If the Conservatives win, and particularly if they win an increased majority I predict: weakening of site protection post-Brexit (see what Conservative manifesto says) – the fact that SPAs were partly notified because of their raptor populations will become irrelevant; the chance of stopping damaging activities (like building new roads and tracks across blanket bogs,…
Category: THE POLITICS: Ministers, MPs, government policy
Hazel Grove/High Peak vote swap
This is a great idea! And whether it works or not it represents a fascinating attempt by ordinary voters to make their votes count for more! This is the idea: if you are a Labour voter in Hazel Grove your vote won’t count for very much, and if you are a Liberal in High Peak…
An Unreliable History of Birdwatching (10) by Paul Thomas
Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill
The party manifestos and the environment – a round up
When I vote next Thursday, I won’t vote on solely environmental grounds, but it will be a significant factor in my choice. I hope it will be a factor in your choice too. There is a massive difference in the approach to the environment from the Left and Right of politics which is very clear…
Let’s see the back of Andrew Bingham in High Peak
The Peak District is a fulcrum for change in the British uplands and has been the scene of three Hen Harrier Day events so far. Each of those events was held in the constituency of Andrew Bingham, High Peak, but we didn’t see him at any of them. The constituents of High Peak were strong…
Let’s see the back of Craig Whittaker in Calder Valley
Calder Valley was the constituency that provided the most signatures for my e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting. In fact it produced 871 (out of 123,077) signatures. The rival e-petition, supporting grouse shooting, accumulated just 31 signatures in Calder Valley (and only 25,322 overall). And yet Conservative MP for the Calder Valley, Craig Whittaker, spoke…
Hen Harrier Day politicians
A week today we will have the result of the 2017 general election. It’s your choice. Today I’ll be writing about individual constituencies and candidates. Over the three Hen Harrier Days to date we have seen a few politicians attend. I’d like to see them all re-elected, or in one case elected, on 8 June….
Vote for Policies – my results
It was something of a relief when I found that I had supported the Labour Party policies more than any other party’s policies when I chose them without seeing the policies labelled by party. But it comes as no surprise that Greens and LibDems scored highly too. Of course. the party policies are what they…
UKIP manifesto
I recommend that all should read the UKIP manifesto – I recommend that none should vote for them. The UKIP manifesto has a section on protecting the environment which meets, head on, the belief of many of us that Brexit will almost certainly be bad for the UK environment by saying ‘Brexit will not put…