Although the NFU says that it has written to every MP on the subject of CAP reform they don’t put that letter (or those letters) on their website as far as I can see. What they do say on their website is that they are ‘increasingly infuriated‘ with the government position. Only the farming industry…
Tag: badgers
Buy your badger Christmas cards here!
It’s December tomorrow so you should be posting your Christmas cards soon. About a dozen people have ordered sets of these cards so far and have told me that they will send them to Defra, Natural England, the NFU and David Cameron as a protest against the badger cull. If you’d like to purchase a…
A badger isn’t just for Christmas but…
Ralph Underhill and I have got together to bring you this set of three highly festive and wildlife-friendly Christmas cards. We thought that you might like to send them to the following people: Peter Kendall The National Farmers’ Union Agriculture House Stoneleigh Park Stoneleigh Warwickshire CV8 2TZ ————————————————————————————————————————————— Owen Paterson, Secretary of State George Eustice,…
An open letter to the new Defra Ministers
To George Eustice and Dan Rogerson. Dear Ministers Congratulations on your new ministerial appointments. You have an unpredictable time, but no more than 568 days (less holidays, the run up to the General Election, time off sick and being moved on or sacked) to make a difference. Given the uncertainties of Ministerial tenure you can’t…
Shuffling two packs
The Government changes In Defra, out go Richard Benyon and David Heath and in come George Eustice (Con, Camborne and Redruth) and Dan Rogerson (LibDem, North Cornwall). I always feel sorry for those who are required to move on because their Prime Minister needs to adjust the left/right balance, the male/female balance, the north/south balance…
Now that the Party (Conference) is over…
Did you comb the speeches of the Party leaders, at their Party Conferences, for mentions of the environment? Nick Clegg did best – he said that it was the Liberal Democrats who were keeping the Government ‘green’ and had ‘saved’ Natural England from the axe. Nick Clegg didn’t mention ‘wildlife’ or ‘nature’ but he did…
Badgers, Syria and democracy
I read an interesting blog last week by Matthew Taylor about whether ‘doing something’ is seen as better or worse than ‘not doing anything’. I am emotionally a ‘let’s do something’ type of person. If I see a mess I’d rather be doing something about it than not doing something – sometimes, even if I’m…
Saturday cartoons – by Ralph Underhill
Bovine TB
I heard this suggestion several years ago from a clever colleague. I haven’t heard it since but I bet he’s right – although it’s a bit late in the day now. Is there any genetic basis for immunity to bovine TB in cattle? If so, why aren’t we using the more immune breeds of cattle? …
Should we be grateful?
Sometimes governments say they are going to do 20 daft things (they never put it quite like that) and then only do 10 daft things and they expect us all to be grateful. There ought to be a word for it – a Greek word – maybe there is – for a victory which you…