After the bees, the next animals to suffer from a mysterious mass die-back are oysters in France. And the population of puffins in Northumberland is tumbling fast.
And while some species – like the cattle egret which has just started breeding in England might benefit, you wonder what other species will suffer in consequence…
Saw this 1m-plus high thistle in a paddock in a farm just outside Moulins-Engilbert in Burgundy. Although of course they didn’t cooperate when I took the camera out, there were about a dozen bees swarming around it obviously having a lovely time, even though the flowers were well past their prime.
A lot is lost when we tidy things up too much….
According to the U.N. Population Fund, 190 million women become pregnant each year. Around 50 million choose abortion, but unsafe procedures kill about 680,000 of them each year.
Source
Man seen this morning driving one of those ludicrously tall and fat top-of-the-range Range Rovers that don’t fit in any parking space (with of course the shiniest possible, never-seen-a-dirt-road, finish).
He was stopped at the lights splayed at the angle right across the area painted green and marked with cycle logos.
So far so normal Chelsea tractor.
But the finishing touch?
A Playboy number plate holder.
Presented in a very comprehensive briefing by Camden council staff at the St Pancras and Somers Town “area forum” last week.
The London borough of Camden has just under 16,000 people on its housing waiting list, and 1,420 statutory homeless households living in temporary accommodation. Thirty per cent of Camden households are overcrowded (national figure 7%). A total of 2,691 households on the housing register are overcrowded.
About 9,000 properties in Camden have been sold under right to buy.
The population is predicted to grow by 20% (10% by 2016), mostly in the 15-59 age group.
Seventy-four per cent of inquiries to councillors were about housing.
A total of 195 “affordable” homes were built last year. (The prediction for 2007-8 is 180. About 250 starts of affordable housing are predicted in the King’s Cross development – I asked if it was thought this would be affecting by the credit crunch and the claim was that it wouldn’t be.)
Phone books.
When was the last time you opened one? I’d date my last touch of one for any constructive purpose back at least seven or eight years.
Yet still every year several arrive – usually plastic-wrapped – on my doorstep. So I pull off the plastic, then stack it by the door until I’m making a special trip to the central recycling facility (since I believe you can’t put them into normal paper recycling).
A totally pointless waste of resources.
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