The U.K. has a good climate and soils for growing timber. Despite this we end up importing many of our needs from northern softwood growing states where it takes longer for them to grow and adds cost and carbon generation to transport the wood to the U.K. We even import the wood to burn in the large Drax power station.
The state has made some attempts through the Forestry Commission to boost timber sales from domestic woods, Â but on a small scale. There have been some tax advantages given to woodland but not enough to generate large forestry businesses here.
Given government enthusiasm for more woods it would be a good idea to review the package of licences, tax breaks and help available. The U.K. needs more than lots of extra trees. It needs bigger scale forestry to back house building, furniture and other wood using industries and to power the Drax fires.
July 31, 2024
Good morning.
Growing timber for domestic consumption does seem a good idea until you start to take into consideration the economy of scale. If we do not have enough available land to grow the right kind of trees then the cost of such becomes prohibitive. I do not believe that we should be subsidising through tax advantages businesses that would not be able to compete on their own.
As for the increased levels of CO2 due to importing such materials I think, like most people, that this is not a real issue.
July 31, 2024
Burning trees at Drax is an absolute disgrace. Doing so emits twice the CO2 per MWH than burning coal which we have an abundance of.
Drax are asking for their ÂŁbillion annual subsidy to be continued after 2027 when the present regime expires.
They are hoping to install large scale carbon capture to reduce what we have been told is good renewable CO2. This will increase electricity costs by 25%.
Yet another wasteful initiative forced on the bill payer by stupid government policies.
The power stations all managed to be profitable until the arts graduates in Westminster got involved.
July 31, 2024
Scotland felled forests for windmills!
July 31, 2024
YesâŠand strangelyâŠor is there a reason? Maybe commies prefer huge, ugly, landscape dominating statues?
AnywayâŠstrangely there seems to be a groundswell of tree hatred.
Councils just love felling and not replacing them and neighbours get apoplectic over anything taller than a daisy!
July 31, 2024
Joni Mitchell- ‘Big yellow taxi. ‘ 1971
….they took all the trees and put them in a tree museum.
A recent near neighbour moved in, within a year asked their neighbour to cut down the beautiful Scotts(Austrian?) pine. Why do people move near trees and then expect them to be removed?
July 31, 2024
MT
Yes 100% and I love that line about paving ParadiseâŠso apt. Absolute philistines.
We took down a beautiful eucalyptus because the neighbours at the bottom of the garden complained and complained yet they think nothing of subjecting us to about 7 hours of extremely loud garden music which invades every crevice of our house from at least 100â.
As you sayâŠwhy move to a place where you can see there are trees?
Leaves on car windscreens, insects, drains getting blocked by leaves ( allegedly) were all terrible problems. Now they look out on a big stump!
July 31, 2024
Nigel Farage reported a year or so ago that the Woodland Trust were felling trees to make footpaths wider – for health and safety – to avoid branches falling and injuring walkers!
I’d have thought most walkers are quite sensible and wouldn’t walk under a tree with a lose branch dangling!?
July 31, 2024
@Sharon – many years ago I remember having a walk around Salisbury Cathedral the workers were out on their ‘cherry pickers’ removing all the conkers from the magnificent horse chestnuts – just in case one fell! – The CofE big on renewal and birth.
July 31, 2024
A national disgrace
July 31, 2024
At least 25% and it will waste much of the energy generated for no good reason.
July 31, 2024
@Mark B – there is no rational reason to subsidies anything. That includes windfarms, solar farms, EV charging and many many more. If something it viable it will find a market. All subsidies end up with those the poorest paying those with money to have what they could afford any way.
July 31, 2024
well said Ian! totally right. but the majority of politicians are only interested in the welfare of their big moneyed sponsors!
July 31, 2024
@MFD – Everything starts out well-meaning, then politics take over and pushes the use of subsidies into market manipulation. We even have Governments taking this concept further and are literary weaponising trade through subsidies. Again who pays, the poorest, the ones unable to respond( A bit like Labour wants to attack pensioners and get them to pay with their lives, the very people that can no longer respond, by working harder or better). Who gains those with money and clout get to have the poor enhancing their lifestyle.
