This Week with Brian
Your Local Area
Including a real emergency, degradation and collapse, an insane view, better leadership, theatres of war, keeping pace, making deals, a staggering reply, a playground narcissist, the Kremlin Krokodile, three bugbears, no scrutiny, like it or not, warmer homes, flag perils, behaving like royalty, burning batteries, political theatre, the beautiful game, a template letter, a remarkable cow, a political font, a nice painter, debris, the next one on the list and no blinking.
Click on the appropriate buttons to the right to see the local news from your area (updated every Thursday evening).
If there’s anything you’d like to see covered for your area or anything that you’d like to add to a segment that we’ve covered, drop me a line at brian@pennypost.org.uk.
Further afield
Never mind about Trump, NATO and Greenland – we’ll turn to these lesser matters in a moment. What we have to face is the reality of a full-blown bio-diversity crisis which is likely to affect every aspect of life here in the UK and elsewhere. The consequences seem to be being ignored by our government, despite the provenance of this latest report (the nature of which could not have been a secret during its preparation). All of the government’s assumptions about the future are flawed and mendacious if they do not take these conclusions into account.
[more below]
• Crisis
Perhaps under the cover of the more eye-catching Trumpian international drama, the UK government has, without any seeming fanfare, released the Joint Intelligence Committee/Defra report on “global biodiversity loss, eco-system collapse and national security”. There are some emotive words in there. The headlines are so shocking that I’m going to quote them in full (with the “analytical confident rating” of risk in bold italics at the end):
- Global ecosystem degradation and collapse threaten UK national security and prosperity. The world is already experiencing impacts including crop failures, intensified natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks. Threats will increase with degradation and intensify with collapse. Without major intervention to reverse the current trend, this is highly likely to continue to 2050 and beyond. High.
- Cascading risks of ecosystem degradation are likely to include geopolitical instability, economic insecurity, conflict, migration and increased inter-state competition for resources. Moderate
- Critical ecosystems that support major global food production areas and impact global climate, water and weather cycles are the most important for UK national security. Severe degradation or collapse of these would highly likely result in water insecurity, severely reduced crop yields, a global reduction in arable land, fisheries collapse, changes to global weather patterns, release of trapped carbon exacerbating climate change, novel zoonotic diseases and loss of pharmaceutical resources. The Amazon rainforest, Congo rainforest, boreal forests, the Himalayas and South East Asia’s coral reefs and mangroves are particularly significant for the UK. High.
- Ecosystem degradation is occurring across all regions. Every critical ecosystem is on a pathway to collapse (irreversible loss of function beyond repair). High
- There is a realistic possibility that some ecosystems (such as coral reefs in South East Asia and boreal forests) start to collapse from 2030, and others (rainforests and mangroves) start to collapse from 2050. Low
- All countries are exposed to the risks of ecosystem collapse within and beyond their borders. Some will be exposed sooner than others and are likely to act to secure their interests, particularly water and food security. Moderate
- Without significant increases in UK food system and supply chain resilience, it is unlikely the UK would be able to maintain food security if ecosystem collapse drives geopolitical competition for food. The UK relies on imports for a proportion of both food and fertiliser and cannot currently produce enough food to feed its population based on current diets. Countries best placed to adapt are those that invest in ecosystem protection and restoration, and resilient and efficient food systems. Moderate
Many might regard these risk ratings as optimistic. Even so, they seem to require some action. Similar points were made at the National Emergency briefing in November, which was greeted by an equally deafening lack of media reaction.
Those of us with gardens can do what we can to help UK biodiversity by creating hedgehog highways and nature corridors with dry hedges, planting pollinating flowers, avoiding noxious weedkillers and providing nesting boxes. All of us can look how to reduce our carbon footprints, to prove to government and industry that we care and they need to follow suit if they want our support. All of us can lobby our councils, our MP and the government. Sadly, the latter’s view at present is to build and grow at all costs, nature often being cast as a main impediment to the smooth running of the planning system – a version of the truth which, as I tried to explain here, verges on the insane.
We have a real problem with biodiversity loss. This is part of the climate-change problem although it is also a thing unto itself. It’s hard to imagine the authors of the report could be any more authoritative but better leadership is needed to convey the seriousness of the issue. Can we expect this to happen?
• Greenland
A year or so ago we were prepared for a number of theatres of war that might precipitate WW3: The Middle East, obviously; Ukraine; China/Taiwan; India/Pakistan; perhaps Korea; even Russia, China and the USA in some Orwellian struggle. But who’d have predicted Greenland?
It’s almost impossible to keep pace with what Trump has had to say on the subject. He’s hinted at military involvement, then said he won’t use excessive force, or force at all. He’s said he’ll penalise countries with tariffs which opposed this move and then he said he wouldn’t. Acquiring it was a necessity, Trump claimed: while stating his “respect” for the people of Denmark and Greenland, he said at Davos that “no nation or group of nations is in any position to secure Greenland apart from the United States.”
But secure it against what? The only threat against the island that’s been expressed has come from Trump himself. It’s quite easy suggest a solution to a problem that you’ve created yourself.
Russia seems the more likely of the two big rivals to make a pounce. If so, you’d expect the Kremlin Krokodile to be outraged by the idea. It seems, however, according to the BBC’s respected Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg, that Russia could not be more delighted.
“Standing in the way of the US president’s historic breakthrough is the stubbornness of Copenhagen and the mock solidarity of intransigent European countries, including so-called friends of America, Britain and France,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta enthuses.” Anything that drives a wedge between Europe and the USA – something the USSR tried and tried to do in the Cold War – is to be celebrated in Moscow.
In Davos, Trump seems to have backed off from this though he’s left with the problem of how he can reconcile a takeover of this vast half-country with good relations with Europe’s leaders who’ve opposed the scheme. Trump likes to think he’s a deal-maker: let’s see what kind of deal he can make here.
One might also ask how this aspiration differs from the way Putin has approached Ukraine. So far, I admit, no US weapons have been fired in Greenland. However, both moves are identical statements of national and perhaps global self-interest, redressing wrongs which geo-political or colonial errors have left unaddressed.
• Pique
One of Trump’s reasons for wanting Greenland, or at least for persuing its strongly, was that he’d been snubbed. The text of a recent exchange, as reported by Reuters, between PotUS and the Norwegian PM Jonas Gahr Stoere starts with Stoere’s suggestion that “we all should work to take this down and de-escalate.”
Trump’s reply is staggering:
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.
“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT.”
It’s hard to know where to start with this but I’ll try. The Nobel Peace Prize is not decided by the Norwegian government. Norway has no control over Greenland. Rights of ownership, such as the USA has over a number of places in the world, are issues that need to be worked round, not set aside. If we’re talking about who landed boats where, coming from countries that didn’t exist then, we’re going to be here all day. The idea of who has done the most for NATO is not a proven fact. Nor is the final statement.
This is in some ways the logic of the playground. It’s also the language of the narcissist and, in this case, of the most powerful narcissist in the world. He’s always displayed his contempt for traditional smooth-talking democracy. This is the new I-me-mine reality, and one with which Moscow and Bejing completely agree.
Unlike the other two, Trump has to move fast. The mid-terms later this year may clip his wings: the presidentials in nearly three years time will see him out, unless he can mount a constitutional coup. US presidents have less time than do many other leaders to write their legacy. This one is really going for it.
• Bugbears
I have three particular stylistic bugbears which can, in my experience, be applied to aggressive and manipulative opponents.
- The first is finishing off a communication with “thank you” or “Thanks”. This implies that the recipient agrees or should agree with the message (whereas they almost certainly don’t).
- The second is the use of capital letters to make a point more effective (which they don’t).
- The third is the exclamation mark at the end to make the entire message more effective (which it doesn’t).
