Monthly Archives: February 2016

Last week’s EU Poll – the results

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Miles King

Thanks to everyone who took part in last week’s poll on whether to stay in or leave the EU. 208 people took part, out of 492 who read the post – so 42% of readers decided to vote.   Hopefully … Continue reading →

Posted in EU referendum | Tagged | 2 Comments

Reasons to stay in the EU: “It’s not the economy, stupid”.

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Miles King

The people imploring us to leave the EU complain that we pay so much into the EU budget, but get so little back. It is true that last year the UK was the 3rd largest contributor to the EU budget, … Continue reading →

Posted in Common Agricultural Policy, EU referendum, Europe, European environment policy | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Farm Subsidies after Brexit – the first hints from Farm Minister Eustice

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Miles King

We’ve had a first hint from the Brexit side, as to what support farming would receive if the UK left the EU. This from Farmers Weekly” First details have emerged of a plan for British agriculture if the UK leaves … Continue reading →

Posted in Brexit, Common Agricultural Policy, farming, George Eustice, NFU, public goods, rewilding | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

My tuppence worth on the EU Referendum – and a poll

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Miles King

The big news for the Environment in 2016 is that, as a result of the divisions within the political right in England, we are being forced to vote on whether we want to stay in the European Union in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds Directive, Boris Johnson, Common Agricultural Policy, corporate lobbying, Europe, European environment policy, George Eustice, Habitats Directive, Nature Directives, NFU, public goods | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Badger-Cull Roll-Out and Charity Gagging show Government is living in its own Bubble

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Miles King

This week Natural England announced that it had received 29 applications for new badger cull areas, covering the entire south-west of England, extending to Herefordshire Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Under the beady eye of their masters at Defra, Natural England have … Continue reading →

Posted in badgers, Charities campaigning, Institute of Economic Affairs, lobbying, NFU | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

IEA may end up gagging on its own sock puppet

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Miles King

  Charities are to be banned from using “tax payers’ money” to influence Parliament, Government or Political Parties, the so called “sock puppet” issue. The Government has decided to introduce this change in legislation, as a result of a campaign … Continue reading →

Posted in Charities campaigning, Institute of Economic Affairs, libertarians, neoliberalism, sock puppet, Think Tanks, Tory Party, Uncategorized, voluntary sector | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

Select Committee takes floods evidence from George Monbiot, bars Richard AE North for “offensive remarks”

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Miles King

I had been looking forward to watching (and you can now on Parliament tv) the Envronmental Audit Committee evidence session for the Floods inquiry, in which George Monbiot was called, alongside Richard AE North, former Environmental Health Officer and now … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental Audit Select Committee, flooding, George Monbiot, RIchard AE North | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

UKIP reiterates its opposition to nature protection.

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Miles King

Some have recently  suggested that UKIP has a coherent environmental policy. Well, a few UKIP supporters have, anyway. I’ve written previously about the bizarre views of UKIP’s environment spokesperson Andrew Charalambous aka Dr Earth. And then there’s UKIP’s MEP and … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, European environment policy, Nature Directives, UKIP | Tagged , , | 8 Comments