July 31, 2024
IB, ++++ and once reliance on subsidy is established the subsidised venture then lives in terror of the following regime vindictively or sensibly axing it. Distortion of reason is guaranteed once bribery is involved.
July 31, 2024
@Jim+Whitehead – Yup, UK Politics in one. yet no one seems to realise they are being bribed with their own money. I mentioned the pensioner earlier, why would Labour not attack them they traditionally don’t support Labour. They have had a life of self-sacrifice and making do to get to where they are today, they don’t tend to be beholden or entitled – everything Labour hates in their minions
July 31, 2024
Interesting article here on crops for energy. https://www.crops4energy.co.uk/want-to-grow-your-own-firewood-take-a-look-at-these-high-yielding-options/
July 31, 2024
One of those northern softwood states,Russia,has redirected its output to China:
Wood&Panel.com,23/5/24:”According to China customs,over 36,400 cubic metres of plywood,accounting for more than 90% of the country’s total plywood imports originated from Russia in April 2024.This marks an increase from 32,000 in March and from 9,500(68% of total plywood imports) in March 2023.
China’s growing dependence on Russian timber poses a significant risk to the global supply chain for plywood products both directly and through secondary processors.Russia is ramping up plywood production,with exports to China surging more than 344%.This comes just months after the US Department of Agriculture reported an 86% drop in Russian imports in February,with further declines in March and April.”
When you put,by far,the world’s biggest manufacturer together with,by far,the world’s biggest repository of raw materials what do you get?……….global dominance!
I think I remember also reading in the Barents Observer last year that Russia is building a new timber export terminal at Arkhangelsk dedicated to supplying China with increased quantities of timber via the Northern Sea(Arctic) Route.
July 31, 2024
Politicians are here today gone tomorrow, as many have recently discovered. They do not think longterm. Trees are long term. My guess is soft wood 30/50 years, hardwood 100 years plus. Politicians think vanity projects, something they can cut the tape to open.
Politicians cannot be trusted on tax, even were they to offer incentives to grow trees. Stealing citizens hard earned cash is far too easy an option for them. I predict that they are about to do it with EVs. Throw out a lot of ground bait to attract the gullable to their purchase and use, then when they are hooked it is sorry boys we must revert to the same tax levels suffered by ICE owners. That political scam barely lasted a parliament. What are the prospects for tree investment over a thirty to one hundred years. Politicians have mostly been bought by their party, don’t expect any moral behaviour over long term investments, have no expectations over parties already bought by lobbyists.
At this particular time, those with serious assets are best advised to make them untouchable offshore. The young with intellectual assets and professional qualifications would serve themselves better by moving abroad too. Illegal immigrants have no interest in growing trees.
August 1, 2024
‘They do not think longterm’
– People also judge politicians by their CHARACTER. Character is a subtle thing – and something we pick up on very intuitively. And you can’t fake character. It’s easy to be glib and appeal to people’s indulgences but people also see through this, too. Glib does work to a degree (but always fails long-term). But character works too – even though it’s an uphill battle to first make your character known to people. But once you achieve this, then people will take you far more seriously, and with great respect and affection, including things that will affect the country positively 10 or 25 or 50 years down the line. Sadly, sooo many politicians don’t get this as they’re hooked to power like an addict to cocaine ..
July 31, 2024
But burning imported forests (young coal) at Drax make no sense at all even if you quite wrongly believe a bit more CO2 will end in a fiery hell on earth. Burning Coal is far preferable. It is a CO2 con trick.
Growing trees and using the wood to build or make long lasting things does capture some CO2 for a while. But as a bit more CO2 is a net goodâŠ
July 31, 2024
Correct
July 31, 2024
LL :
Drax serves 2 purposes :
1) It increases renewable generation by 17%
2) It provides dispatchable electricity and if the Government close down all our gas generators by 2030 only Drax and a very limited amount of hydro will be available when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining.
