StuartSW

If you care about the BBC, stand up and defend it: this could be the beginning of the end | Polly Toynbee Replacing the TV licence with a means-tested alternative may help disarm the right of one of its most effective weapons, says Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee

I agree, but how? If we all shout individually, our voice will be but a whisper. If we raise our voices together, then it will be a chorus of support. How do we organise against this right-wing, self-serving mob? @theguardian.com @restispolitics.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

How to make Keir Starmer a social media star Five ways for the PM to connect with voters, without tap-dancing naked down Camden High Street

Yep, he really should do it.

How to make Keir Starmer a social media star
open.substack.com/pub/peterhym...

The tragedy is not that customers are the victim of this mess @rachelsalvidge.bsky.social. We will barely notice the rebate on our bills. It's that once again the environment is the victim and gets nothing. Rights for the river?

Interesting to note that Paid won the Caerphilly bye election and Reform lost. So who is the @bbc Today Programme interviewing? Oh it's Reform. I see their love affair is not diminished.

Developers encroach on 2,000-year-old Devon wetland citing ‘blockages’ to Labour’s housing plans According to planning conditions, Wolborough Fen in Newton Abbot must be protected as groundworks are prepared for 1,200 homes

The government constantly talk of a win-win for growth and nature yet once again portray protecting a SSSI as a "blocker" to development. The more the government say the less we can trust.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The Guardian view on Labour targeting nature: the problem isn’t snails, but a broken housing model | Editorial Editorial: Rachel Reeves’s drive to speed up development is beginning to treat wildlife and the environment as expendable. Voters want homes built, but not at any cost

This. Every last word of it.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Conservative Party would abolish stamp duty, Kemi Badenoch tells conference - follow live She says

Watching the Tories this week, it seems they have learnt nothing in defeat. Their slogan "stronger economy" they trashed the economy, "stronger boarders" they opened them post Brexit. Abolish stamp duty, they destroyed many people's chance to buy a house. Shamless!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cl...

Rachel Reeves clears planning blockage amid ‘good relationship’ with developer Exclusive: Chancellor says 20,000 homes were being held up due to ‘some snails that are a protected species or something’

Sad to see this government, just like the last, has been bought. Clearly the developers said jump and Reeves said how high.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Thames Water creditors ask for up to 15 years’ leniency from river pollution rules Lenders say a ‘full return to legal, regulatory and environmental compliance’ under new rescue plan would not be completed until at least 2035-2040

NO, NO, and thrice NO.

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Mackerel Meltdown: Industrial Greed Pushes Stock to 20-Year Low The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has delivered today shocking advice: commercial catches of Northeast Atlantic mackerel must be cut by 77% in 2026 if the stock is to sta...

Total political failure to protect one of the most important fish in the marine food web.

anglingtrust.net/2025/09/30/m...

‘You could drink from that pond’: the city digging for a solution to toxic runoff A project in Brighton to stop harmful chemicals from seeping into a chalk aquifer could set an example for managing such pollution

Brilliant. Let's have many more of these. Would be a good addition to Labour's planning reform. For once showing they improve rather than trash the environment.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Hedgehogs, salmon and birds at risk after dry summer, says Natural England Loss of spawning pools, insects and marshy habitats has had ‘catastrophic effect on our flora and fauna’

For too long, we have known this is coming, and yet we do nothing to prepare and ensure our environment is resilient. Instead, we penny-pinch and fail to invest in nature.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I utterly condemn the killing of Charlie Kirk. But the way the hard right in the US & around the world have been quick to weaponise it, use it to double down on authoritarianism, culture wars & intolerance is scary. This marks another moment when democracy & enlightenment values slip from our grasp.

We Can Make an Impact. Ban Bottom Trawling in 41 English Marine Protected Areas: Pledge Your Support

Support the governments plans to ban bottom trawling in many of our "so-called" marine protected areas.

chng.it/MSCXx26yv7

Thames Water renationalisation plans being stepped up, says minister Environment secretary indicates that calls from creditors for leniency from fines and penalties will be rejected

Bring it on!

