Lunch at the nearby Elcot Retreat yesterday which was a bit of a curate’s egg but it gave me time and space to read two of my daughter’s excellent degree essays, ‘The Experiences of Women of Colour in Midwifery Services’ and ‘Political economies of unfree labour through a gendered global capitalist lens: Sex work in Thailand’. I found them both cogent, shocking and powerful and was introduced to the concept of necropolitics – the use of political power to determine who lives and who dies. I also had time to read the first few chapters of a book about elephants of which much more soon.
Elcot is certainly a nice place to be – the panoramic view from the gardens heads this post. I have not been out much of late so these were my first snowdrops of the year.
In a bed at the front of the hotel was an attractive plant unknown to me, Mediterranean Spurge, Euphorbia characias wulfenii. The bracts resemble petals. It is apparently pretty toxic and can cause a rash or even blistering on contact, and is extremely dangerous in one’s eyes.
Healthy-looking and vigorous rosemary and sage surround these. I was also pleased to see a Monkey Puzzle Tree, Araucaria araucana, given my recent mention of the crossword setter who goes by the pseudonym Araucaria. The photograph I took is too bad to post.
I also liked this fire pit.
The arguments about Grey Squirrels will probably never end and there is some outrageous demonisation here, but I suppose contraception is better than culling. Pine martens are what is needed but they are hated and persecuted by gamekeepers.
Grey squirrels could be given contraceptives to control numbers
There was a good article in the weekend papers about Beavers – I am hugely looking forward to seeing them in the wild during my wildlife trip in the summer. There are about eight of them at the rewilded Knepp estate in West Sussex, some of whom have escaped their two-hectare enclosure. The government’s delaying tactics regarding legal releases (there have been a number of illegal ones from 2014 onwards) may not matter at all. Wonderfully, Isabella Tree, owner of the estate, says that “Beavers are taking matters into their own hands and rewilding themselves.”
I wrote of my visit to Tice’s Meadow here: Tice’s Meadow Nature Reserve – Animal Wild
“As reported in Animal Wild, the reserve is under an appalling threat. As they always do, rejected plans have been tweaked and submitted again in the hope of wearing down the spirit and resources of the opposition. Guildford Borough Council is due to reach a decision in a couple of weeks. The plan is to build a drive-through McDonald’s, like the world needs more of those.”
McDonald’s were thwarted but now they have submitted an appeal. It infuriates me that developers can do this – now all those good people will have to campaign and protest all over again.
Petition update · McDonald’s Appeal to Secretary of State · Change.org · Change.org
Some great news from PETA, a colossal win as they say, which also implicitly highlights the wrongness of our government’s recent banning of protest at such places.
Oregon Monkey Lab to Negotiate End to Experiments! | PETA
It is often difficult to keep track of what Tony Blair is up to but here is some excellent investigative journalism. He seems to have become a clandestine AI evangelist. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and briefly the richest man in the world, “has donated or pledged at least £257m to the Tony Blair Institute.” Blair seems to be lobbying for Oracle which would benefit hugely from proposed access to the UK’s valuable data, in particular people’s health records.
EXPOSED: Tony Blair & Israel’s Favourite Billionaire
Inside the Tony Blair Institute – New Statesman
There is no suggestion of illegality but ex-politicians really shouldn’t be able to wield such power.
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