So better to keep it going!
BTW, will the Government refuse to import electricity after 2030 if the source cannot prove that the electricity is “green”?
July 31, 2024
If the police and Starmer wish to deter riots such as the one in Southport perhaps they should tell the truth, stop two tier policing and stop telling us to âstop speculatingâ.
So most pensioner lose their fuel allowance but illegal boat arrivals get free heated hotels and allowances it seems. Sounds rather expensive to administer will save rather little net after admin. costs. Better just to increase income tax for the richer pensioners. Or better still stop some of the vast government waste and ditch the mad, net zero, rip off energy agenda.
July 31, 2024
YVETTE Cooper and Stsrmer have got it totally wrong. It is the knives doing these atrocious killings Starmer. How many more Starmer as the crowd shouted. Stop telling us not to speculate and that today is not the day for…
Your job Starmer is to prevent such crimes as far as possible, not to order us not to speculate and tell or order us what today is not for!
So was this person known to the police already and what motivated this attack? Why so quick to assure us it was not terrorism?
July 31, 2024
Sorry âIt is ânotâ the knives doing these killingsâ it is people.
July 31, 2024
and NOT true Brit either!
July 31, 2024
The uni-government always cite mental illness as the cause these days. Try Googling Emily Jones.
July 31, 2024
Agree – Itâs a catch-22, you have to be mentally ill to be a terrorist, therefore its not terrorism âŠ.its a government con so they donât have to call it âa terrorist incidentâ
July 31, 2024
We have been assured that Rwanda is a safe country. Those asylum seekers from Rwanda need to be on the first available flight home.
August 1, 2024
Nevertheless the Hutu genocide of 800,000 Tutsis some 30 years ago may have left deep psychological scars among some of the population, perhaps even passed down the generations.
July 31, 2024
If the Police and the political establishment wish to deter riots such as the ones in White Chapel, they should tell certain ‘communities’ that what happens in their heritage land stays there, and is not taken onto our streets.
I think BBC/C4 all usual suspects missed that particular rioting.
On the pensioners fuel allowance, there will be plenty of comfortable socialist types who spout about letting in all who wish to come, so now they can have a taste of what it actually means in monetary terms. They’ve sneered and ridiculed those who have had bigger problems with their areas hosting the so called asylum seekers. They also sneered and ridiculed those who were being kept out of the jobs market under freedom of movement. Long overdue such people felt the sting.
Naturally there will be plenty not in that category who will also feel the pain, and they have my sympathy.
July 31, 2024
Ll. The riots in Southport are a taste of what’s to come. The government and police are trying to control the narrative by withholding information. It’s funny how the perpetrators are always minors when we know they are recent arrivals who don’t share our values.
July 31, 2024
There’s “official” silence because the Authorities have got to get the spin agreed. They’re currently rolling the pitch by saying it’s not thought to be terrorist-related and the perpetrator has mental health issues.
Isn’t it strange how “mental health issues” is the excuse for so many violent and often young criminals these days. Never used to hear that …. pre-Blair/LibCONs and mass immigration by people from violent societies.
July 31, 2024
Surely all who do such evil things have mental heath issues – but that is not the full story is it?
July 31, 2024
LL,
It is far worse than police telling people to stop speculating. The police are now doubling down on their misdirection and falsehoods.
A senior Southport policeman states:-
â âWe have already said that the person arrested was born in the UK and speculation helps nobody at this time.â
Others say he is not Syrian. Nobody mentions that the family is from Rwanda ! Misdirection by omission of key information.
The US commentator Ann Coulter makes the observation that the longer it takes the media to identify a perpetrator of a crime, the more likely it is that the perpetrator is not white.
Add to this the usual excuse that a crime is not a terrorist offence, it is caused by mental illness.
Authorities have no credibility now. As predicted, violence is a consequence.
