A couple of days ago I suggested that the recent Defra minister Richard Benyon might be called a ‘toff’. This was greeted by a stream of comments angry on the toffish ex-Minister’s behalf. Let’s just get the meaning of this four-letter word out of the way first. Toff – a member of the upper classes,…
Category: THE POLITICS: Ministers, MPs, government policy
Defra – drowning not waving
There are 653 days until the next General Election and since a week is a long time in politics this a very long time to go. However, most people will probably already have made up their minds on this coalition government and it will take distinct jolts , changes or events (dear boy) to alter…
Conservatives in Defra – not doing too well really
I can’t find the Conservative manifesto from the 2010 General Election online but I have my copy to hand. Here are some quotes from pages 95-97 with my assessment of how Defra has performed in nearly three years of being in ‘power’. ‘The most pressing animal health problem in the UK today is bovine tuberculosis…
Horse meat, Romania, vultures, Oscar Whisky, Owen Paterson and your taxes – all connected.
The connectedness of the world intrigues me. I like making connections between facts, people, events, ideas. I’m getting a bit tired of hearing about the ‘horse meat crisis’ (eg here, here, here, here, here) only because it certainly isn’t a crisis when safe delicious horse meat is incorporated alongside safe delicious cow meat in our…
The playing fields of Eton – infinitely level
Have you noticed that Britain’s future in the EU has been in the news recently? David Cameron’s speech on the subject says that if he is Prime Minister after the next General Election then he’s going to ask us all whether we want to stay in the EU. I can tell him my answer now …
EDM 603 taking off
This was a very good week for EDM 603 which calls upon the Home Office to find the funding to keep the National Wildlife Crime Unit going (in my opinion it actually needs an increase in funding!). 21 new MPs signed up to the EDM and it is difficult to imagine that that is not…
EDM 603
Early Day Motion 603, which calls on the Home Office to stump up its share of the cost of the National Wildlife Crime Unit has attracted six new signatures from MPs in the last week and has now reached 114 signatures. It is now the 8th-most-signed EDM of this session of Parliament (and has risen…
Early week and Early Day motion 603
Early Day Motions are a way of raising an issue in Parliament. MPs write a few words about an issue and then other concerned MPs can add their names to demonstrate support. If an EDM gets a lot of support, particularly cross-party support, then the issue tends to be taken a little more seriously than…
Bankrupt policies from Defra
Last week George (Gideon) Osborne had to do something different because it was clear that his economic policies weren’t working (he did the wrong thing, but he did have to do something) whereas there is no sign that Defra is going to do anything different even though their policies aren’t working either. The differences between…
Public says Government is failing on the natural environment
The public aren’t stupid – they have noticed that the Coalition Government is failing on its own commitments to Britain’s natural environment. Of those surveyed, less than a quarter (23%) think the Government is doing enough to protect our landscapes and wildlife – on land and at sea. These results come from a survey organised…