I saw a bus in London the other day with an advert for the film Contagion on it. I haven’t seen the film but I have seen the trailer and the striking thing for anyone who loves nature is this: “Character 1: Is there any way you can weaponize the bird flu? Is that what…
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38 degrees, conservatism and forestry
38 Degrees has made quite a big impact in its short life. Its praises have been sung by people leaving comments on this site several times and I have suggested that readers of this blog should sign up to some of its campaigns. Let’s do it again now – how about signing up to its…
Top scientist slams government
In his acceptance speech when receiving the RSPB Medal, Professor Sir John Lawton FRS described the coalition government’s proposed ‘dismantling of the planning system‘ as ‘truly terrifying‘ and the ‘backpedalling‘ on climate change in George Osborne’s conference speech as being ‘deeply worrying‘. Sir John, who is an RSPB Vice President, Chair of the Yorkshire Wildlife…
RSPB AGM
Yesterday’s RSPB AGM was, for me, the most relaxed one I have ever attended, as I was there as an RSPB member rather than an RSPB member of staff. And the most difficult question I had to answer was ‘Mark – how are you?’. You do learn a bit by attending these events and keeping…
Francis Maude – misquoted
Francis Maude is widely regarded as the hard man of the Cabinet Office – if you look at the photographs of Cabinet Office Ministers he can’t even manage a proper smile, more of a ‘I’m coming to get your quangos‘ leer. Having said that, Oliver Letwin, who is a cultured gent and so tends to…