Spinning your wheels Sir, R.L. Vickers ("Freight of history", Letters, Eye 1654) asserts that "public transport eats taxes, private transport provides tax revenues.” In fact, the hidden costs of motoring's many downsides far outweigh the tax receipts. These socialised costs - gridlock, air and noise pollution, emergency services costs, road damage, public health impacts from sedentary lifestyles and deaths from road crashes - are met only partially by motorists. Motoring taxation raises about £40bn per year, while a recent report from the Royal College of Physicians estimates that the annual cost of air pollution alone is as much as £50bn. If drivers had to pay the full and true costs of motoring the only people who could afford to drive would be multi-millionaires. CARLTON REID, Motoring journalist and author of "Roads Were Not Built for Cars", Newcastle on Tyne.

“If drivers had to pay the full and true costs of motoring the only people who could afford to drive would be multi-millionaires.”

My letter about the hidden costs of motoring is in the latest @privateeyenews.bsky.social

I prosecute and defend the most serious sexual offences in our courts.

The overwhelming majority of offenders are British-born. Overwhelmingly the victim is someone known to them, either a partner or relative.

Anybody purporting to care about protecting women might start there.

Environment Agency insider alleges ‘cover-up’ over sewage sludge on farmland Regulator and government accused of colluding with water industry to dump potentially toxic waste without oversight

The more we discover, the worse it gets. Now we learn the water companies wrote the guidance ensuring sewage sludge is not tested for the vast majority of contaminants before being spread on farmland. They gave themselves a free licence to dump hazardous waste. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘The place is bleached, a dead zone’: how the UK’s most beloved landscapes became biodiversity deserts National parks, famous for their rich natural heritage, should be at the heart of efforts to protect habitats and wildlife. Instead, experts say they are declining – fast

Back in court for day 2 of our Dartmoor legal challenge today....and a timely, excellent piece from @phoebeweston.bsky.social on overgrazing. Expert local opinion from the brilliant @tonydartmoor.bsky.social & @guyshrubsole.bsky.social

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Devon campaigners call for ‘right to riverbank’ after finding Dart has 108 owners Research shows difficulties ahead for ministers if they are to keep manifesto pledge to extend riverside public access

Who owns the River Dart? 108 separate landowners, it turns out - with 11 miles of it owned by offshore companies!

Great research by @lewis-winks.bsky.social which shows why the Government's 9 river walks policy won't work without a right of responsible access 1/

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

LWA response to the 'Good Food Cycle' National Food Strategy 🍅

tinyurl.com/48m325w3

Starmer and Reeves should prepare UK for wealth tax, say top economists PM could raise ‘tens of billions’ while positioning Britain as progressive, say Thomas Piketty and others

Tax wealth.

I don't care if you do so via a new 'wealth tax' or by reforming existing taxes like Capital Gains Tax & Inheritance Tax (both are full of inconsistencies and loopholes.)

It isn't just about the amount of money raised; it's also about fairness.

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

Starmer and Reeves should prepare UK for wealth tax, say top economists PM could raise ‘tens of billions’ while positioning Britain as progressive, say Thomas Piketty and others

When world-leading economists argue that the UK needs a wealth tax our Govt should listen. History tells us ambition is possible and preferable; that the UK can be world leading.
Prime Minister be ambitious for our country - tax us, the super rich www.theguardian.com/business/202...

British doctor comes back from Gaza and confirms two things we knew: 1- the Israelis *specifically* confiscate formula feed to starve children 2- there is a clear pattern in gun shot wounds pointing to the fact that IDF soldiers are playing games hunting humans.

www.instagram.com/reel/DMm03Kp...

Israeli human rights groups hold a press conference to issue a report saying Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, in East Jerusalem, July 28, 2025. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Two major Israeli human rights organizations, B’Tselem & Physicians for Human Rights, officially declared Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, citing bombs targeting civilians, displacement, and deliberate starvation. The first time the Gaza genocide is called out from within Israeli society. #3E🧵

Starmer v Starmer: why is the former human rights lawyer so cautious about defending human rights? The long read: Given his career as a human rights barrister, it was hoped Keir Starmer would be the PM to restore the UK’s commitment to international law. The reality tells a different story

A really thorough piece about Starmer.

As someone who regularly deals with MPs, I personally think Starmer the human rights lawyer is long gone in favour of Starmer the careerist politician. Under his watch Labour is abandoning human rights and international law.
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

YouTube video by Richard J Murphy Are the wealthy really entrepreneurs?

We’re told that the wealthy are society’s great entrepreneurs. Without them, we’re told, there would be no jobs, no business, no innovation, but that’s a myth. The rich aren’t entrepreneurs. They preserve, protect and hoard instead. It’s time to stop believing their PR.

youtu.be/q_YTAPez4-c?...

