DEFRA statement on heather burning

England’s ‘national rainforests’ to be protected through new legislation to prevent heather burning on blanket bog  The government has today announced plans to bring forward legislation to prevent the burning of heather and other vegetation on protected blanket bog habitats. The new regulations will prevent the burning of any specified vegetation on areas of deep peat (over 40cm depth) on…

Environment Bill delayed – report

Flagship Bill sinking – or at least becalmed? RSPB Chief Executive Beccy Speight satys: The slow, stop-start nature of the Environment Bill’s passage does not help us take the rapid action needed to tackle the nature and climate emergency. Our only hope is that this delay is used to improve the Bill. Environmental groups including…

This doesn’t look good.

I guess the only question really is whether the Prime Minister is lying to business leaders, or to the EU, or to the British public but the likely answer is that he is lying to everyone.

You probably read it here first…

The blog that appeared here on 27 December, ‘Brexit deal: ten words that spell environmental damage‘ pointed out that the non-regression (otherwise known as non-backsliding on environmental protection) clause in our cooperation deal with the EU was very carefully worded, apparently to circumscribe the extent of that non-regression. On the same day (but I think,…

Brexit deal: ten words that spell environmental damage

As you flick through the 1246 pages of ‘our’ Brexit deal you will hardly have got your eye in when you reach p179, and ‘Title XI, Article 1.1 LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR OPEN AND FAIR COMPETITION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT‘; So, already, we see that environmental protection is subsumed within the apparently bigger matters of trade….

Floods, pestilence but a Brexit deal?

When I queued with my mask on, to pick up our turkey (that’s now our Easter turkey), at 09:30 it had rained overnight but was just a bit drizzly but by the time I get home it was tipping down. The sky darkened and by mid afternoon there were floods all around us very locally…

This week I am mostly…

This week I am mostly: doing things for the World Land Trust doing things for Wild Justice wondering whether our modest plans for seeing family over Christmas will be possible, and sensible. wondering when the Brexit deal will be done – or should that be undone?  

Oven-ready?

Last week, the door fell off our decades-old oven. They don’t make ovens just like ours any more so if we wanted a simple replacement then it just can’t happen. Through our large range of ancient-oven-owning local contacts we found the details of a man who fixes oven doors. He sounded amazing – one person…