Here’s a very big example of what Dominic Woodfield wrote about in his excellent guest blog this morning. There’s a nuclear power station, Hinckley C, being built on the Severn Estuary and part of the conditions for it being built were to do with protecting fish which use the estuary and which might be sucked…
Category: THE POLITICS: Ministers, MPs, government policy
David Lindo and Caroline Lucas in conversation
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Tomorrow, Wednesday 24 June at 7pm, David Lindo (The Urban Birder) is in conversation with Caroline Lucas MP (the greenest MP in Westminster? by miles?). Join their conversation about making a change, diversity and our future relationship with nature. The event is free, open to all and is hosted online at theurbanbirderworld.com/live-webinars in partnership with…
Benyon review on Highly Protected Marine Areas
This review, which is quite important, was published on World Ocean Day two weeks ago. It gained a lot of acclaim at the time and this was pretty well-deserved. The group (which I said at the time it was set up, back in July 2019, looked like a good one), chaired by former Environment minister…
Political wildlife protection
People say that wildlife protection should not be a political matter – by which they usually mean a party political matter. But it is, and it should be. Let’s examine the protected status given to Mountain Hares in Scotland by the Scottish Parliament yesterday after a vote of MSPs. First, it was a great result!…
What will Boris say?
By now I would normally have done my first visit to each of my two Breeding Bird Survey squares. But under the current circumstances I thought I ought to let the time pass and check what the instructions were on the BTO website. Here they are: So, I was doing the right thing by not…
BASC writes to George Eustice
BASC is asking DEFRA to take notice of them – that’s usually what BASC press releases are about. This one has an inherent flaw in it though, although I expect that they will get away with it. What is that flaw? BASC asks DEFRA to take account of shooting’s conservation benefits when considering what to…
Alok Sharma MP on COP26
Press release from UK Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Department and Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP, President of COP26. COP26 President Alok Sharma gave his closing remarks to the Petersberg Climate Dialogue by video on Tuesday 28 April 2020. The UK, as incoming Presidency for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), co-hosted the two day…
Market lessons
We are re-emerging after decades of hibernation as a campaigner for global free trade. And frankly it is not a moment too soon because the argument for this fundamental liberty is now not being made. The reason we do not seek membership or part membership of the customs union or alignment of any kind, is…
DEFRA non-exec board member describes general licences as ‘appalling’
Well said Ben Goldsmith! If only Ben had some influence on DEFRA… Hang on, isn’t there a Zac Goldsmith who is a DEFRA minister? I wonder if they are related. And isn’t there a Ben Goldsmith who is a non-exec DEFRA Board Member? Could that be the same person? But seriously, thank you for speaking…
A letter from Defra
I’m grateful to my MP, Tom Pursglove, for getting this letter out of DEFRA. Sounds great doesn’t it?