President Zelensky rightly said that President Trump is trapped inside a bubble of Russian disinformation. This has been widely reported for obvious reasons but I have not seen one mention of the source of Trump’s dangerous misinformation.
Fox News, or Fox ‘News’, has been pumping out pro-Russian propaganda for years. This is part of Rupert Murdoch’s lifelong career of injecting poison into the body politic, most notably by his extremely dangerous lies about climate change. Although his companies have paid out huge sums of money as a result of legal proceedings, Murdoch has escaped wider sanctions and disgrace. Why?
The other mystery I have been pondering is this: why, in discussing the future governance of Gaza, are elections never mentioned? Obviously, the Israeli bombardment has obliterated civic society there, but elections must surely be the aim as soon as they are practicable.
Photo: The Great Field, Braunton 1999-2000
This stunning photograph of the medieval field system known as the Great Field was shown at a recent Planning Committee meeting.
A Community Land Trust has applied to build nine affordable dwellings on part of the Great Field. Steve Reed, Devon County Council’s Senior Historic Environment Officer, gave a presentation to the committee, recommending refusal and emphasising the Great Field’s national importance.
Two others survive, one in Dorset and one in Nottinghamshire – neither, Steve said, as fine as ours in North Devon. Steve ended his presentation by quoting the great expert on British trees and landscape, Oliver Rackham. Rackham wrote of the extensive losses of precious landscapes since 1945. This has meant not only a loss of habitats but a ‘loss of meaning’. We shall be making a site visit to the Great Field in the next few weeks. Needless to say, I’m keeping an open mind on the application.
The Local Government Association newsletter last week pointed out that, since 2007, councils have given planning permission for more than 1.4 million homes that have not been built. This was revealed in a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR): planned homes are often not built because developers instead want to increase the land’s value before selling it on, or they are ‘land banking’ to slow building rates and maintain high house prices.
The late Peter Christie, a great Green voice, told me over a year ago that there were 2000 houses in Northern Devon that had planning permission but remained unbuilt. It is pathetic to hear senior Labour figures berating local councils and planning regulations for the housing crisis when the problem lies elsewhere.
Photo: Frogspawn on our pond
Frogspawn arrived in our pond after it appeared in various friends’ garden ponds – we are at a higher and cooler altitude than most of those I’ve heard from.
On a rare morning off from council and other work, I played in our garden. I drew clumps of the spawn into a bucket and added them to two tiny ponds in our vegetable garden. A mallard was feeding not far from the frogspawn on the big pond but – despite the strong scent of the spawn – seemed not to register what I was up to. I imagine frog and toad spawn are sushi to ducks.
Gardeners’ Question Time recently discussed whether grass snakes are good or bad for gardens. None of the panellists pointed out that grass snakes are major predators of amphibians, which are so helpful to gardeners. I know about this because the late John Butter, a North Devon naturalist and film maker, captured stunning footage of grass snakes swimming at fantastic speed to catch toads and frogs.
Photo: making a living willow tepee and bird hide in Swimbridge Parklands.
Over a dozen helpers were involved in creating this structure on this sunny Saturday. We hope to finish the essential work by the end of the day. (Gales forecast for tomorrow). I’ll show you the result next week.
Thanks for reading.
Mark