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

No 10 blocked nature concessions in planning bill amid Labour rebellion, sources say Row erupts between pro-housing MPs and those who with charities say bill risks causing environmental harm

New - No 10 blocked nature concessions in planning bill amid Labour rebellion

Row erupts between pro-housing MPs and those who wanted more mitigation on potential environmental harm

Campaigners thought an amendment was coming but No10 said no way

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

🎉 MAJOR OCEAN WIN! 📢 UK Government commits to ratifying the High Seas Treaty (aka the BBNJ) by the end of the year, as confirmed by Ocean Minister @emmahardymp.bsky.social at the UN Ocean Conference just now 🎉

#OceanProtection #UNOC3 #UNOC2025 #OceanWin

@oceana.bsky.social @hugotagholm.bsky.social

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth says military will stay in Los Angeles for 60 days – live Troop deployment, which has been heavily criticized, will cost $134m, Pentagon says; Trump doubles down on decision to deploy thousands more troops

Turning the military against your own citizens is the act of a dictator.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/live...

Revealed: 5,000 English nature sites at risk under Labour’s planning proposals Exclusive: Planning bill includes mechanism for developers to ‘pay to pollute’ valuable ecosystems, experts warn

FFS! What is @teamlabouruk.bsky.social thinking.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Angling Trust Presses Water Commission to Go Faster and Further In April, the Angling Trust submitted a detailed response to the Independent Water Commission, outlining the reforms needed to make the failing water industry fit for purpose. Now, as the Commission p...

Feel today's interim report from the Independant Water Commission is too timid. Sir Jon Cunliffe needs to go a lot further in his final recommendations. And the government need to act on his recommendations. @anglingtrust.bsky.social

anglingtrust.net/2025/06/03/a...

Listening to Ed Milliband on @restispolitics.bsky.social Leading restores my faith in politics and that there are politicians with passion, knowledge and vision.

Big fine for Thames Water. OFWAT fine them over £136m, for them polluting our rivers & for continuing to give bonuses & dividends while they were in financial trouble. Still a company that prioritises great over care for the environment & customers. Time to call an end to Thames Water

Battle begins over new homes approved in historic village without sewage capacity Charity launches legal challenge as it says problem of over-capacity sewage works near new homes is

This campaign has potentially national importance. We must end the "automatic right to connect," regardless of whether the sewage system can cope. Developers pay for increased school and transport capacity. They should be made to do the same for our sewers.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

All we ask is for the government and the EA to do what they are legally meant to do to clean up our rivers. Yet once more, the anglers in Pickering and @fishlegal.bsky.social have to go to court and win again!! Great work! But it shouldn't be needed.

fishlegal.net/2025/05/19/d...

Thames Water chair says he ‘may have misspoken’ to MPs over bonuses Sir Adrian Montague told select committee paying bonuses out of emergency £3bn loan was insisted upon by creditors

Once more, Thames Water's leadership put their own greed ahead of helping customers and the environment. This is on the day DEFRA and the EA confirm they have launched 31 criminal investigations into the company in the past year. @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Citizen testing reveals phosphate ‘crisis’ in English and Welsh rivers Anglers say more than a third of freshwater sites breach phosphate levels for good ecological status

Not enough is being done to clean up our rivers. Anglers across England continue to show just how bad things have got. Angry? Yes! Will @teamlabouruk.bsky.social act or continue to push regressive policies that will trash the environment? @theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Morgan M may have brought Labour back from the disaster of #Corbyn and may be an effective campaign organiser, I'll give him that. But governing is entirely different and he is proving to be useless at it. Doing Starmer huge damage in the process. If he stays this is a 1 term gov't.

Planning bill will ‘push public towards Reform’: Labour’s Chris Hinchliff on standing up for nature MP says draft law will let developers ‘pay cash to trash’ habitats and urges colleagues to back his amendments

Thanks @chrishinchliff.bsky.social good to see some Labour MPs standing up for what's right. We did not vote Labour for this vandalism. Protecting nature is not a "blocker" to growth, it is a fundamental foundation of growth for the economy & society

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Senior general Sir Gwyn Jenkins appointed new Royal Navy chief King Charles approved Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins to take over the role as First Sea Lord from Adm Sir Ben Key.

Was there no senior serving Royal Naval officer capable of doing the job? And why appoint someone who, when head of special forces, oversaw people under his command who are now the subject of serious allegations of illegal killings?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...