Geoffrey Lean

Jan 9, 2025 | dailymail.co.uk | Geoffrey Lean

An elderly man in the US state of Louisiana died on Monday of bird flu contracted from exposure to sick and dead chickens in his backyard flock, becoming the country’s first fatality from the disease. But what has really set the alarm bells ringing is that samples collected from him suggested that the virus may have acquired the ability to attach itself to cells in the human upper airway.

Nov 24, 2024 | msn.com | Geoffrey Lean

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Nov 24, 2024 | theguardian.com | Geoffrey Lean

The resolutions reached at Cop29 on tackling the climate crisis, in the early hours of Sunday morning, are gravely disappointing but much better than nothing. And “nothing” was almost the result of this climate conference in Baku. The deal falls a long way short of hopes at the start of the climate summit, and even further behind what the world urgently needs.

Oct 12, 2024 | theguardian.com | Peter Walker |Geoffrey Lean

Councils have raised the alarm over what they describe as unrealistic government targets for new housing, saying these penalise local authorities when the fault often lies with developers sitting on sites that already have planning permission. Local authorities have also complained that targets under the proposed new national planning policy framework (NPPF) for England are sometimes totally unrealistic, both in terms of what can be built and, in some cases, the amount of homes needed.

Sep 9, 2024 | theguardian.com | Geoffrey Lean

Sir Humphrey Appleby would have a word for the government’s new green belt policy: brave. Its plan for one of the country’s best-loved institutions justifies the mandarin’s description of apparently pioneering initiatives that risk grave electoral damage. For, as the Guardian reported, the plan mounts an unprecedented assault on countryside hitherto hailed by all administrations as sacrosanct. And conservationists are accusing ministers of deliberately misleading the public.