Category Archives: Uncategorized

Boris talks up HS2, pretends he doesnt “get” Ancient Woodland.

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Miles King

French High Speed Railway By VincentdeMorteau (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons   Last week Mayor of London Boris Johnson had an extended and I have to say very interesting interview published in Total Politics magazine … Continue reading →

Posted in Ancient Woodland, Boris Johnson, HS2, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Feed the World….. sugar till we are all obese.

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Miles King

  We are told that Fat is the new normal and this is undoubtedly true. It’s another example of shifting baseline syndrome, also known as the “frog in the saucepan“. I have noticed my own waistline expand over the years … Continue reading →

Posted in Common Agricultural Policy, ecosystem services, farming, public goods, Uncategorized | 10 Comments

Humans as Deicides – we killed our original gods and we have forgotten them

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Miles King

Straight Tusked Elephant I had been thinking about writing about this again and George Monbiot spurred me to write this, following another eloquent, passionate but depressing counsel of despair in the guardian yesterday.  George argued that hominims had been driving … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecosystem Engineers, forest elephant, Pleistocene, straight tusked elephant, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Offsetting at Lodge Hill rears its ugly head again.

Posted on March 23, 2014 by Miles King

CIEEM held a conference on biodiversity offsetting last week, and I was lucky enough to be the first speaker. I had put in an abstract for a talk which was highly sceptical of offsetting and whether it would provide any … Continue reading →

Posted in biodiversity, biodiversity offsetting, Lodge Hill, RSPB, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Supergrass that betrays real Environmental Goods

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Miles King

I was intrigued by this headline in Farmers Weekly (where else?) – “£2.5M boost for grass that helps prevent floods“. What can it be? A panacea for all our flooding problems – is it superabsorbent? Is it a climate change … Continue reading →

Posted in agricultural pests, agriculture, ecosystem services, flooding, grasslands, Neonicotinoids, public goods, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

World Wetlands Day Blog: On the Level

Posted on February 2, 2014 by Miles King

In honour of World Wetlands Day (when will we next see an international environmental convention signed in Iran?) I write today about the Somerset Levels. Has anyone noticed that the Somerset Levels are under water? There’s been a bit in … Continue reading →

Posted in agriculture, Common Agricultural Policy, David Heath, Dredging, Environment Agency, Floodplains, public goods, Uncategorized | 9 Comments

Co-operating in a stitch up?

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Miles King

Interesting news today that the Co-op bank is paying “hundreds of thousands of pounds” to Reputation management company Quiller Consultants, while slashing support for charities, including the Co-operate Women’s Guild and Mutuo, the co-op’s thinktank. This is apparently as a … Continue reading →

Posted in banking crisis, co-op, Labour, Lord Hill of Oakeford, Quiller Consultants, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Come in and have a look around

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Miles King

Wikimedia Commons: Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine This is my 78th post since I started blogging again, in May this year. I’ve  been blogging like mad over the past three or four weeks – thanks to everyone … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

vanishing meadows – less than 5000ha left in England     Natural England come in for a great deal of stick from other conservationists – Walshaw Moor is a good recent example. But I’d like to praise them for some … Continue reading →

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Miles King | 6 Comments

Biodiversity Offsetting and Lodge Hill Part 2

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Miles King

At the end of Natural England’s press release confirming Lodge Hill had become an SSSI on tuesday were these words. “The decision to extend the SSSI clarifies the environmental importance of the site but does not determine whether or not … Continue reading →

Posted in biodiversity, biodiversity offsetting, conservation, housing, Natural England, neoliberalism, Owen Paterson, public goods, public land, scrub, the cabinet, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments