Tuesday, 31 December 2019
A RIVER'S TALE - THE THAMES AND LONDON TOWN BY KIPLING
As I write this short note by son Matt is driving his cab around London Town. He sent me this and, in a way, it tells our tale.
I am British as I am old enough to remember a few things. English by birth and very proud. European by choice and possibly by DNA! And a remainer too. That's enough and may this next year be as good as you can make it. Each good day is a bonus.
The River's Tale
(Prehistoric)
TWENTY bridges from Tower to Kew -
Wanted to know what the River knew,
Twenty Bridges or twenty-two,
For they were young, and the Thames was old
And this is the tale that River told:-
"I walk my beat before London Town,
Five hours up and seven down.
Up I go till I end my run
At Tide-end-town, which is Teddington.
Down I come with the mud in my hands
And plaster it over the Maplin Sands.
But I'd have you know that these waters of mine
Were once a branch of the River Rhine,
When hundreds of miles to the East I went
And England was joined to the Continent.
"I remember the bat-winged lizard-birds,
The Age of Ice and the mammoth herds,
And the giant tigers that stalked them down
Through Regent's Park into Camden Town.
And I remember like yesterday
The earliest Cockney who came my way,
When he pushed through the forest that lined the Strand,
With paint on his face and a club in his hand.
He was death to feather and fin and fur.
He trapped my beavers at Westminster.
He netted my salmon, he hunted my deer,
He killed my heron off Lambeth Pier.
He fought his neighbour with axes and swords,
Flint or bronze, at my upper fords,
While down at Greenwich, for slaves and tin,
The tall Phoenician ships stole in,
And North Sea war-boats, painted and gay,
Flashed like dragon-flies, Erith way;
And Norseman and Negro and Gaul and Greek
Drank with the Britons in Barking Creek,
And life was gay, and the world was new,
And I was a mile across at Kew!
But the Roman came with a heavy hand,
And bridged and roaded and ruled the land,
And the Roman left and the Danes blew in -
And that's where your history-books begin!"
Monday, 30 December 2019
DEAD FOX DEADENS THE FESTIVE SPIRIT
CHRIS PACKHAM PICKED ON AGAIN - DEAD FOX LEFT FOR HIM
Chris Packham
Image caption
Chris Packham posted a video on Twitter after the fox was left outside his home
TV naturalist Chris Packham has posted a video of a dead fox which he said had been left outside his home in the New Forest.
He said the body of a male fox found in his backyard showed injuries consistent with being snared.
He said that when he speaks out about fox hunting "unpleasant things happen".
Earlier this year, dead crows were left on his gatepost after he led a legal challenge to halt the licensed shooting of crows.
Dead fox found by Chris PackhamImage copyrightCHRIS PACKHAM
Image caption
Chris Packham said the male fox found in his backyard showed injuries consistent with being snared.
In the video posted on Twitter the BBC Springwatch presenter referred to recent media reports involving foxes, including prominent lawyer Jolyon Maugham killing one with a baseball bat, and Boxing Day hunts with "foxes killed left right and centre".
He said CCTV would be reviewed in an attempt to identify the culprit.
"It seems if you stick up for foxes, you get your comeuppance from people who still think it is a good idea to kill them.
"Wouldn't it be good if we could just stop this fox hunting once and for all. It's illegal but it carries on and when you campaign against it, unpleasant things happen."
Hampshire Constabulary has been contacted for comment.
In April some dead crows were left on Packham's gatepost after his Wild Justice campaign group mounted a legal challenge to halt the licensed shooting of crows.
The move provoked a backlash from farmers groups and others.
A Change.org petition calling on the BBC to "sack Chris Packham" has received more than 160,000 signatures.
But a counter petition was also set up opposing any potential sacking, saying "as a journalist [he] should be allowed to use his platform to inform everyone the reality of our dying planet".
Chris Packham
Image caption
Chris Packham posted a video on Twitter after the fox was left outside his home
TV naturalist Chris Packham has posted a video of a dead fox which he said had been left outside his home in the New Forest.
He said the body of a male fox found in his backyard showed injuries consistent with being snared.
He said that when he speaks out about fox hunting "unpleasant things happen".
Earlier this year, dead crows were left on his gatepost after he led a legal challenge to halt the licensed shooting of crows.
Dead fox found by Chris PackhamImage copyrightCHRIS PACKHAM
Image caption
Chris Packham said the male fox found in his backyard showed injuries consistent with being snared.
In the video posted on Twitter the BBC Springwatch presenter referred to recent media reports involving foxes, including prominent lawyer Jolyon Maugham killing one with a baseball bat, and Boxing Day hunts with "foxes killed left right and centre".
He said CCTV would be reviewed in an attempt to identify the culprit.
"It seems if you stick up for foxes, you get your comeuppance from people who still think it is a good idea to kill them.
"Wouldn't it be good if we could just stop this fox hunting once and for all. It's illegal but it carries on and when you campaign against it, unpleasant things happen."
Hampshire Constabulary has been contacted for comment.
In April some dead crows were left on Packham's gatepost after his Wild Justice campaign group mounted a legal challenge to halt the licensed shooting of crows.
The move provoked a backlash from farmers groups and others.
A Change.org petition calling on the BBC to "sack Chris Packham" has received more than 160,000 signatures.
But a counter petition was also set up opposing any potential sacking, saying "as a journalist [he] should be allowed to use his platform to inform everyone the reality of our dying planet".
Sunday, 29 December 2019
BOOK REVIEW - by ABIR MUKHERJEE - SMOKE AND ASHES
I have just read Smoke and Ashes by Abir Mukherjee his third in the series with his two main characters Captain Sam Wyndham and his ‘native’ sergeant, Surrender-not Banerjee. The first two novels, The Rising Man and A Necessary Evil I enjoyed tremendously and since there is his forth book already sitting on the shelve ready for me.
I like history and his stories are woven around fact and this one is hung around several events. The sub-continent of India is a main player in all of his books and the consequences of British Rule too. In this one he tells of the rise of nationalism inspired by Gandhi. It is all happening in Calcutta and then something strange happens. The addicted Sam happens to come across a mutilated corpse. From there the story unfolds at a decent pace with numerous turns and events.
Historically based on events, of the time, and still with a reference to the Great War from which many people were still trying to deal with. Add into that civilian unrest and the murders which gives an opportunity for this writer to tell us about.
Sam and Surrender-not, are two wonderful people to tell this story through. Then there is the contrast with the behaviour of the military that shows the arrogance of the Empire. I won't say anything else about the plot.
Well written, a fast moving one, as the story tramped on to its conclusion. For me a wonderful read.
I like history and his stories are woven around fact and this one is hung around several events. The sub-continent of India is a main player in all of his books and the consequences of British Rule too. In this one he tells of the rise of nationalism inspired by Gandhi. It is all happening in Calcutta and then something strange happens. The addicted Sam happens to come across a mutilated corpse. From there the story unfolds at a decent pace with numerous turns and events.
Historically based on events, of the time, and still with a reference to the Great War from which many people were still trying to deal with. Add into that civilian unrest and the murders which gives an opportunity for this writer to tell us about.
Sam and Surrender-not, are two wonderful people to tell this story through. Then there is the contrast with the behaviour of the military that shows the arrogance of the Empire. I won't say anything else about the plot.
Well written, a fast moving one, as the story tramped on to its conclusion. For me a wonderful read.
BRITISH TRUST FOR ORNITHOLOGY
A thankyou note from the Trust
I am just writing to thank you for your support in 2019 and to wish you a happy New Year.
You can see a video highlighting some of the things you've helped make happen this year here
Your support through membership is invaluable to us as a charity; giving funds that enable us to do our core work of understanding birds and how they are affected by environmental change. Your subscription also enables us to engage people with birds; such an important part of our work in a world where sections of society are disconnected with nature. I hope that if we can inspire more people in, maybe, the simple act of watching the behaviour of birds in their garden, made awe inspring through an understanding of the complexities of birds lives and their capabilities, we can add to the number caring about the future of our natural world.
Thanks again for your membership
With warm regards
I am just writing to thank you for your support in 2019 and to wish you a happy New Year.
You can see a video highlighting some of the things you've helped make happen this year here
Your support through membership is invaluable to us as a charity; giving funds that enable us to do our core work of understanding birds and how they are affected by environmental change. Your subscription also enables us to engage people with birds; such an important part of our work in a world where sections of society are disconnected with nature. I hope that if we can inspire more people in, maybe, the simple act of watching the behaviour of birds in their garden, made awe inspring through an understanding of the complexities of birds lives and their capabilities, we can add to the number caring about the future of our natural world.
Thanks again for your membership
With warm regards
Thursday, 26 December 2019
A THANKYOU FROM LEAGUE AGAINST CRUEL SPORTS
League Against Cruel Sports
Deer at Baronsdown Wildlife Sanctuary
Thank you for acting for animals
John,
I am writing to you today with my heartfelt thanks. Everything we have achieved this year was only possible because we have passionate and courageous people like you standing with us, speaking up for animals.
Our successes
Here’s to an even better 2020 for animals.
Deer at Baronsdown Wildlife Sanctuary
Thank you for acting for animals
John,
I am writing to you today with my heartfelt thanks. Everything we have achieved this year was only possible because we have passionate and courageous people like you standing with us, speaking up for animals.
Our successes
Here’s to an even better 2020 for animals.
BAN THE HUNTS - TRADITION HAS HAD ITS DAY
On this day in 1896 my great uncle George, aged only 16, died of peritonitis in the cottage in which he had been born. He must have been in agony and how would his parents and siblings have felt. No money, no doctor and then on Christmas Day ‘The Midwives’ dealt with exactly the same problem and she lived. How times change.
According to ‘ Throwback Thursday’ on this day in 1986 Hereford United won two nil against Wolves. How the fortunes of both clubs have altered their status!
On this day in 1994 I travelled to Ledbury to visit my father and to get there for the Boxing Day tradition of seeing the North Ledbury Hunt parading up and down the High Street. All colourful, beautiful with well turned out horses and the hounds, of course, looking happy and excited. That's to the onlookers, but let them loose in the fields and it is different. The dogs have been trained to scent, chase and kill the fox - ‘the vermin of the countryside’ as promulgated and believed. The old stories maintained it was a wanton killer and to be dispensed with. Some can still believe that, but whether they do or not is irrelevant because the hunters want to carry on as they have done for centuries.
The existing Hunting Act has done very little to stop ‘the meet’ and still allowing the hounds and huntsmen to carry on as they want with little or no supervision and scant regard for the legislation.
Blood Sports still exist in several forms and hunting with hounds and huntsmen is one that should be stopped.
Tradition and culture us slow to change, but change is happening. I will wait and see whether the tv channels carry pictures of the hunt and what the anti-hunt lobby have been able to do. The traditional meeting time is now. Already preparations will have been made to thwart the fox and have a successful kill.
Death is out there.
According to ‘ Throwback Thursday’ on this day in 1986 Hereford United won two nil against Wolves. How the fortunes of both clubs have altered their status!
On this day in 1994 I travelled to Ledbury to visit my father and to get there for the Boxing Day tradition of seeing the North Ledbury Hunt parading up and down the High Street. All colourful, beautiful with well turned out horses and the hounds, of course, looking happy and excited. That's to the onlookers, but let them loose in the fields and it is different. The dogs have been trained to scent, chase and kill the fox - ‘the vermin of the countryside’ as promulgated and believed. The old stories maintained it was a wanton killer and to be dispensed with. Some can still believe that, but whether they do or not is irrelevant because the hunters want to carry on as they have done for centuries.
The existing Hunting Act has done very little to stop ‘the meet’ and still allowing the hounds and huntsmen to carry on as they want with little or no supervision and scant regard for the legislation.
Blood Sports still exist in several forms and hunting with hounds and huntsmen is one that should be stopped.
Tradition and culture us slow to change, but change is happening. I will wait and see whether the tv channels carry pictures of the hunt and what the anti-hunt lobby have been able to do. The traditional meeting time is now. Already preparations will have been made to thwart the fox and have a successful kill.
Death is out there.
Tuesday, 24 December 2019
GAME KEEPERS USING BANNED POISONS
Yesterday the Scottish Rural Affairs & Environment Minister, Mairi Gougeon, gave evidence to the cross-party Environment, Climate Change & Land Reform (ECCLR) committee which is currently considering Stage 1 of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Bill.
We’ll come back to the wider evidence session in another blog because there were some interesting and important discussions but one point raised deserves an immediate reaction:
Possession of banned poisons.
Here’s the mini transcript:
ECCLR Committee Member Rachael Hamilton MSP: I will go back to the categorisation of wildlife offences and the different tiers of the penalty system. We heard evidence that perhaps possession of illegal pesticides should be categorised as a tier 1 offence, because they are currently illegal anyway. Do you have any comments on that point and do you have any plans to have an amnesty on illegal pesticides prior to the bill being passed? People should not possess illegal pesticides anyway, so using them in connection with animal crimes should attract the highest and severest category of penalty.
Environment Minister Mairi Gougeon: That has been the feeling behind that issue. As you said, possession of such pesticides is already illegal and there are offences in place to deal with that individual issue separately. Using such pesticides as part of another offence would attract the higher penalty. As they are already illegal and there are offences attached to them, using them in relation to any other offences could well attract severe penalties.
In relation to your amnesty point, I would be happy to consider looking at the matter.
Scottish Government Wildlife Management Team leader Leia Fitzgerald: Just to clarify, there was a previous amnesty, which was quite successful and resulted in a lot of pesticides being handed in. We could speak to stakeholders about whether that is something that could be done again. We would hope that we got all of what we needed after the last amnesty, but we can look at the matter.
Environment Minister Mairi Gougeon: I will happily get back to the committee and let you know how we get on with that.
ENDS
Is the Scottish Government seriously considering yet another amnesty for banned poisons, which would be the third amnesty in the 15 years since it became an offence to even possess these deadly toxins, let alone use them? (The Possession of Pesticides (Scotland) Order 2005).
The first amnesty took place in 2011 (see here), six years after the ban was first introduced. The second amnesty came four years later in 2015 (see here).
Since then poisoning crimes have certainly dropped in Scotland, probably thanks to the increase in satellite-tagged raptors, whose tags lead researchers to the poisoned corpses that would otherwise remain undetected, and also due to the introduction of vicarious liability legislation in 2012 which made it possible for landowners to be prosecuted for raptor persecution crimes committed by their gamekeeper employees. However, these poisoning crimes haven’t been totally eradicated and we’re still reading reports about illegally-poisoned birds (and some dogs) that have died after ingesting banned poisons in Scotland including some that were killed this year, and some even inside the Cairngorms National Park (e.g. see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here).
[An illegally-poisoned buzzard found on the boundary of a sporting estate in Perthshire. Contributed photo]
We’ll come back to the wider evidence session in another blog because there were some interesting and important discussions but one point raised deserves an immediate reaction:
Possession of banned poisons.
Here’s the mini transcript:
ECCLR Committee Member Rachael Hamilton MSP: I will go back to the categorisation of wildlife offences and the different tiers of the penalty system. We heard evidence that perhaps possession of illegal pesticides should be categorised as a tier 1 offence, because they are currently illegal anyway. Do you have any comments on that point and do you have any plans to have an amnesty on illegal pesticides prior to the bill being passed? People should not possess illegal pesticides anyway, so using them in connection with animal crimes should attract the highest and severest category of penalty.
Environment Minister Mairi Gougeon: That has been the feeling behind that issue. As you said, possession of such pesticides is already illegal and there are offences in place to deal with that individual issue separately. Using such pesticides as part of another offence would attract the higher penalty. As they are already illegal and there are offences attached to them, using them in relation to any other offences could well attract severe penalties.
In relation to your amnesty point, I would be happy to consider looking at the matter.
Scottish Government Wildlife Management Team leader Leia Fitzgerald: Just to clarify, there was a previous amnesty, which was quite successful and resulted in a lot of pesticides being handed in. We could speak to stakeholders about whether that is something that could be done again. We would hope that we got all of what we needed after the last amnesty, but we can look at the matter.
Environment Minister Mairi Gougeon: I will happily get back to the committee and let you know how we get on with that.
ENDS
Is the Scottish Government seriously considering yet another amnesty for banned poisons, which would be the third amnesty in the 15 years since it became an offence to even possess these deadly toxins, let alone use them? (The Possession of Pesticides (Scotland) Order 2005).
The first amnesty took place in 2011 (see here), six years after the ban was first introduced. The second amnesty came four years later in 2015 (see here).
Since then poisoning crimes have certainly dropped in Scotland, probably thanks to the increase in satellite-tagged raptors, whose tags lead researchers to the poisoned corpses that would otherwise remain undetected, and also due to the introduction of vicarious liability legislation in 2012 which made it possible for landowners to be prosecuted for raptor persecution crimes committed by their gamekeeper employees. However, these poisoning crimes haven’t been totally eradicated and we’re still reading reports about illegally-poisoned birds (and some dogs) that have died after ingesting banned poisons in Scotland including some that were killed this year, and some even inside the Cairngorms National Park (e.g. see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here).
[An illegally-poisoned buzzard found on the boundary of a sporting estate in Perthshire. Contributed photo]
Wednesday, 18 December 2019
SHOOTING BANS HAPPENED AND WILL HAPPEN AGAIN
Major campaign wins you may have missed
FROM THE LEAGUE AGAINST SPORTS
Dear John,
Two of the League’s biggest successes of 2019 happened recently, but rather than try and tell you about them in amongst our six-week long general election campaign, we wanted to take the time to properly explain what we’ve achieved with your support.
University of Reading
Thanks to your action, University of Reading has taken the decision to make this shooting season its last as it has banned shooting on its land.
As well as supporting our direct action outside the university’s gates during the popular two-day Freshers’ Fayre event, more than 8,000 of you wrote to the Vice Chancellor calling on the university to commit to scrapping 'game' bird shooting rights.
Happily, following a full consultation that included both the League and the pheasant shoot, as well as other stakeholders, this is exactly what has happened.
This is just another nail in the shooting industry’s coffin. Following League campaigns, again supported by you, both the University of Wales and natural Resources Wales decided they would ban shooting on their land.
Share our press release. (Buttons below the article.)
Yorkshire Water
Since July 2018 the League, working with local campaign group Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshires Moors (BBYM), has been campaigning to end driven grouse shooting on Yorkshire Water’s land. Yorkshire Water is one of the largest landowners leasing moorland for grouse shooting, with the company actively allowing the practice on 13 different sections of moorland. Campaigning actions have taken place in a dozen different towns and cities across Yorkshire and in London.
Thousands of you contacted Yorkshire Water to urge the company to ban shooting on its land, and as a direct result the company has taken a new view on grouse shooting. Rather than automatically renewing grouse shooting leases, as had been the case, they will all be placed for newly-stringent review as the leases run out.
This is a landmark decision and paves the way for grouse shooting to end on Yorkshire Water land, which before was not even an option. The League does not believe that driven grouse shooting matches any of new criteria set by the company and that alternative land management options will have to be sought.
Share our press release.
We didn’t expect to be able to tell you about these victories until next year, but the fact that we can just goes to show that our campaigns work – and that’s down to you and your support.
However, there is still plenty of work to do, but I’m sure like me you are happy to end 2019 in raising a glass to the fact that that the shooting industry’s days are numbered.
Thank you and congratulations,
Nick
Nick Weston
Head of Campaigns
FROM THE LEAGUE AGAINST SPORTS
Dear John,
Two of the League’s biggest successes of 2019 happened recently, but rather than try and tell you about them in amongst our six-week long general election campaign, we wanted to take the time to properly explain what we’ve achieved with your support.
University of Reading
Thanks to your action, University of Reading has taken the decision to make this shooting season its last as it has banned shooting on its land.
As well as supporting our direct action outside the university’s gates during the popular two-day Freshers’ Fayre event, more than 8,000 of you wrote to the Vice Chancellor calling on the university to commit to scrapping 'game' bird shooting rights.
Happily, following a full consultation that included both the League and the pheasant shoot, as well as other stakeholders, this is exactly what has happened.
This is just another nail in the shooting industry’s coffin. Following League campaigns, again supported by you, both the University of Wales and natural Resources Wales decided they would ban shooting on their land.
Share our press release. (Buttons below the article.)
Yorkshire Water
Since July 2018 the League, working with local campaign group Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshires Moors (BBYM), has been campaigning to end driven grouse shooting on Yorkshire Water’s land. Yorkshire Water is one of the largest landowners leasing moorland for grouse shooting, with the company actively allowing the practice on 13 different sections of moorland. Campaigning actions have taken place in a dozen different towns and cities across Yorkshire and in London.
Thousands of you contacted Yorkshire Water to urge the company to ban shooting on its land, and as a direct result the company has taken a new view on grouse shooting. Rather than automatically renewing grouse shooting leases, as had been the case, they will all be placed for newly-stringent review as the leases run out.
This is a landmark decision and paves the way for grouse shooting to end on Yorkshire Water land, which before was not even an option. The League does not believe that driven grouse shooting matches any of new criteria set by the company and that alternative land management options will have to be sought.
Share our press release.
We didn’t expect to be able to tell you about these victories until next year, but the fact that we can just goes to show that our campaigns work – and that’s down to you and your support.
However, there is still plenty of work to do, but I’m sure like me you are happy to end 2019 in raising a glass to the fact that that the shooting industry’s days are numbered.
Thank you and congratulations,
Nick
Nick Weston
Head of Campaigns
Sunday, 15 December 2019
LETS KEEP THE PRESSURES UP ON THE PRO-HUNTING BRIGADE
Will you stand with us and safeguard our animals?
YES I WILL
With the new government in situ, next year will be a critical time for achieving change. With you beside us we can focus on shaping our society to be more compassionate towards animals.
Snowy stag
OUR WILDLIFE WISHES FOR 2020
Beyond the festivity that Christmas often brings, people will continue to shoot, hunt and mistreat animals in the name of ‘sport’, beginning with the Boxing Day hunts. You and I both know that ‘trail hunting’ is just a façade for many of those who enjoy these illegal pursuits.
What’s more, we know from our polling that 85 percent of people in our local communities are in favour of keeping the ban too.
The League Against Cruel Sports is committed to keeping animal welfare at the top of the agenda in the coming year. Our wishes for wildlife in 2020 reflect this:
The League's wishes for wildlife
(Plain text version)
MY WISH FOR WILDLIFE
Let’s stand united and make sure our voice is heard in 2020.
YES I WILL
With the new government in situ, next year will be a critical time for achieving change. With you beside us we can focus on shaping our society to be more compassionate towards animals.
Snowy stag
OUR WILDLIFE WISHES FOR 2020
Beyond the festivity that Christmas often brings, people will continue to shoot, hunt and mistreat animals in the name of ‘sport’, beginning with the Boxing Day hunts. You and I both know that ‘trail hunting’ is just a façade for many of those who enjoy these illegal pursuits.
What’s more, we know from our polling that 85 percent of people in our local communities are in favour of keeping the ban too.
The League Against Cruel Sports is committed to keeping animal welfare at the top of the agenda in the coming year. Our wishes for wildlife in 2020 reflect this:
The League's wishes for wildlife
(Plain text version)
MY WISH FOR WILDLIFE
Let’s stand united and make sure our voice is heard in 2020.
