Westminster MPs have stepped forward to become champions for different endangered species (and a similar scheme exists in Scotland). There is an interesting article about this in the current BBC Wildlife Magazine written by James Fair. I’m quoted in the article and my point is whether these MPs will speak out for their species on…
Category: THE POLITICS: Ministers, MPs, government policy
Trusted Trustees (2) – Richard Benyon MP
Richard Benyon MP is the second in this series of blogs introducing you to the trustees, chairs and patrons of wildlife and environmental charities etc. The idea is to let you know who is running or has a senior, perhaps albeit largely honorary, position in your favourite, or least favourite, charity. The trustees in this…
Writing to your MP
I often encourage people to write to their MPs – in talks, on this blog, in Birdwatch (the October column of which I have just written) and at the weekend’s Bird Fair. Sometimes, in fact quite often, people say that they never get a response from their MP – and that puzzles me as I…
Gove the environmentalist?
The speech by Michael Gove today is just fantastic – but is it fantastical? I don’t really care whether he believes what he says or not, I just care whether he implements his quite detailed words of today during his time as Secretary of State for the Environment. Since 2010 we have had one pretty…
The new Gove – ‘I am an environmentalist’
Michael Gove’s speech ‘The unfozen moment – delivering a Green Brexit‘ is very, very good. It’s, by far, the best speech made by a government environment minister since at least 2010. Not only is it erudite and clever, it shows a better grasp of the issues than his two immediate predecessors could muster after…
A Gove for good?
Michael Gove is a consummate politician and he’s no fool either. There are also rumours that he is quite keen on wildlife and the countryside (though he has managed to keep this fairly well-hidden to date). The new and dynamic Secretary of State for the Environment is about to make a speech at WWF’s HQ…
Pro grouse shooting MPs investigated
I keep an eye on the ups and downs of the politicians who have played any part in the debates over the future of driven grouse shooting and other topics which interest me. Four MPs are being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards – two of the four are Conservative MPs with seats in…
Seriously rattled – and rightly
In a long rant the Countryside Alliance shows just how rattled it is by the challenges to driven grouse shooting. It’s all the usual stuff, in fact it’s quite a useful refresher course in the Alliance’s lack of solid arguments on the subject. But it’s interesting to think about why the grouse shooting folk have…
The Gove Test – some thoughts
The ‘Gove test’ for the environment is ‘If we want the UK’s approach to environmental protection and enhancement to be seen as the best in the world, what does that mean and what does it look like at a local, national and global level?‘. I’m offering a wide range of organisations the opportunity to publish…
The Gove test
Michael Gove visited Rainham Marshes on Thursday and had a chat with the RSPB. That looks good and is good. He set the RSPB a little bit of homework which was ‘If we want the UK’s approach to environmental protection and enhancement to be seen as the best in the world, what does that mean…