July 31, 2024
It shows how screwed up the system is when the parents are asylum arrivals from Rwanda, where we were sending other asylum seekers until a couple of weeks ago… Let’s just keep this simple and cheap. Man the borders properly and send anybody back who isn’t able to cogently and in 20 minutes prove beyond doubt that their life is threatened in the country they arrived from.
July 31, 2024
True, but they were apparently granted asylum at about the time of the Tutsi / Hutus genocide when perhaps they were in danger.
The pertinent question, when the violence ended is “why weren’t they sent back.” Asylum is supposed to be temporary, until their own country is safe to return to. But in the UK it’s become a racket …. a means to stay permanently.
July 31, 2024
Precisely and that is one preventative action which could have been taken
July 31, 2024
To rid us of our nation state, culture and way of life. Blaire govt. did it deliberately without any mandate and since in violation against the peopleâs wishes. Rayner now wants illegal immigrants to queue jump social housing ladder and force building everywhere without allowing local people to object. Ireland violence is the future when govt.s act contrary to their mandate and against the peopleâs wishes.
Starmer govt wants freedom of movement across EU as well, Spain and Germany already in talks about it!
July 31, 2024
Critics of the type of mono culture planting (lots of fast growing fir trees) used by the Forestry Commission claim it makes the soil more acidic and that greater biodiversity (more deciduous trees) is the answer. Either way we can be sure that the new Labour government, spurred on by its advisors, are more likely to remove tax breaks than to add to them. Taxes are only allowed to go up.
July 31, 2024
“Taxes are only allowed to go up.” Seem so under the Uni-parties for since Thatcher cut them a bit – rather like the endless government waste and vast over regulation only get worse. 44 years of tax increases and deteriorating public services and so very little growth.
July 31, 2024
Good Morning,
Great idea. But wait…. there’s planning permission and health and safety and demand for new solar farms and houses and…. Is Ms Rayner up to the task… will Milipeed take the land… will Starmer make a decision….
Waiting for logic over the next five years is going to be frustrating.
July 31, 2024
The UK has been importing wood for hundreds of years. The wooden walls of Nelson’s fleet at Trafalgar were built from oak imported from Scandinavia and seasoned in the naval dockyards at Chatham – which built HMS Victory – and Deptford.
In more recent times Britain was importing timber throughout WW1 and it was after the Great War that the Forestry Commission was set up – to grow softwoods. The furniture industry in Bucks and the Cotswolds use beech – some of which is still grown in the area
Shock/horror/disbelief – I think Drax should be shut and replaced with one of Rolls Royce’ SMRs
Reply It would need more than one SMR and that means Drax burns on for at least ten years.
July 31, 2024
BURNING COAL OR PREF. Gas IS BETTER and cheaper than burning imported wood & by miles.
July 31, 2024
Can’t we keep gas for domestic use, rather than wasting it on generating electricity?
Coal is perfectly good for power stations.
July 31, 2024
We have plenty of natural gas for heating, industry and electricity production but politicians will not let us extract it for misguided Net Zero religious reasons.
July 31, 2024
Dear Dave Andrews,
Keeping gas for direct application and not power generation was a foundationl policy of the International Energy Agency in the 1970s and 1980s, which is why the old CEGB concentrated on a mix of nuclear and coal, finally building the huge modern Drax power station, even though North Sea gas became cheaper. Hence the dash for gas when the policy was lifted and then the CEGB privatised.
When coal began to be demonised on environmental (and other) grounds Mrs Thatcher went for nuclear expansion but that was thwarted and gas replaced coal instead. France steadfastly went nuclear which is why its power sector still emits so much less carbon than all the other big European nations.
July 31, 2024
We have plenty of gas, coal and oil to get us through to better nuclear and fusion in circa 30 years. Just ditch the net zero lunacy and get fracking. Energy is up to 3 times dearer here than the US.
July 31, 2024
I agree with your position on Drax, SG.
