Yesterday evening I attended an environmental question time organised by the Sibthorp Trust, British Ecological Society and CIEEM, and chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby. The panellists were Natalie Bennett (Green Party), William Cash (UKIP), Barry Gardiner MP (Labour), Lord (Rupert) de Mauley (Conservative Defra minister), Baroness Kate Parminter (Liberal Democrats, Environment Spokesperson) and Dr Eilidh Whiteford…
Category: THE POLITICS: Ministers, MPs, government policy
Labour: protecting animals
The Labour Party has published a rather brief pamphlet on ‘Protecting animals’ whose focus is very much animal welfare and not nature conservation. It sometimes seems as though Labour sees the environment as climate change, and animals as welfare – which may leave nature conservation falling through a rather big hole in the middle! I’m…
Defra – what are you for? 1
Defra – what are you for these days? You seem to lack energy (and direction and even any ideas). The performance of Defra has been woeful under the coalition government. Apart from the introduction of a small amount of money for Nature Improvement Areas (of which we have heard very little since) what has Defra…
So you think that nature conservation isn’t a political subject (2)
Do you think that driven grouse shooting should be banned? Apparently, two-thirds of you do: If we break that down into those who would vote Labour in preference to Conservative then 87% are in favour of a ban of driven grouse shooting: And if we select those that would vote Conservative in preference to…
Labour MPs’ take on the Rally for Nature
Here are three examples of responses from Labout MPs to their constituents on the issues raised by the Rally for Nature last week. You can see that each response is clearly a personal one and that’s why I haven’t revealed the identities of the MPs or their constituents. I’d be interested in any further responses…
Why Labour is doing badly – and how it could do better
It’s a matter of head and heart isn’t it? I am not terribly tribal in my politics. I have been too pragmatic in my life to believe that one side has all the good guys, all the wisdom and all the solutions. That can’t possibly be the case, can it? There are plenty of politicians…
Rochester and Strood by election
Tomorrow’s Rochester and Strood by election will see a victory for UKIP and an absolute trouncing of the Labour candidate. That’s a shame (for we Labour party members). However, this result will signal a wake-up call for all politicians in the UK. It is pretty tricky for David Cameron and the Conservative party. I’m not…
Liz Truss – do one good thing
The continuing decline of farmland birds in our countryside (red line) is a clear sign that we are farming unsustainably (there are plenty of other signs – but this is a pretty good one). Yes 2012-13 was a pretty bad period for resident birds (and we are mostly talking residents here) but hardly one out…
Boris aims to lead the shooting party…
…was a headline in the Evening Standard yesterday (Londoner’s Diary). The Tory supporters of Uxbridge are in for a real change when the birdwatching Sir John Randall is replaced by bird-blasting Boris Johnson next May (other candidates are available but may not get a look-in). Boris has been off grouse shooting it seems. A Twitter…
To all green blobs out there
It’s two and a half weeks since Owen Paterson went out with a rant about the Green Blob. It was a fairly remarkable outburst at the time and re-reading it hardly lessens the impact. Paterson’s hatred, for so it seems, for those who devote their lives to the environment is quite shocking. It’s also shocking…