A CRIME NOVEL, THE LONG CALL BY ANN CLEEVES
THE LONG CALL BY ANN CLEEVES
I have been a fan of Ann Cleeves for a long time. I have enjoyed her crime novels set in Northumberland with her creation of the interesting persona of Vera. I loved her as described in her stories, but the nation will probably only visualise the one portrayed by Brenda Blethyn. Whatever, I enjoyed both images. I can add to that, her Shetland series, where we were able to follow the very special character of Jimmy Perez. Again introducing people who are both good and very bad. Inserting them, mostly in our minds, from the power of her writing and in the locations she has set them in.
She was born in my home county of Herefordshire, but brought up in Devon. So, in a way she has returned ‘home’, and with her past she can understand the locations she has known and to include them in her work. She has moved south to beautiful North Devon where she chose to set this crime fiction novel in and, of course, it has to be near the sea. That, as well as the coast, performs as strong characters which are told to us in this tale. Mathew Venn is her chosen man and investigator to sort out this tale of death and power. This book is ‘littered’ with characters - all carefully chosen, of course by Ann. Never mind the story or the events it is the characters and this coastal location that grabbed me and immersed me in it. Of course the story is important and this accomplished author tells it well. I will never reveal a plot, but very often some can be seen on the front cover.for after all the publishers have to give an indication of what the book contains. The blurb on the back I avoid as I want to let the story come to me as I read it.
I did wonder if I could get back into another book by having read her previous work. I did and I enjoyed it. The question is will she write another one and will this be the start of another series? Would I recommend it? Of course, I enjoyed another creation and a new person on which she can hang her stories. I hope there is another one of Matthew Venn’s exploits to enjoy.
I have been a fan of Ann Cleeves for a long time. I have enjoyed her crime novels set in Northumberland with her creation of the interesting persona of Vera. I loved her as described in her stories, but the nation will probably only visualise the one portrayed by Brenda Blethyn. Whatever, I enjoyed both images. I can add to that, her Shetland series, where we were able to follow the very special character of Jimmy Perez. Again introducing people who are both good and very bad. Inserting them, mostly in our minds, from the power of her writing and in the locations she has set them in.
She was born in my home county of Herefordshire, but brought up in Devon. So, in a way she has returned ‘home’, and with her past she can understand the locations she has known and to include them in her work. She has moved south to beautiful North Devon where she chose to set this crime fiction novel in and, of course, it has to be near the sea. That, as well as the coast, performs as strong characters which are told to us in this tale. Mathew Venn is her chosen man and investigator to sort out this tale of death and power. This book is ‘littered’ with characters - all carefully chosen, of course by Ann. Never mind the story or the events it is the characters and this coastal location that grabbed me and immersed me in it. Of course the story is important and this accomplished author tells it well. I will never reveal a plot, but very often some can be seen on the front cover.for after all the publishers have to give an indication of what the book contains. The blurb on the back I avoid as I want to let the story come to me as I read it.
I did wonder if I could get back into another book by having read her previous work. I did and I enjoyed it. The question is will she write another one and will this be the start of another series? Would I recommend it? Of course, I enjoyed another creation and a new person on which she can hang her stories. I hope there is another one of Matthew Venn’s exploits to enjoy.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM SAN PEDRO
Thanks to Bryan Thomas we have excellent images of two Pipits. The Meadow was so close you didn't need any Bins as it hopped around close to the boardwalk and with an ideal background for the photograph. Normally these are in a meadow or amongst some scruffy ground, but now a clear uninterrupted view.
On the edge of one of the lagoons was a Water Pipit feeding in and around the large stones. Again so close allowing an eyes only viewing. Both images are seen here where the two species can be compared.
On the edge of one of the lagoons was a Water Pipit feeding in and around the large stones. Again so close allowing an eyes only viewing. Both images are seen here where the two species can be compared.
Friday, 13 December 2019
SOMETHING GOOD FOR THE YEAR END IN SAN PEDRO DEL PINATAR
Sometimes a quick email allows a few hours out with friends. On Friday 13th Trev, over from England, Bryan of the big lens and Michelle met for a close examination of the Salinas at San Pedro. In past years it has been good, but of late, not so. But with good eyes, good vision and excellent knowledge I think we nailed it.
Most of the areas of water were almost empty. There was not a Slender Bill Gull in sight, only a few Flamingos and not any sort of Grebe. We wondered what we could find, but we gave it a good go. There was very little on view in the lagoon by the large car park. A Dunlin and a Greenshank were identified in the distance. Stonechats flew and perched. A Meadow Pipit in fantastic plumage fed only metres away from the boardwalk. Such a treat and so close. We moved onto the beach and there were Turnstones on the waves edge. Eagle eyes spotted a Grey Plover and there were several seen feeding and flying. Further away were Sanderling. Needless to say Yellow-Legged Gulls were abundant. Over the dunes a Kestrel hovered and Sardinian Warblers entertained us.
Returning inland in a rocky corner a Water Pipit obliged close up. More Meadow Pipits too. In the distance a small cluster of Black-tailed Godwits and there was just one Ruff around. Also a distant Spotted Redshank and they are always good to see. Okay, a few Shelduck and scattered Avocets feeding were around too.
There was track renovation being carried out by the canal and so we parked nearby and walked back. Standing chatting on the bridge a kingfisher was heard and then it flew, perched, flew again and perched in the distance. Then another flew from behind us and onward in the same direction. Fast they were, but lovely to see. The odd Chiff, another Sardinian was there but then a Grey Wagtail flew onto the bank of the canal then really showed itself off by perching on a rock in the middle of the canal. Like both the Pipits we had clear and uninterrupted views with bright backgrounds to observe and photo. Also on the canal a Little Egret in breeding plumage even in December.
What a great couple of hours in great company. Thank you. Maybe photos to come and I expect them to be seen on Bryan’s blog on birdingcostablanca. See for yourself. And a merry and successful Christmas to all birders.
Most of the areas of water were almost empty. There was not a Slender Bill Gull in sight, only a few Flamingos and not any sort of Grebe. We wondered what we could find, but we gave it a good go. There was very little on view in the lagoon by the large car park. A Dunlin and a Greenshank were identified in the distance. Stonechats flew and perched. A Meadow Pipit in fantastic plumage fed only metres away from the boardwalk. Such a treat and so close. We moved onto the beach and there were Turnstones on the waves edge. Eagle eyes spotted a Grey Plover and there were several seen feeding and flying. Further away were Sanderling. Needless to say Yellow-Legged Gulls were abundant. Over the dunes a Kestrel hovered and Sardinian Warblers entertained us.
Returning inland in a rocky corner a Water Pipit obliged close up. More Meadow Pipits too. In the distance a small cluster of Black-tailed Godwits and there was just one Ruff around. Also a distant Spotted Redshank and they are always good to see. Okay, a few Shelduck and scattered Avocets feeding were around too.
There was track renovation being carried out by the canal and so we parked nearby and walked back. Standing chatting on the bridge a kingfisher was heard and then it flew, perched, flew again and perched in the distance. Then another flew from behind us and onward in the same direction. Fast they were, but lovely to see. The odd Chiff, another Sardinian was there but then a Grey Wagtail flew onto the bank of the canal then really showed itself off by perching on a rock in the middle of the canal. Like both the Pipits we had clear and uninterrupted views with bright backgrounds to observe and photo. Also on the canal a Little Egret in breeding plumage even in December.
What a great couple of hours in great company. Thank you. Maybe photos to come and I expect them to be seen on Bryan’s blog on birdingcostablanca. See for yourself. And a merry and successful Christmas to all birders.
IS THIS AN ANTI-HUNTING PARLIAMENT & WILL WILDLIFE BENEFIT ENOUGH
Anti-hunt parliament returns
Dear John,
The results are in, and thanks to your efforts another anti-hunting parliament has been returned to Westminster. Like the last parliament, there is a clear majority of anti-hunt MPs, and for the first time since the Hunting Act passed in 2004, the Conservative Party has dropped its pledge to repeal the ban.
