If you Google search you get a ref to @birminghamhistory who don't seem to be here
07.03.2026 14:25
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If you Google search you get a ref to @birminghamhistory who don't seem to be here
The questions about how you access the news were very old school. Never listen to the tv or radio news or look at Wales Online, BUT subscribe to Nation, listen to Gwleidydda, Wales Politics Pod, Senedd Sources, For Wales See Wales, bits of S. Supp? They only asked about the first half..
Yes. But... there's a huge temptation to find in 'great little stories' a fig leaf which distracts from (and potentially substitutes politically for) the sheer scale of action and funding needed if targets are to be achieved.
Amhosib ei lawrlwytho ar podbean, er yn gweithio'n iawn ar sounds.
We don't contribute to that 80% of course... 🙄
There's press releases and then there's reporting....
Indeed - wasn't even going there!! Reading IAC minutes didn't increase positivity re. either Coillte or Bord na Móna or the overall joined-upness of the State.
Latest Art. 17 report data:
My worry is on the more 'farmingy' needs of esp. 4010 & 4030 - c.350,000ha not in good condition. More of their needs will be ongoing as opposed to one-off, but the scale is huge compared to the current ACRES CP. More than 1 approach possible, but needs to be serious & at the scale of the problem
Looking at that positively, it's enough to need an infrastructure (and a corporate culture) of its own - half a dozen more staff in NPWS surely won't be enough. All quite doable though.
Looking at Scotland's Peatland Action, which is not necessarily the same, but a good starting point for thinking, 20,000ha p.a. restoration is estimated to need c.750 staff to deliver (most of them contractors doing the job on the ground of course). But still a good quarter of those are admin etc.
I have a feeling Govt would see its being outwith the CAP IT system as a strength rather than a weakness. But there would need to be interoperability to ensure no double funding (and at least of those payments would be State Aids needing to conform to certain rules).
But who would fund those additional tasks or, if DAFM is resistant to CP teams having additional roles, how would seamless actions on the ground, coherent signals to farmers etc etc be delivered? Who is thinking about these issues?
However, I share your scepticism that NPWS as a body has the experience and mentality necessary to deliver in real complementarity to the CAP. And it seems obvious also that, however imperfect at present, bodies such as the ACRES CP teams and ASSAP, are essential as an interface.
I agree with those saying that denying the CAP's (present as well as future) role is just a lie, and politically unhelpful in the long term. Having said that, I struggle with seeing how the scale of CAP payments is up to the task, and whether making everything subject to CAP admin rules is helpful
What would increasing the cap on ACRES CP area payments so everyone got rewarded for every improvement cost? These are basic questions but also Big Picture ones, since the scale of need is so huge. Can there be effective coherent delivery alongside CAP? Unavoidable & necessary nonetheless.
A back of envelope calc suggests that the basic restoration capital costs of 200000ha of blanket bog could be EUR 0.7 billion. Heathlands not in good condition cover c. 350000ha. What's the investment needed to deliver better management there?
Wiki no less confirms that I'm not doolally! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treets
Yes yes - they were all under the one overall Treets brand but in separate packs. They named the peanut ones something else and the toffee ones disappeared and the chocolate ones became minstrels.
Yes, brown chocolate ones, blue toffee ones and yellow peanut ones. You're clearly just a young thing... 😉
Minstrels.....
...or Treets
What would be a strong positive statement were Keir Starmer or Jo Stevens to have said it is embarrassingly revealing and damaging when Eluned says it. But difficult to know what she *should* be doing from her perspective - there's no narrative that works for her, and neither does silence.
@benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org @annabower.bsky.social
Disgraceful presentation of far-from-disgraceful facts. Seems clear from the details away from headlines that they were serious visits, many on behalf of govt. Is less than £700 a large cost per trip? Probably not. 'Cancer patient took 11 jaunts to hospital' would be crass and insulting....
@benlake.bsky.social a Elin Jones - sut mae hyn yn cymharu ag ymarfer da mewn gwledydd eraill? Da iawn Powys, ond anodd peidio cymharu â Point and Sandwick yn Lewis - yr elw I GYD yn mynd i'r gymuned. Mae gormod o'r drafodaeth am y twrbinau a'r peilonau a bron ddim am y budd o'r rhai sy YN addas.
@herbertnickel.bsky.social
(Are they even passing a fraction of that on to the pig and cattle farmers whose 'experiments' are so valuable?).
What would be an honest narrative then? 'I'm supporting approaches to land use which are so economically unattractive that my funding mechanism will pay them £65,555/ha/yr'? (£59 p.a. to 'adopt' 9 m2) Not sure Rad. WT are selling THAT as a model to the local farmers...
