New CLA President – Henry Robinson

The new President of the CLA is Henry Robinson – well, he’s no longer that new, he’s been in post a couple of weeks. I’ve always liked Henry (though I don’t know him that well – maybe I’m too quick to like).  Anyone who I occasionally meet at Cheltenham racecourse starts with a slight advantage…

NFU failed to get it up!

  I don’t quite know how I missed this much earlier in the year but it’s never too late to point out the failures of the NFU (and their friends the CLA) in this, red tractor logo week (for more on red tractors come back tomorrow). In return for not having any regulatory requirements imposed…

Saturday cartoon by Ralph Underhill – the simple-minded

It’s the weekend of the Game Fair, so spare a thought for all those people walking around in tweed in this hot weather – although you’d, maybe, think they had more sense. There will be a lot of talk about lead ammunition – it’s a big thing this Game Fair.  The shooting organisations are belatedly…

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…

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…

Last week’s news

It’s quite difficult to get past the headlines to understand the details of the EU budget agreement.  Yes the budget has been capped thanks to some good negotiation by plucky David Cameron but what does that mean – particularly for the environment? I bought the FT, Independent and Guardian on Saturday and found them no…

Our forests

The government published its response to the report of the report of the Independent Panel on Forestry last week. You will remember that 38 Degrees launched a campaign to Save our Forests and more than half a million people signed the petition worded as follows: The government is planning a massive sell off of our…

Forest Panel’s report published

The final report of the Independent Panel on Forestry has been published. The initial Defra response to the report was fairly warm, and fairly non-committal. Everyone else seems to like it: RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, Woodland Trust, National Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Save Our Woods, CLA, Royal Forestry Society. Media coverage includes: BBC, Guardian, Independent, Telegraph. Read…