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…
Category: THE POLITICS: Ministers, MPs, government policy
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…
Breaking news…Government forgot about the general election!!!
I have just (17:19) received this email: Dear Dr Mark Avery, Unfortunately we’ve had to bring forward the closing date of your petition Ban driven grouse shooting from 28 May 2015 to 30 March 2015 The dissolution of this Parliament has now been scheduled for 30 March 2015, and it’s not possible for petitions…
Eats, shoots and leaves – Owen Paterson
When the news of Owen Paterson’s sacking from the Cabinet was announced there was great cheering above and below ground by badgers and friends of badgers alike. It’s unseemly to take pleasure in another’s misfortune but… His term of office at Defra was short and undistinguished – 22 months dominated by floods (where he spoke…
Malta response from Foreign Office.
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I walked past the Foreign Office the other day when I was in London and it made me wonder when my excellent local MP, Andy Sawford, might get a reply to his letter to them about ‘Maltese spring slaughter’. I found a letter waiting for me on my return. The letter is almost identical to…
The colour purple
The UKIP surge has coloured in most of rural England as purple on the political map. It isn’t easy to find out what UKIP thinks about the CAP, badger culls, marine protected areas, climate change, grouse-shooting, neonicotinoids or other environmental matters from their website. The environment will be just one area of doubt over what…
What the Wildlife Trusts are saying about tomorrow’s EU elections
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The following is taken from a Wildlife Trusts’ press release: The UK will elect 73 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) tomorrow who will have significant influence over a range of important EU policy decisions. For people who care about the future of nature in the UK, these decisions are crucial. During the next…
General Licence response
If you wish to respond to the consultation on the General Licence (in England) then you have until the end of next Monday to do it. The General Licence does what it sounds like it does. Instead of having to apply for an individual licence to kill some wildlife, and justify it on a case…