Our focus now will be on ensuring the Conservative Party stands by the animal welfare and animal sentencing promises it made in its manifesto, including ensuring the Hunting Act is not overturned.
More than that, we’ll be insisting the party scrutinises the act with a view to strengthening it, to finally put a stop to hunting for ‘sport’.
This campaign has shown the power of the League and supporters when we stand united against hunting, and once again we have made hunting a key issue. Thanks to you, in the past month the League has, among other things:
Launched a new and innovative e-action, with supporters sending nearly 45,000 emails to candidates
Produced FOUR campaign films
Run SEVEN election roadshows across the UK
Had 15 supporter run street stalls
Celebrity support from Bill Oddie, Chris Packham, Ricky Gervais, Megan McCubbin, Maxine Peake, Gemma Collins, Gemma Atkinson, Lucy Watson
The League has appeared in more than 150 media stories
This is the power of what we can do together. Together, we will continue to campaign to strengthen the ban, and lobby land owners, such as the National Trust, to deny hunts access to their land.
Together we are United Against Hunting.
On behalf of myself, my colleagues, Vinny and the animals we all strive to protect, thank you.
Regards,
Nick
Nick Weston
Head of Campaigns
Dear John,
The results are in, and thanks to your efforts another anti-hunting parliament has been returned to Westminster. Like the last parliament, there is a clear majority of anti-hunt MPs, and for the first time since the Hunting Act passed in 2004, the Conservative Party has dropped its pledge to repeal the ban.
Our focus now will be on ensuring the Conservative Party stands by the animal welfare and animal sentencing promises it made in its manifesto, including ensuring the Hunting Act is not overturned.
More than that, we’ll be insisting the party scrutinises the act with a view to strengthening it, to finally put a stop to hunting for ‘sport’.
This campaign has shown the power of the League and supporters when we stand united against hunting, and once again we have made hunting a key issue. Thanks to you, in the past month the League has, among other things:
Launched a new and innovative e-action, with supporters sending nearly 45,000 emails to candidates
Produced FOUR campaign films
Run SEVEN election roadshows across the UK
Had 15 supporter run street stalls
Celebrity support from Bill Oddie, Chris Packham, Ricky Gervais, Megan McCubbin, Maxine Peake, Gemma Collins, Gemma Atkinson, Lucy Watson
The League has appeared in more than 150 media stories
This is the power of what we can do together. Together, we will continue to campaign to strengthen the ban, and lobby land owners, such as the National Trust, to deny hunts access to their land.
Together we are United Against Hunting.
On behalf of myself, my colleagues, Vinny and the animals we all strive to protect, thank you.
Regards,
Nick
Nick Weston
Head of Campaigns
Thursday, 12 December 2019
IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH BECAUSE PEOPLE DONT LIKE CHANGE
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11 Dec 2019
EU Green Deal - good for climate, bad for biodiversity
© BirdLife Europe and Central Asia
By Honey Kohan
Today, the European Commission announced their highly anticipated European Green Deal. The first of its kind in EU history, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised to deliver the Green deal in her first 100 days in office.
The document which has been described as a ‘growth strategy’, predominantly focuses on the current climate crises but fails to be a game changer for biodiversity and ecosystems. Despite several important and overwhelming major research papers which have been issued in the last few months confirming the biodiversity crises, with one million species threatened to go extinct – the EU green deal leaves much to be desired on the biodiversity front.
On biodiversity:
The Green Deal must have a biodiversity strategy that focuses on acting as soon as it is published. Nature in Europe has been degraded beyond recognition. Although vague, this Deal leaves the door open for the legislation nature actually needs, a set of legally binding restoration targets that Member States are obliged to meet. The Commission fails to mention any of the ecosystems beyond forests and fresh water that must be restored to fight climate change and preserve the EU’s biodiversity.
On enforcement:
Although the Commission commits to enforce environmental laws, the means they propose to do so are largely ineffective, as they focus on business as usual instead of focusing on holding Member States accountable for breaking the laws. In order to enforce the already existing nature laws we have in Europe, the Commission should firstly strengthen their own capacity to deal with Member States breaking the law.
On forests:
The Commission risks a continuation of the business-as-usual forest strategy which neither addresses degraded forest systems nor the fight against climate change. Increasing plantation forestry to simply provide biomass for energy will not address biodiversity or climate issues, in fact they could exacerbate both.
On agriculture:
The agriculture content of the EU Green Deal remains vague consisting of a vague commitment to sustainability, reducing pesticides and fertilisers, and boosting organic farming. The most
11 Dec 2019
EU Green Deal - good for climate, bad for biodiversity
© BirdLife Europe and Central Asia
By Honey Kohan
Today, the European Commission announced their highly anticipated European Green Deal. The first of its kind in EU history, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised to deliver the Green deal in her first 100 days in office.
The document which has been described as a ‘growth strategy’, predominantly focuses on the current climate crises but fails to be a game changer for biodiversity and ecosystems. Despite several important and overwhelming major research papers which have been issued in the last few months confirming the biodiversity crises, with one million species threatened to go extinct – the EU green deal leaves much to be desired on the biodiversity front.
On biodiversity:
The Green Deal must have a biodiversity strategy that focuses on acting as soon as it is published. Nature in Europe has been degraded beyond recognition. Although vague, this Deal leaves the door open for the legislation nature actually needs, a set of legally binding restoration targets that Member States are obliged to meet. The Commission fails to mention any of the ecosystems beyond forests and fresh water that must be restored to fight climate change and preserve the EU’s biodiversity.
On enforcement:
Although the Commission commits to enforce environmental laws, the means they propose to do so are largely ineffective, as they focus on business as usual instead of focusing on holding Member States accountable for breaking the laws. In order to enforce the already existing nature laws we have in Europe, the Commission should firstly strengthen their own capacity to deal with Member States breaking the law.
On forests:
The Commission risks a continuation of the business-as-usual forest strategy which neither addresses degraded forest systems nor the fight against climate change. Increasing plantation forestry to simply provide biomass for energy will not address biodiversity or climate issues, in fact they could exacerbate both.
On agriculture:
The agriculture content of the EU Green Deal remains vague consisting of a vague commitment to sustainability, reducing pesticides and fertilisers, and boosting organic farming. The most
WRECKING THE OCEANS AND OVER-FISHING
I’ve just finished packing my bags for Brussels - we’ve got briefings, banners, superhero costumes, and a petition to handover to the EU Commissioner for Oceans and the Environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius. The petition contains almost 500,000 signatures (including yours!) demanding an end to destructive overfishing. Thanks so much for supporting the campaign!
There’s a critical decision being made next week where politicians will set the fishing limits for next year. We desperately need them to listen to scientific advice, before it’s too late.
I’ve heard that the fishing lobby are pushing really hard to keep their dangerously high fishing limits, even if it means making the nature and climate crisis worse for all of us.
SHARE ON FACEBOOK!
This petition could make a big difference, by showing the strength of support for sustainable fisheries and healthy oceans from people across Europe.
Can you help strengthen the petition even more by getting a few of your friends and family to sign? You can share on facebook by clicking on the button, or if you prefer email we’ve provided a template one below which you can send to friends!
Thanks so much for standing with us for healthy oceans!
Rebecca, Dave and the Our Fish team.
There’s a critical decision being made next week where politicians will set the fishing limits for next year. We desperately need them to listen to scientific advice, before it’s too late.
I’ve heard that the fishing lobby are pushing really hard to keep their dangerously high fishing limits, even if it means making the nature and climate crisis worse for all of us.
SHARE ON FACEBOOK!
This petition could make a big difference, by showing the strength of support for sustainable fisheries and healthy oceans from people across Europe.
Can you help strengthen the petition even more by getting a few of your friends and family to sign? You can share on facebook by clicking on the button, or if you prefer email we’ve provided a template one below which you can send to friends!