I have had many dealings with someone who did all three of these and which, as much as many of things he actually said, convinced me what a truly awful person he was. By their grammar and punctuation ye shall know them…
• Politics
The new right-wing party with the turquoise rosettes seems to have picked up some new members, including Robert “Westferry” Jenrick; Nadhim Zahawi, who was briefly a Conservative minister for this or that as were so many others; and some other man whose name I can neither recall nor be bothered to look up.
None of these have decided to stand for re-election under their new colours, despite Farage’s howls of protest a few years ago on this very point when a defector from the Tories to Labour (or perhaps the other way round: it makes no difference) declined to subject themselves to this scrutiny.
The two parties are perhaps more similar than either would like to admit. Private Eye 1667 informs us (on page 12) that there are currently two members of BoJo’s government who’re currently in Badenoch’s shadow cabinet but three previous Johnson cabinet members who’re now in Reform.
I’d like to try to maintain Penny Post’s relative political impartiality. However, the prospect of a Reform UK government at the next election will fill many with despair. The real culprits here are the Conservatives, a party which for decades was in charge of the right-wing of British politics with all its weirdos and libertarians but which has, in recent years, allowed its defences to collapse. There are some signs that Kemi Badenoch is turning a corner, though the opinion polls don’t suggest any massive change in the party’s fortunes compared to the disaster of the last election.
The only UK political entity which has consistently improved its rankings since July 2024 is the Green Party. Of course, opinion polls aren’t everything, as the government will always say. None the less, you kind of know what the Greens stand for, like it or not. With most of the others, I’m not so sure.
• And finally…
• I have absolutely zero interest in the goings on of David Beckham since he stopped playing football but it’s been hard to avoid coverage of the bitter inter-generational spat involving his son – called Bronx, or Prospero, or something – and his American actress wife. It all looks a bit like the Harry/Megan/Charles argument. Perhaps the whole thing has been fabricated by the Beckham family in order to make them appear more regal?
• The Centre for Sustainable Energy has welcomed the government’s Warm Homes Plan, a £15bn package to upgrade 5m homes and provide 180,000 new jobs. “This could make a real difference to millions of people struggling with their energy bills,” a CSE statement reads. “If delivered properly, this is the biggest public investment in home energy upgrades in British history.”
• A typeface is just a typeface, right? OK, some are handsome and some are ugly but the choice of one over another isn’t a major political or philosophical question. Wrong, according to this article in The Week. The US State Department has shifted its communications from Calibri to Times New Roman on the grounds that the old choice was “informal” and a “wasteful” paean to diversity.
• Opinions differ about whether or not flags should be displayed from public buildings to the extent that they are. Some attempts to put them up have immediate and disastrous consequences, as this sorry tale from Bristol relates: a man was trying to tie a union flag on a lamp post while a bit drunk, fell off and killed himself.
• The Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has recently written to planning inspectors explaining that he expects planning authorities to take a more pragmatic approach to developer requests to renegotiate S106 agreements. The active and growing WhatsApp group campaigning about the CIL scandal has suggested that the same person could easily write a similar letter for the same audience asking them to interpret the confusing CIL regulations in the way that they were intended (ie not weaponised against residents).
This is a point of view that the Minister agrees with as he said it in a Commons committee meeting. All he needs to do is write it down, find an envelope and a stamp and send it off to the Planning Inspectorate.
A template letter has been drafted for people to send to their MPs to encourage this to happen. I have sent this to mine, Lee Dillon (though he would doubtless know all about this, having recently had a meeting with some of the spokespeople). He is, in fact, one of the few MPs who doesn’t need to receive it except by way of information as the CIL abuses were, partly as a result of his efforts when Leader of the Council, stopped in West Berkshire. Many other authorities need to be encouraged to follow suit.
