The people have made their choice and we all have to live with it. The environment faces a tough time over the next five years and that means that those who care about it, not enough of us, need to raise our voices and do even more to fight for nature. I went to bed,…
Tag: Defra
Time to decide – a voter’s guide
It’s a fascinating general election which has been preceded by a tedious and shallow election campaign. None of the political parties, certainly not the ‘Big Two’, come out of the campaign with much credit. It’s been a ‘heads down’ rather than an ‘eyes up’ campaign, with little analysis, little laying out of political philosophy and…
Conservative manifesto – they forgot the countryside too
I’m really rather surprised. Five years ago the Conservative manifesto was streets ahead of the others in its treatment of rural, wildlife and some environmental issues. That doesn’t mean I agreed with it, but one could see that someone, somewhere, had given it some thought. I was expecting the same this time around, and I…
Minister misleads
I was talking to a former, very distinguished, colleague yesterday about the environmental question time event the week before last, and how Rupert (Lord) de Mauley was so slippery and smooth that nobody could get hold of him. He was like a Turkish wrestler covered in olive oil. But his statement, which I have now…
Environmental question time
Yesterday evening I attended an environmental question time organised by the Sibthorp Trust, British Ecological Society and CIEEM, and chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby. The panellists were Natalie Bennett (Green Party), William Cash (UKIP), Barry Gardiner MP (Labour), Lord (Rupert) de Mauley (Conservative Defra minister), Baroness Kate Parminter (Liberal Democrats, Environment Spokesperson) and Dr Eilidh Whiteford…
Inglorious
Inglorious: conflict in the uplands will be available for Hen Harrier Day (9 August), the Inglorious 12th and thereafter. Published by Bloomsbury in late July – but you can order it now on World Book Day.
Guest blog – Food security by Roderick Leslie
Although I worked as a forester I actually studied Agricultural & Forest Science under the great agricultural educationalist Mike Soper. Even back in the 70s I remember the question ‘where does it all end?’ was being asked – the risks of flash-over resistance to antibiotics from pigs to humans as a result of them being…
Not so Fine Shade (5) – privatisation by the back door?
This is a piece I have just had published on the Guardian website which puts Fineshade into the wider political context. Why has the FC allowed Forest Holidays to submit a planning proposal with such inadequate data? Where are those who opposed forestry privatisation when it was proposed by the front door, now it is…
Defra – what are you for? (4)
This government has been hopeless at doing things for nature. Almost completely hopeless. The Marine and Coastal Access Act received Royal Assent in November 2009. Then there was a general election in May 2010 and everything ground to a halt. Defra has dropped several proposed Marine Conservation Zones from the current consultation because of ‘economic…
A lead-free future
If you know anything about the evidence for harm from lead ammunition, and know anything about how many other countries have switched to non-toxic ammunition, then it is difficult to imagine how the ‘Lead Ammunition Group‘ could possibly do anything other than opt for a lead-free future. Parts of a single email released under FoI…