Guess he didn't get the memo that good things are bad things, actually.

We've now had ten DEFRA secretaries in a space of ten years. The brief is huge. The problems are manifold and complex. The politics are difficult. Really not surprising that so many environmental and agricultural issues are stuck in the muck.

Great to hear that @timfarron.bsky.social expressed support for a default right of responsible access at the recent Lib Dem conference fringe event 'Roam, Rewild, Restore' - speaking alongside @jon-moses.bsky.social and others:

One of the best tl;dr explainers I've seen re: how accelerating wealth inequality is reshaping the spatial politics of Britain. Relevant for everything from the far-right resurgence to the hollowing out of small towns & the 'gerontrification' of the countryside. www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMRS...

A hostile foreign power captures your primary communications platform and explicitly manipulates it to promote extremism and incite "civil war". The government: oh, okay then. 😶😶‍🌫️🫥

If you can't get out the gate without confirming every cliche about the radical left then you have no business being in charge of the hopes of millions. Especially now. join.greenparty.org.uk

As a friendly chap called Mohammed, with the broadest Welsh valleys accent going, comes out to fix my car today, I am moved to tell @reform-uk-official.bsky.social that they can absolutely get to fuck. You're the coloniser. Get your shit race-baiting politics out of my country. Yours, a Welshman.

I'll be speaking at the @libdems.org.uk conference this weekend on behalf of @righttoroam.bsky.social. 'Roam, Rewilding, Restore' Saturday, 1pm. It's outside the secure zone so don't need a conference ticket to attend. See some of you there?

A farmer finds two wild campers on his land, and.... "...whips a £20 note from his pocket for the cause [picking up litter], asking, “Is that enough?” This is the first time either of us have been paid for camping. “Have you got everything you need?..." 🤩

This should be the bare minimum response. How about forcing X to take its responsibilities as a publisher seriously?

Love this Country Diary from @ebenmyrddin.bsky.social, in which another countryside is gleaned from the most unexpected of moments. It also echoes what I've experienced in other countries where access to land is assumed and normal. Reciprocity follows. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Every great Labour Government has expanded access; whether that be CROW in 2000, the Countryside Act in 1968 or the National Parks and Countryside Act in 1949. This Government should follow suit; bringing in Scottish style right to roam, a right to wild camp and a right to swim. A lasting legacy

American billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, founder of Blackstone & owner of the 2,500-acre Conholt Park shooting estate in Wiltshire, has been tankering in huge quantities of water from drought-struck Hampshire to fill up his lake (legally, but outrageously): www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

X is basically a hate factory for racist delusion now. And.. there just doesn't seem to be much / any conversation about what we do about that? The 'For you' feed is wall-to-wall far-right delirium. The algorithm has obviously been engineered to drive it. If it was Russia would we be so complacent?

Russell Brand now conducting supportive interviews with Tommy Robinson. Truly, one of history's most breathtaking charlatans.

When I was a student some stuffy old writers were petitioning to make the British Library an even more exclusive place. I love that @britishlibrary.bsky.social not only said 'stuff that' but went completely the other way. Kids play areas. College students doing their homework. A truly public space.

This was your attack line btw @teamlabouruk.bsky.social Instead of chasing Farage down the drain as per.

Lots of people rightly dunking on this silly piece about Big Rewilding. I can't help also noticing the piece includes an anecdote about an interviewee aggrieved at the reporting by this particular journalist. All dismissed by them, of course. Curious how that keeps happening though, isn't it 🤔

You've got just five short days to enter the @righttoroam.bsky.social prize draw, in collaboration with @foldedorset.bsky.social. All entries support the Right to Roam campaign in a crucial year for access reform and buy you a chance to win ten beautiful nature-themed bundles. More details in OP!🌱

Shilling fear in all its guises

This article by Yvette Cooper, attempting to justify the Palestine Action proscription, is laughable. She cites three incidents, attempting to make them sound as lurid as possible. Yet she's suspiciously vague on the details or why they amount to 'terrorism'. So I looked them up...

Been away so missed this excellent thread from @amiesphilip.bsky.social about the historical context underlying the land access debate. Suffice to say it's leagues more informed than the book which inspired it!

An excellent review. The first I’ve seen to appreciate that this book has a clear agenda from the outset. Most readers have fallen for the ‘fair and balanced’ line in the blurb. Not Sam Hackney: www.britishwildlife.com/uncommon-gro...

Fossil capital is a death cult

All in favour of community-led decision making over public assets like this.. But the council's intentions here are otherwise pretty murky. I've dug around for a clear justification but can't find any. Why shouldn't angling have a future here alongside other objectives? www.bbc.com/news/article...

This must be what conversation with the actual Rupert Lowe is like. "windy today isn't it Rupert" "OUR WEATHER SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN CRIPPLED BY MASS IMMIGRATION" "...Think it's just those south-westerlies coming off the Atlantic" "THE MIGRATION CONVECTION CRISIS MUST END OR BRITAIN IS FINISHED"

The Welsh Labour MP who the government have wheeled out to look like an idiot defending the PA proscription is... a significant supporter of Labour Friends of Israel. These are people who do professional politics as a living. Indeed many of them have done very little else. Truly, I despair.

As it happens I met this fella a couple of weeks ago. He was doing voluntary work to make habitat for bees and butterflies.

🧵1/ Since being elected MP for Bolton West in July 2024, improving access to the countryside and cleaning up our waterways have been two of my top priorities, as a keen kayaker myself 🛶. Here’s what I’ve been up to over the last year 👇

Someone get the lettuce out for Yvette Cooper

Timing suggests that Israel is clearing house before their land occupation; assassinating the last people left to professionally report on what's to come. They've been clear about their intentions all along, they're being clear about them now.

if I ever go properly "screaming about nothing in particular in the street" mad it will be due to having spent too much time having read about the opinions of men who have absolutely never cared about women's rights for one moment in their lives but decided to pretend just for the sake of racism

Bloody public, at it again, accessing rivers to tackle the chronic spread of invasive species. www.bbc.com/news/article...

Just about to get to this in the pile 👀

Israel keeps firing "warning shots" at people waiting for aid; Palestinian civilians keep being shot dead www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c2...

Barefoot bog restoration at Moor Barton last weekend.

“In opposition, Labour vowed to introduce a right to roam. In govt, it U-turned on this promise… its plan to create 9 new ‘river walks’ is a paltry compensation.” Excellent Guardian leader on why we need a right of access to all rivers @righttoroam.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An excellent @theguardian.com leader today on access to rivers, following our research on the ownership of the Dart. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I like and am a member/volunteer for the Ramblers, but what's the point of this post? We all know the SFS is a massive disappointment for access. Landowners already have a legal requirement to maintain PRoWs. And mechanisms for one-off improvements to accessibility have been in place for decades!

A complacent take imo. The polling, the control of the media environment (most obviously X), the financing, the relative effectiveness of Farage. And look across the Atlantic - why should we assume reality is the ingredient for political success? Especially when centrist 'realism' is failing?

Thank god we still have Cap'n Starmer steadying the good ship Blue Labour. Oh.... bsky.app/profile/edwi...

Our grandparents knew titanic warfare, genocide, economic dislocation, smashed cities & hideous disease. They clung to the ideals of liberal democracy as if their lives depended on it These people have known only peace, prosperity, safety and it has blown their minds. They hunger for dislocation.

One of these days a senior politician will actually say something positive about the 10 million people living and working in the UK who happen to have been born abroad, but that day is not today

God this stuff is just so depressing. Don’t know what can be done about people going on the media, whether traditional or new, and essentially just scaring people into staying inside and going mad.

Funny that people can't travel to Kew to see Jon Cunliffe announce his report on the failure of one privatised monopoly (water) because another privatised monopoly (trains) has broken down. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It was no battle, still recollect how a woman I knew who was there described the police smashing her van windows in (her home) as she tried to shelter her children, she was not fighting.

"This has come from the water level up - it's been women in swimming costumes who have led this campaign from the very start." - @greenjorobb.bsky.social reflecting on how the pollution of rivers was transformed into a major political issue. Is there a more powerful example of 'connect to protect'?

Interesting to see the effects of road and farm run-off water pollution flagged here. I remember a water company telling me how much they spend dealing with farm run-off and it was astonishing - enough to be a notable chunk of everyone's water bill www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Government insiders tell @tesscolley.bsky.social Chris Hinchcliff had whip removed due to "persistent knobheadery". Here he is, asking whether it's right to build in a way that could create 100,000 new homes uninsurable due to flood risk. Is that knobheadery? www.endsreport.com/article/1925...