• The Ashes nightmare is over so attention, at least my attention, returns to the other beautiful game, football (there are, by the way, no other games). The last-but-one round of Champions league group matches have produced the remarkable situation of five English clubs in the top eight, something which for all of them bar Arsenal could change. Winners of this competition? It’s hard to look past the three non-English teams in the top eight at present, Real, Bayern and PSG. One of them, I think, probably beating one of the three London clubs in the final. Place your bets on this outcome now…
Across the area
• Debating the settlement
West Berkshire Council will debate a motion on Thursday 29 January which seeks to highlight the reduction in its funding from central Government.
“The motion follows confirmation last month of West Berkshire Council’s funding over the next three years,” a statement from WBC says. “It leaves the Council among the hardest hit in the country with one of the lowest increases in funding nationally – just over a third of the average increase for councils.
“It means that the Council will have less money to spend, even if the Council Tax paid by residents increases by the maximum amount of 4.99% each year. The Council will receive at least £28m less from central Government over the next three years, continuing a trend of year-on-year reductions. It also comes at a time when an increasing share of business rates collected by the Council are redistributed to other parts of the country rather than being kept in the district.”
The funding settlement is unwelcome: how much of a surprise it would have been given the government’s stated aim to perform its own version of the previous administration’s levelling-up policy is another matter. So too is whether anything can be accomplished by this gesture, although in the circumstances it would perhaps be impossible for the Council to do nothing.
The opposition Conservatives take a rather different view. They feel that this letter – coupled with the Council’s rejection of aspects of an independent review of its financial performance, which was a condition of the last £16m bout of emergency funding – will do nothing to make the government agree to the imminent request for a rather larger bail-out.
As for the need for the meeting, they suggest that there’s nothing to stop the Leader from writing to government on the matter if he’s determined to do so and that dealing with the matter with a Council vote has a whiff of political theatre about it.
Many local authorities are trying to get Whitehall’s attention at present. The only certain way they can do this is by declaring a S114 notice, an effective admission of bankruptcy. This is a course of action that many might be faced with in the months ahead. Whether WBC will be amongst them remains to be seen.
On a related matter, I’m pleased to report that Olivia Bailey MP’s office has acknowledged my query regarding her rather different assessment of the government’s settlement from that which WBC has come to and has promised a response soon.
• Recycling on foot
West Berkshire Council, in common with all authorities, is increasing the number of items that it recycles. Many of these are collected at the kerbside and it’s hoped that others will soon be added to this list. There are also eight mini-recycling centres (we’re lucky enough to have one here in East Garston) where certain other things can be taken. Finally there are two main centres at Padworth and Newbury.
For some people, the disadvantage of the second and third methods is that unless you live very close to one of the mini or main centres (which most people don’t), you need a car. What help is available to those who don’t drive?
We take a look at this issue, raised with us by a Penny Post reader, and ask the portfolio holder to explain what options are available. Read more here.
News from your local councils
Most of the councils in the area we cover are single-tier with one municipal authority. The arrangements in Oxfordshire are (currently, at least) different, with a County Council which is sub-divided into six district councils, of which the Vale of White Horse is one. In these two-tier authorities, the county and district have different responsibilities.
In all cases, parish and town councils provide the first and most immediately accessible tier of local government.
West Berkshire Council
• Click here to see the latest Residents’ News Bulletin from WBC.
• Click here for details of all current consultations being run by WBC.
• Click here to sign up to all or any of the wide range of newsletters produced by WBC.
• Click here for the latest news from WBC.
Vale of White Horse Council
• Click here for details of all current consultations being run by the Vale Council.
• Click here for latest news from the Vale Council.
• Click here for the South and Vale Business Support Newsletter archive (newsletters are generally produced each week).
• Click here to sign up to any of the newsletters produced by the Vale’s parent authority, Oxfordshire County Council.
Wiltshire Council
• Click here for details of all current consultations being run by Wiltshire Council.
• Click here for the latest news from Wiltshire Council.
Swindon Council
• Click here for details of all current consultations being run by Swindon Council.
• Click here for the latest news from Swindon Council.