Thanks so much for standing with us for healthy oceans!
Rebecca, Dave and the Our Fish team.
Wednesday, 11 December 2019
POWER AND CRIMINALITY ENDANGER OUR WILDLIFE
It's that time of year for people to be wishing other people the best of the season. I should have written this as a poem, an ‘epistolary’ one but this is what I believe, without rhyme.
Dear Estate Owner
The division of class took our schooling to other places, but we were pupils of the same era.
We brushed shoulders but there was no leaping across that divide. Jaguar motor cars to Ford Prefects are an example of it. That's the way it was then. I have moved on and moved away and you will remember me although you have not replied to my letters. So, here I go again
I know your position as landlord and your perception that you have fiefdom to rule.
I write not in despair but to inform you of my continued intention to correct centuries of wrong.
It's nationalistic to sing ‘your land is my land’, but that tells of one side of the story and that is your side only.
My land is our land or so it should be. It is not what the evidence will show.
England, my land, has had the capability to historically absorb the invader. That's really brilliant when one can consider that we speak the same language, but the truth is that the invader absorbed my land. Took possession of it by force and the powers that went with it.
Your ‘country estates’ have become a shooting parlour for money. You do nothing for the rural communities. You don't drink in their pubs or shop in the remaining shops. You take and we have nothing in return to show for the misuse of my land.
You farm grouse and pheasant and even import them and sustain them with drugs in an attempt to keep them healthy. Moors are burnt systematically to promote fresh heather growth and in doing so you kill the inhabitants, the invertebrates and small mammals. You are killers.
To prevent natural deaths to your birds your keepers trap and poison indiscriminately our indigenous wildlife from Pine Martens to Hen Harriers, and beautiful Mountain Hares.
You throw the dead and dying into Stink Pits adding the unwanted grouse and pheasant carcasses too. Then you add the flavour of banned poisons to kill the hungry mammals that have escaped your keepers. Are you not aware of vicarious liability?
Crimes against wildlife have to stop. The mindset is changing. Common folk are moving against you. Crowd funding allows monies for legal actions and for legislative change.
You, the Estate Owner, land owner by gift, birthright and power can change before you are forced to. I know that the selfishness and arrogance of your class can only be removed slowly. Our game is a slow game too; to keep our land with beauty that you have continued over centuries to reduce and more currently to obliterate.
I am as the small seed that has lain dormant and in time gains strength to break the surface and grow. It is your choice now to change.
Your choice
A man of the land
European, British, born English and choosing to remain and will continue to redress the balance.
Dear Estate Owner
The division of class took our schooling to other places, but we were pupils of the same era.
We brushed shoulders but there was no leaping across that divide. Jaguar motor cars to Ford Prefects are an example of it. That's the way it was then. I have moved on and moved away and you will remember me although you have not replied to my letters. So, here I go again
I know your position as landlord and your perception that you have fiefdom to rule.
I write not in despair but to inform you of my continued intention to correct centuries of wrong.
It's nationalistic to sing ‘your land is my land’, but that tells of one side of the story and that is your side only.
My land is our land or so it should be. It is not what the evidence will show.
England, my land, has had the capability to historically absorb the invader. That's really brilliant when one can consider that we speak the same language, but the truth is that the invader absorbed my land. Took possession of it by force and the powers that went with it.
Your ‘country estates’ have become a shooting parlour for money. You do nothing for the rural communities. You don't drink in their pubs or shop in the remaining shops. You take and we have nothing in return to show for the misuse of my land.
You farm grouse and pheasant and even import them and sustain them with drugs in an attempt to keep them healthy. Moors are burnt systematically to promote fresh heather growth and in doing so you kill the inhabitants, the invertebrates and small mammals. You are killers.
To prevent natural deaths to your birds your keepers trap and poison indiscriminately our indigenous wildlife from Pine Martens to Hen Harriers, and beautiful Mountain Hares.
You throw the dead and dying into Stink Pits adding the unwanted grouse and pheasant carcasses too. Then you add the flavour of banned poisons to kill the hungry mammals that have escaped your keepers. Are you not aware of vicarious liability?
Crimes against wildlife have to stop. The mindset is changing. Common folk are moving against you. Crowd funding allows monies for legal actions and for legislative change.
You, the Estate Owner, land owner by gift, birthright and power can change before you are forced to. I know that the selfishness and arrogance of your class can only be removed slowly. Our game is a slow game too; to keep our land with beauty that you have continued over centuries to reduce and more currently to obliterate.
I am as the small seed that has lain dormant and in time gains strength to break the surface and grow. It is your choice now to change.
Your choice
A man of the land
European, British, born English and choosing to remain and will continue to redress the balance.
Tuesday, 10 December 2019
ARE SPANISH FLEETS PILLAGING OUR OCEANS.?
Spain, one of the world’s big fishing nations, is hosting this year’s United Nations climate change conference on the health of our oceans. But its own record on damaging the marine environment, by trawling the seabed with huge nets and by removing vast tonnages of fish, is believed by many scientists to adversely affect the sea’s ability to act as a carbon sink. In this sense Spain is a deplorable choice as host nation.
Spain had by far the largest fishing fleet in Europe when it acceded to the EU in 1986. It still does. The reason why it is so large dates back to the “navalist ideology”, an imperialistic way of thinking which arose in Spain around the turn of the 20th century. But the Spanish fleet’s greatest expansion dates from the time of Generalissimo Franco, whose policy of protectionism and intervention favoured shipbuilding. The disproportionate size of the Spanish fishing fleet today is one of the unremarked legacies of fascism.
If Germany continued to drive its Panzer divisions over the plains of Europe, it would not go unnoticed. Yet hardly anyone makes the connection when Spain’s subsidy-driven fishing fleet works its way around the oceans of the world — and often turns a blind eye to the rules as it does so. That could be partly because these days it is dwarfed by the Chinese fleet, also built on subsidies and out of scale with the planet’s resource of wild fish.
The size of the Spanish fishing fleet was supposed to be capped by the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. In fact, the Spanish fleet escaped limits by fishing in international waters as well as in the territorial waters of, and under the flags of, developing nations. Spain was penalised by the EU for catching too much yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean in 2017. Now experts have found the Spanish fleet to have caught 13,500 tons too much of this overfished stock last year, a catch worth tens of millions of euros, stolen largely from developing countries. Spain disputes the figures. The European Commission has opened an investigation.
The Spanish government recently removed Franco’s body from its mausoleum near Madrid to signal a break with the past. Its next step should be to curtail another part of his malign legacy: a fishing fleet that is still pillaging the oceans.
Charles Clover is executive director of Blue Marine Foundation, a conservation charity
Spain
Science
Global politics
European Union
Europe
Share
Spain had by far the largest fishing fleet in Europe when it acceded to the EU in 1986. It still does. The reason why it is so large dates back to the “navalist ideology”, an imperialistic way of thinking which arose in Spain around the turn of the 20th century. But the Spanish fleet’s greatest expansion dates from the time of Generalissimo Franco, whose policy of protectionism and intervention favoured shipbuilding. The disproportionate size of the Spanish fishing fleet today is one of the unremarked legacies of fascism.
If Germany continued to drive its Panzer divisions over the plains of Europe, it would not go unnoticed. Yet hardly anyone makes the connection when Spain’s subsidy-driven fishing fleet works its way around the oceans of the world — and often turns a blind eye to the rules as it does so. That could be partly because these days it is dwarfed by the Chinese fleet, also built on subsidies and out of scale with the planet’s resource of wild fish.
The size of the Spanish fishing fleet was supposed to be capped by the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. In fact, the Spanish fleet escaped limits by fishing in international waters as well as in the territorial waters of, and under the flags of, developing nations. Spain was penalised by the EU for catching too much yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean in 2017. Now experts have found the Spanish fleet to have caught 13,500 tons too much of this overfished stock last year, a catch worth tens of millions of euros, stolen largely from developing countries. Spain disputes the figures. The European Commission has opened an investigation.
