does this compare to natural sources?

https://spaceweather.com/images2026/28apr26/graph_strip2.jpg 

The primary natural source is meteoroids -- the same "shooting stars" that streak across the night sky. As they burn up between roughly 75 and 110 km, they release a faint dusting of metals. Recent studies suggest that meteoroids disperse between 40,000 kg and 58,000 kg of Al₂O₃ into the atmosphere each year. Starlink in 2026 is on track to add between 26% and 39% of that natural total."

https://spaceweather.com/ 

https://www.rivenhallgreenhouse.co.uk/about/ 

https://www.farminguk.com/news/-150m-essex-greenhouse-approved-in-boost-for-uk-food-security_68403.html 

The plan is for ALL of Essex' incinerable waste to be burnt on this one site to heat greenhouses and to provide CO2 which will produce 7% of UK demand for tomatoes. The decrease in air freight and the use of CO2 in tomato production will reduce CO2 emissions compared to simple incineration (not sure whether they have taken lorry movements into the equation). To be built on a brownfield quarry site.

I find it depressing, frankly. Drop a cigarette butt or crisp packet and, rightly, you'll be fined £100 if caught. Let your dog take a dump on the pavement and not clear it up? £1000.

OTOH, send lots of junk into space and be brazen about it, or maybe dump a car in space? Adulation and admiration. 

We're a weird species, aren't we?

'Aluminum is plant food' - that would be my line if I was a Starlink spin doctor.

Somehow I doubt the chemtrail loons will pick up on this though....

You might enjoy this clip....

"Elon Musk's SpaceX has successfully launched its Starship V3 – the largest and most powerful rocket in history.

The test flight on Friday lasted about an hour and ended when Starship splashed down into the Indian Ocean and exploded as planned."

Moment SpaceX rocket explodes in the Indian Ocean after splashdown

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c1728ypp15no 

It's both ego driven madness and wanton pollution. Humans aren't going to do well where there is no air and 1/3 the gravity, let alone further away. It's just a techno distraction from what billionaires ought to be doing with their masses - caring for our home.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2p1pzzmyeo 

Imaginative and promising. I hope it gets the results they're looking for.