Parish and town councils
• Please see the News from your local council section in the respective weekly news columns (these also contain a wide range of other news stories and information on activities, events and local appeals and campaigns): Hungerford area; Lambourn Valley; Marlborough area; Newbury area; Thatcham area; Compton and Downlands; Burghfield area; Wantage area.
• Other news
• A report from national charity Libraries Connected shows that public libraries in West Berkshire deliver at least £12,221 in value each year by supporting mental health and wellbeing through the provision of volunteering opportunities, particularly among older people.
• Earlier this month, an incident occurred in Leckhampstead where a bin lorry caught fire due to lithium-ion batteries being placed in a household waste bin. WBC wants to remind people that you should never put batteries in your general waste or recycling containers. Lithium-ion batteries from devices like e-cigarettes, laptops, and power tools, need to be taken to a household waste recycling centre for disposal. WBC can collect smaller household batteries if placed in a clear bag on top of your black wheelie bin on collection day
• Families in West Berkshire keen to keep active this winter are in with a chance of winning annual passes for some of the UK’s biggest attractions. More information here.
• West Berkshire Council is delighted to announce the approval of a Youth Council, following a meeting of the Council’s Executive on Thursday, 18 December. More information can be found here.
• The Newbury Society has launched the West Berkshire Architectural Design Award. Entries are welcome from any projects of any size in West Berkshire that have been completed within the last three years. Entries must be in by 28 February. For more information, including details of other grants that may be available, please click here.
• West Berkshire Council has partnered with Connected Kerb in £382,000 LEVI-funded programme to expand accessible EV charging across the district. Read more here.
• As is becoming increasingly clear, there is a mounting problem with the provision of social-rent homes, in West Berkshire, the Vale and elsewhere. In this separate article, we take a look at this issue and link to some sources of expert advice. If you feel that your parish has fewer social-rent homes than it needs and no immediate prospect of this being remedied, see if any of the organisations mentioned can help.
• There’s information here on some new speed limits that have recently been introduced in West Berkshire
• West Berkshire Council has confirmed that it “runs regular Let’s Talk events across West Berkshire – so you can speak to someone face-to-face, get advice, and find the help you need” about accessing the Council’s various services. More information can be found here.
• The animal of the week is this remarkable Austrian cow which has managed to use tools, something which experts thought was a skill restricted to primates.
• A number of good causes have received valuable support recently: see the various news area sections (links above) for further details.
The quiz, the sketch, the word and the song
• And so we arrive at the song of the week. For all kinds of reasons which I don’t have the bandwidth to share (aside from the fact that it’s a bloody lovely song), here’s Ronnie Lane’s glorious Debris, performed by The Faces.
• So next it’s the comedy moment of the week. I can only watch these sketches in small doses as you always know what’s coming and it’s never good. As black comedy goes, this is in every way right up there: Johnny Nice Painter from The Fast Show.
• Followed by the Georgian phrase of the week, taken from A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose published in 1788. This week’s is Top heavy: drunk. yet another perfect description.
• And, finally, the quiz question of the week. This week’s question is: Who’s next on this list: Elizabeth II, Victoria, George III, James VI and I? Last week’s question was What didn’t Anthony Hopkins do in The Silence of the Lambs? Apparently, in none of his scenes did he blink. I’ve not seen the film myself but that’s what the interweb thing says. I hope for his sake that they weren’t very long scenes. I’ve just tried it and can last about twenty seconds. Mind you, these actor folk can really get into their parts, can’t they? Hopkins probably took part in stare-out competitions for months before taking the role.
2 Responses
Re article: ‘Recycling on foot’.
Good to see this article posted up! Thanks, Brian.
Of course, one wouldn’t need to recycle so much if one didn’t keep buying all this – often uneccessary stuff – in the first place.
And a lot of this ‘uneccessary stuff’ shouldn’t get made in the first place either. But you try telling the ‘powers that be’ that.
Sadly, the mantra is: ‘New new new, growth growth growth’ at all costs. Whilst the landfills fill fill fill.
As expressed in McCartney’s lovely song Junk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3svS8Nk6-Jk