The Spanish government recently removed Franco’s body from its mausoleum near Madrid to signal a break with the past. Its next step should be to curtail another part of his malign legacy: a fishing fleet that is still pillaging the oceans.
Charles Clover is executive director of Blue Marine Foundation, a conservation charity
Spain
Science
Global politics
European Union
Europe
Share
Saturday, 7 December 2019
KILLING TODAYS SPIES AND 'TRAITORS'
CHARLES CUMMING AND THE TRINITY SIX
Another spy story told brilliantly by Mr Cumming. It is a damn good read.
You could be mistaken that this is a story of decades ago. Of course, this novel is one of the past, as it was written in 2010. The basis of the story is given below, but if you the think that the activities of the espionage and counter espionage are all history just keep an alert eye out for what is being reported in this morning's papers. For today, my reading was the Times.
Angela Merkel is being urged to confront Putin over the assassination of Zelinkhan Khangoshvili, a Chechen exile who had sought safety. He was dispensed with. That's chilling, even deadly. Ben Macintyre in the same paper reports ‘Smersh spy-killers are back in business’. The name involving two names smashed together and then used by Ian Fleming with his Bond stories. It is interesting to think how real was Bond and how much Fleming knew.
As of last night we can now wonder where Jeremy Corbyn got his information from regarding his comments on Ireland. He did a ‘Chamberlain’ waving the intended ‘revealing’ pages at the cameras. Maybe this has been sourced from somewhere deep in the Kremlin? And, could both be fake? We are left to ponder again and to believe what you want. I prefer evidence, but in this murky world it's a guessing game.
Now to the book and you can decide how close any of it was, to yesterday's truth, and even let it become closer to this day.
The Cold War. The threat of nuclear war and the spy stories occupied governments, journalists and the media reveled in the subject. Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and John Cairncross were the Cambridge Five. Recruited by Moscow to sell our secrets to benefit the communists.
The recruitment of these spies is regarded as the most successful penetration by a foreign intelligence service in the history of espionage. In Russia, the men from Trinity College were known as The Magnificent Five.
Now, those are the facts and then the story begins. Dr Sam Gaddis, a hard up Russian expert who receives something that he cannot leave alone. There is some one else out there that needs tracking down. Don't worry people get killed and he embarks on his mission to bring justice in the world of espionage.
The front cover announces ‘Utterly absorbing and compelling. A brilliant re-imagining of events surrounding the notorious Cambridge spy-ring’. So that's enough. Well, almost it's a chase around Europe and much further away. It reads well and moves rapidly. But if you do not like a spy story based on historical facts then it is not a book for you. I liked it and Charles Cummings always tells a very good story. I will be on the look out for one more of his books in another second-hand book shop. This copy, for just two euros, obtained from J and J Books and Coffee in Madrid. We love book shops, especially independent ones.
Another spy story told brilliantly by Mr Cumming. It is a damn good read.
You could be mistaken that this is a story of decades ago. Of course, this novel is one of the past, as it was written in 2010. The basis of the story is given below, but if you the think that the activities of the espionage and counter espionage are all history just keep an alert eye out for what is being reported in this morning's papers. For today, my reading was the Times.
Angela Merkel is being urged to confront Putin over the assassination of Zelinkhan Khangoshvili, a Chechen exile who had sought safety. He was dispensed with. That's chilling, even deadly. Ben Macintyre in the same paper reports ‘Smersh spy-killers are back in business’. The name involving two names smashed together and then used by Ian Fleming with his Bond stories. It is interesting to think how real was Bond and how much Fleming knew.
As of last night we can now wonder where Jeremy Corbyn got his information from regarding his comments on Ireland. He did a ‘Chamberlain’ waving the intended ‘revealing’ pages at the cameras. Maybe this has been sourced from somewhere deep in the Kremlin? And, could both be fake? We are left to ponder again and to believe what you want. I prefer evidence, but in this murky world it's a guessing game.
Now to the book and you can decide how close any of it was, to yesterday's truth, and even let it become closer to this day.
The Cold War. The threat of nuclear war and the spy stories occupied governments, journalists and the media reveled in the subject. Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and John Cairncross were the Cambridge Five. Recruited by Moscow to sell our secrets to benefit the communists.
The recruitment of these spies is regarded as the most successful penetration by a foreign intelligence service in the history of espionage. In Russia, the men from Trinity College were known as The Magnificent Five.
Now, those are the facts and then the story begins. Dr Sam Gaddis, a hard up Russian expert who receives something that he cannot leave alone. There is some one else out there that needs tracking down. Don't worry people get killed and he embarks on his mission to bring justice in the world of espionage.
The front cover announces ‘Utterly absorbing and compelling. A brilliant re-imagining of events surrounding the notorious Cambridge spy-ring’. So that's enough. Well, almost it's a chase around Europe and much further away. It reads well and moves rapidly. But if you do not like a spy story based on historical facts then it is not a book for you. I liked it and Charles Cummings always tells a very good story. I will be on the look out for one more of his books in another second-hand book shop. This copy, for just two euros, obtained from J and J Books and Coffee in Madrid. We love book shops, especially independent ones.
Friday, 6 December 2019
Hunting with horses and dogs
Do we need this anymore? Hunting with horses and dogs should be banned
Dear John, hunting season is in full swing and foxes are dying.
The need to strengthen the Hunting Act has never been more urgent, please take action today and contact your election candidates.
Take Action
There are 191 fox hunts operating in Great Britain today, 14 years after the Hunting Act was brought in to outlaw the practice.
In total, hunts can go out almost 10,700 times a year – and each time a fox’s life is put at risk.
Please do what you can and contact your candidates today.
Take Action
Dear John, hunting season is in full swing and foxes are dying.
The need to strengthen the Hunting Act has never been more urgent, please take action today and contact your election candidates.
Take Action
There are 191 fox hunts operating in Great Britain today, 14 years after the Hunting Act was brought in to outlaw the practice.
In total, hunts can go out almost 10,700 times a year – and each time a fox’s life is put at risk.
Please do what you can and contact your candidates today.
Take Action
Tuesday, 3 December 2019
A DAY TO REMEMBER - ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY
I always sit on the bench with my back to Ledbury Church wall and look over the Garden of Remembrance where my mother's ashes lie. It is always a sad moment when I arrive. I talk and try to imagine her answers.
LEDBURY CHURCHYARD
GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE
MONDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 2013
10 am to 11am
I can hear you, still see you
a faltering image now as
a leaf flutters down
its job done to
rest with a worn feather
on an everlasting green cloth.
a youngish oak leans towards
the west over rose bushes
and recycled headstones
silver birches glance the light
as the turn of the season
is announced
an unkempt back edge
provides charity for the wild
a coat for the unseen
quists coo, blackbirds call
they usually do. Others fly
over roofs and away
I am static as passers-by
say their 'good mornings' while
a church organ permeates
my thoughts. I listen, wait, watch
n the now. Memories flit in
and away at random
in front the continuing grass
sits and waits for tomorrow
in an everlasting afterwards
in a tiny space a box
in decay and concealment
hides a history of a life
sounds, birdsong, peripheral traffic
provide the music she will not hear
a tear spent well.
a bell that strikes the hour
time to go
Sunday, 1 December 2019
LET's GET MORE ANTI-HUNT MPs INTO PARLIAMENT
Right now, foxes are dying. Hunting season has begun but the law is not strong enough to stop it. It’s time to strengthen the ban.
This general election, help get more anti-hunt MPs into parliament and end fox hunting for good.
Take Action
Two members of the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt have been convicted after pleading guilty to hunting fox cubs earlier this month. Sam Staniland and William Tatler were caught on camera by League Against Cruel Sports investigators, the footage of which you can see below.