Revealed: How Palestine Action was banned Exclusive: Documents seen by Declassified reveal serious concerns within the UK government and MI5 about proscribing Palestine Action.

HOME OFFICE DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN OVER PALESTINE ACTION BAN EXPOSED

@declassifiedUK has revealed that Home Office insinuations that Palestine Action supports violence and receives funding from Iran were refuted by its own internal assessments.

In full: www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-how...

Mailing list Visit the post for more.

Newcastle in 2026 for sure… join our mailing list to stay in the loop - threeacresandacow.co.uk/mailing-list/

🐮 🙏

Devon and Cornwall tour is go!

threeacresandacow.co.uk/shows/

‘Smoking gun proof’: fossil fuel industry knew of climate danger as early as 1954, documents show Documents show industry-backed Air Pollution Foundation uncovered the severe harm climate change would wreak

1954: the fossil fuel industry knows it’s obliterating our futures.

1970 onward: the industry makes $3,000,000,000 in profits EVERY DAY.

2022: world governments gift the same industry $7,000,000,000,000 in subsidies.

The people you think are in charge are not really in charge.

22 tonnes of microplastics spread on farms every day via sewage sludge, investigation reveals <b>The Sludge Files:</b> Twenty-two tonnes of microplastics per day are estimated to be spread on English and Welsh farmland through contaminated sewage sludge fertiliser sold by water companies, with...

“Farmers are being deceived by the water companies. They're being misled" - @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

22 tonnes of microplastics are dumped on farmland PER DAY via sludge - read this snapshot of my investigation outside the paywall (for a limited time!)

www.endsreport.com/article/1924...

I think a lot about how a historian specializing in the Civil War told me if we had hung all the generals and most of the Confederate officers for treason post war we'd be a completely different country today. I wonder if we'll learn.

Scottish firefighters tackle wildfires for third day as risk to life grows Dealing with very serious blazes means fire and rescue service has limited ability to respond to other emergencies

Hi @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

It isn’t natural forests that are tinder-dry and burning in Scotland.

The Scottish Gamekeepers Association, NatureScot and the Scottish Greens all fail to suggest closing the shooting estates and returning the land to forest.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

2. As I show in my book, slavery profits are the missing piece in our so-called domestic story of enclosure and the loss of the commons.

thanks - I've been looking for a concise version of this reasoning for sometime and yours is perfect

Looking forward to our first time performing at @landworkersuk.bsky.social Land Skills Fair, which we've heard so many good things about.

Find out more via landworkersalliance.org.uk/events/land-...

Matthew this is gold - I have draft archived it here for people not using bluesky - threeacresandacow.co.uk/2025/07/flaw... would you mind if I amplified it on our instagram and facebook, linking to and quoting you?

An entire village in Dorset is facing eviction – proof that private money holds all the power in rural England | George Monbiot This scandalous story gives lie to the claim that the biggest threat to country life comes from city dwellers, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

“The real conflict is not town v country, but money & power v people.”

Profound piece by @georgemonbiot.bsky.social on the forthcoming eviction of an entire village by a faceless plutocrat, the enclosure of access, & @righttoroam.bsky.social’s next mass trespass:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

📣Hot off the press!
Taking Stock: A foundation for future housing strategy.

We challenge persistent myths about the housing crisis and highlight ways to meet housing need within environmental limits. First output for 🏠Homes that Don’t Cost the Earth🌍.

Read a 10 min summary: tinyurl.com/mu59kb29

There are serious problems with Chenoweth’s 2011 research, which they partially conceded in 2023. Yet their work is imagined to be relevant to anti-Trump, anti-ICE, or anti-genocide protests, and is generally wielded by centrist Boomers to tell GenZ protestors to be better behaved. /2

🧵 Erica Chenoweth is getting a new wave of attention with a recent appearance on @podsaveamerica.crooked.com and acolytes scoring legacy op-eds. This has spurred a rash of over-confident popular commentary: “We all know that non-violence is empirically successful.” This is false, and here’s why: /1

Devon and Cornwall tour coming up soon - who wants to see our show? It is a moo-sing 🐮

threeacresandacow.co.uk/shows/

Duke urged to sell 'trashed' grouse moor 'to people of Sheffield' Conservation campaigners are set to bid for a “trashed” grouse moor near Sheffield to “restore it to its former glory.”

Fed up of choking on smoke from nearby grouse moors, Sheffield residents have set up @reclaimourmoors.bsky.social, to push for a community buyout of the Duke of Rutland's Moscar Moor - & use new powers under forthcoming ‘Community Right to Buy’ legislation 1/

www.thestar.co.uk/news/environ...