Owen Paterson must have been really hacked off by the vote in Europe yesterday to enforce a temporary ban on neonicotinoids. But at least it explains why some in his party think that we are going to be flooded with Romanians looking for jobs and benefits any time soon – we have a…
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So what is Defra for, exactly…?
Owen Paterson is keen on showing people photographs of himself with dead squirrels and Richard Benyon is the richest MP in Parliament, but David Heath is completely invisible. That’s Defra for you. The last Labour government came to ‘power’ in 1997, and by autumn 2000 it had enacted the CROW Act which widened the right…
‘Standing up for nature’ goes to America
My main task between now and the end of September is to finish writing a book ‘on’ the passenger pigeon for Bloomsbury – and for me and for you! 1 September 2014 will mark the centenary of the extinction of this bird – probably the most numerous bird in the world a few decades before…
Re introduced species
I think this is a great cartoon by Ralph Underhill. A clever take on the word ‘introduced’ and great expressions on the faces of the grey and red squirrels. Rather bizarrely the CLA issued a press release at the beginning of this week supporting Owen Paterson’s culling of grey squirrels on his land. Well,…
Butterflies
2012 was a terrible year for butterflies according to Butterfly Conservation – and they would know! Almost every species had a bad year with many having year-on-year declines of well over 50%. You can see why George Osborne might be sceptical about using natural capital in national accounts if a bit of grotty weather can…