YouTube video
But they were not sent to jail. Did you know that there are no custodial sentences under the Hunting Act? The convicted pair received fines of £535. This is not good enough. The law needs to change to reflect the severity of the crime.
Take Action
Only with an anti-hunting parliament will be able to strengthen the ban and stop hunting for good.
Thanks,
Nick
Nick Weston
Head of Campaigns
PS: Together, we can stop foxes dying for someone else’s sport. Please take action now.
This general election, help get more anti-hunt MPs into parliament and end fox hunting for good.
Take Action
Two members of the Meynell and South Staffordshire Hunt have been convicted after pleading guilty to hunting fox cubs earlier this month. Sam Staniland and William Tatler were caught on camera by League Against Cruel Sports investigators, the footage of which you can see below.
YouTube video
But they were not sent to jail. Did you know that there are no custodial sentences under the Hunting Act? The convicted pair received fines of £535. This is not good enough. The law needs to change to reflect the severity of the crime.
Take Action
Only with an anti-hunting parliament will be able to strengthen the ban and stop hunting for good.
Thanks,
Nick
Nick Weston
Head of Campaigns
PS: Together, we can stop foxes dying for someone else’s sport. Please take action now.
HELP END FOX HUNTING FOR GOOD
Most people would be forgiven for thinking that hunting is already banned. But the hunting season is underway right now and foxes are dying. 191 fox hunts will ride out nearly 10,700 times this year.
That can’t be right. That can’t be the type of country we are trying to be in the twenty-first century.
And that is why the Hunting Act needs to be strengthened.
Bill Oddie video
This election is a real opportunity to show unity where there has been division; to commit to a vision of Britain that is a kinder place for all of us to live. A country where there is an understanding of the importance of protecting the environment around us and all the wildlife that shares our land.
Please contact your election candidates today and help get more anti-hunt MPs into parliament.
Take Action
It is time political parties went further, not only to secure the Hunting Act but to strengthen it; to ensure there can be no excuses for harming wild animals for ‘sport’.
I am calling on all parties to include this pledge in their manifestos, to allow themselves to be judged on their compassion and their commitment to our land and our wildlife, as well as their willingness to ensure all those who seek to circumvent these rules are appropriately punished.
We know from polling commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports that 85 per cent of the public think fox hunting should remain illegal. We ask that all political parties commit to strengthening this law and reduce those 10,700 hunting days to zero.
Please contact your election candidates today and help end fox hunting for good.
Take Action
Yours sincerely,
Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie OBE
Patron of the League Against Cruel Sports
PS: Together we have a stronger voice to make changes for our wildlife. Could you make a donation that will enable us to deliver a campaign that puts wildlife at the heart of this General Election? Thank you for standing on the side of animals.
That can’t be right. That can’t be the type of country we are trying to be in the twenty-first century.
And that is why the Hunting Act needs to be strengthened.
Bill Oddie video
This election is a real opportunity to show unity where there has been division; to commit to a vision of Britain that is a kinder place for all of us to live. A country where there is an understanding of the importance of protecting the environment around us and all the wildlife that shares our land.
Please contact your election candidates today and help get more anti-hunt MPs into parliament.
Take Action
It is time political parties went further, not only to secure the Hunting Act but to strengthen it; to ensure there can be no excuses for harming wild animals for ‘sport’.
I am calling on all parties to include this pledge in their manifestos, to allow themselves to be judged on their compassion and their commitment to our land and our wildlife, as well as their willingness to ensure all those who seek to circumvent these rules are appropriately punished.
We know from polling commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports that 85 per cent of the public think fox hunting should remain illegal. We ask that all political parties commit to strengthening this law and reduce those 10,700 hunting days to zero.
Please contact your election candidates today and help end fox hunting for good.
Take Action
Yours sincerely,
Bill Oddie
Bill Oddie OBE
Patron of the League Against Cruel Sports
PS: Together we have a stronger voice to make changes for our wildlife. Could you make a donation that will enable us to deliver a campaign that puts wildlife at the heart of this General Election? Thank you for standing on the side of animals.
POLITICS WITH ANDREW MARR
PREJUDICE PREJUDICE PREJUDICE
This morning on BBC TV I thought that Andrew Marr lost it! I always try and watch his Sunday morning political show and I admire the way he deals with his interviewees. Even the bloody-minded ones who will never say yes or no, but let party rhetoric fall from their mouths like vomit.
That was my view until this morning and I watched him let the smooth talking Baroness Chakrabarti get away with saying about ‘that is too early to discuss what happened on London Bridge’. Okay she showed respect and regret. And he let her carry on with this calm and “wordless-meaning” approach to a too early discussion. She was correct in many ways and I listened intently to what it takes to supervise and maintain surveillance. It is costly, financially and with human time, to do the job well, but it will never be perfect.
Now the Prime Minister. The chat started smoothly enough. The guts of the conversation was about the release of the killer after only eight years in prison. The public will always have mixed views on sentencing and why prisoners are released before their full term. It is always political and party politics seems to blur or even conceal the factual extent of what legislation can allow or not.
Apparently the legislation under which are killer was sentenced was in the period of a Labour Goverment. That was convenient for our wild haired prime minister. You can either love him or hate his image or everything about him. He is the ‘marmite man’ to many.
According to Marr the Conservative governments have had ten years to change the law regarding release for convicted terrorists. There was more ‘toing and froing’ than usual with both talking at the same time. That's probably very easy to do when Boris Johnston is in full flow. At least eight times Marr asked the same question and there was hostility written across his face.
The first fact we should know is whether the killer could have been kept in prison or not. We did not know from this programme and I hold Marr accountable for this. Facts should be there for us. Maybe we will see.
I have been a fan of Marr for years, but today, I saw him let himself down. He may not like our current Prime Minister, but that was not his job on this Sunday morning. I even walked away from the screen. Why give one interviewee an easy ride and then become, even belligerent, to another one. I know that there is a huge political divide and on this Sunday morning is he showing his own politics? Maybe he is trying to influence the polls!
Come on Andrew Marr - you can be more even handed because you have done better than this.
This morning on BBC TV I thought that Andrew Marr lost it! I always try and watch his Sunday morning political show and I admire the way he deals with his interviewees. Even the bloody-minded ones who will never say yes or no, but let party rhetoric fall from their mouths like vomit.
That was my view until this morning and I watched him let the smooth talking Baroness Chakrabarti get away with saying about ‘that is too early to discuss what happened on London Bridge’. Okay she showed respect and regret. And he let her carry on with this calm and “wordless-meaning” approach to a too early discussion. She was correct in many ways and I listened intently to what it takes to supervise and maintain surveillance. It is costly, financially and with human time, to do the job well, but it will never be perfect.
Now the Prime Minister. The chat started smoothly enough. The guts of the conversation was about the release of the killer after only eight years in prison. The public will always have mixed views on sentencing and why prisoners are released before their full term. It is always political and party politics seems to blur or even conceal the factual extent of what legislation can allow or not.
Apparently the legislation under which are killer was sentenced was in the period of a Labour Goverment. That was convenient for our wild haired prime minister. You can either love him or hate his image or everything about him. He is the ‘marmite man’ to many.
According to Marr the Conservative governments have had ten years to change the law regarding release for convicted terrorists. There was more ‘toing and froing’ than usual with both talking at the same time. That's probably very easy to do when Boris Johnston is in full flow. At least eight times Marr asked the same question and there was hostility written across his face.
The first fact we should know is whether the killer could have been kept in prison or not. We did not know from this programme and I hold Marr accountable for this. Facts should be there for us. Maybe we will see.
I have been a fan of Marr for years, but today, I saw him let himself down. He may not like our current Prime Minister, but that was not his job on this Sunday morning. I even walked away from the screen. Why give one interviewee an easy ride and then become, even belligerent, to another one. I know that there is a huge political divide and on this Sunday morning is he showing his own politics? Maybe he is trying to influence the polls!
Come on Andrew Marr - you can be more even handed because you have done better than this.
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