July 31, 2024
Draxâs generating capacity is 3,906 megawatts (MW) if using coal (rather than wood – young coal) this electricity could cost as little as 5p a KWH. Plus unlike renewables it nicely stored as a pile of coal and can be fired up and down as required. Gas is a bit cleaner but more expensive – but coal can be made quite clean enough.
A bit more CO2 tree food is a net positive anyway.
Reply only two thirds of its capacity was converted from coal and is in use
July 31, 2024
Which fool in government thought that converting part of Drax to burning imported wood (young coal) at vast expense and then using false CO2 accounting and subsidies was a great plan. Was this corruption, crony capitalism or gross incompetence. Did they have a PPE degree or was it Law?
July 31, 2024
None of the above Lifeogic.
Drax was a ÂŁ2-3 billion stand alone quoted company. Under Mr Milliband’s first-term policies it faced total loss. It spent heavily on (subsidised) CCS trials and found it was uneconomic, so it ingeniously exploited a feature of the policy to have a future. Probably not what the policy intended but full marks for entrepreneurial ingenuity.
July 31, 2024
If we start building new expensive SMRâs will I still get ÂŁ300 off my energy bills that Starmer promised ?
July 31, 2024
Wooden warships were also built it Beaulieu, Hants, using local timber. You can still see the slipway from which the were launched.
July 31, 2024
Nelson came to the Forest of Dean to choose oak for his fleet. Did you not know that? Anna Trail, who is a direct descendant still lives in Monmouth. My father was in the Training Ship as. Cadette with her husband. A lifetime stalwart of the Conservative Party.
Indeed we worked out that when Nelson passed by my house my Cedar of Lebanon was 40 years old – or so.
I have a clock made from the wood of the Victory removed when it was refurbished. Itâs English Oak, and dated – I will have to get the document out to give specific details.
July 31, 2024
Carbon neutral energy generation now drives public policy in this area irrespective of the cost. Get used to it, it’s called Net Zero. John and his ex-party voted for it.
Either oppose Net Zero or continue to endorse it and all its attendants costs.
As an aside. Odious Labour will use their house building to change the demographic and cultural flavour of certain locations, locations that have not already fallen to the woke experiment
July 31, 2024
Well said Dom
July 31, 2024
It takes decades, sometimes hundreds of years, to grow hardwood trees suitable for cabinet-making/carpentry. But that is the kind of tree planting we need, not a vast expansion in pine forestry.
Pine forests are ugly; they block out light to the forest floor and unlike ancient native woodlands, they do not provide suitable habitats for a great variety of native British wildlife.
It’s madness to burn wood at Drax, imported or home-grown. Growing trees to supply the lunatic wood-burning policy, when we have coal, oil and gas available under our feet an in the north sea, is just pandering to the Eco Nutters who infest the Establishment.
July 31, 2024
Donna
Indeed, and it would seem that burning old or scrap wood at home in a designated wood burning stove, which thousands of people have installed, is now not acceptable to the government, just wait for the law to change to ban or restrict their use.
July 31, 2024
Now that the wheels are starting to fall off Starmer’s wagon, I’m already wondering how many Conservative associations have PPCs in place for the next general election.
July 31, 2024
SW,
Failures of the Labour party will not return the Conservative party to power in the next general election.
I predict slow but ongoing decline for the Conservative party.
July 31, 2024
@ sea warrior If local associations were to select Conservative candidates, the party might be in with a chance of re-election. But all the time central HQ selects LibDem types – no chance!
July 31, 2024
@Sharon – true. I know its just ‘IF’ but if the Conservative Party had got to choose its leader instead of the Liberal Democrats they would still be in power. If the Conservative Party leader was one of the new intake, a ‘Conservative’ when you look at the state of Labour they would have walked it with a massive majority. Unfortunately those that control and manage the Conservative Party the Liberal Democrats appear to be looking for a continuity more of the same leader ahead of merging with Ed Davey’s crowd – their natural home.
July 31, 2024
Whats the point, the parliamentary Tories are about to vote in a ‘woke’ leader ….dear members, here’s two woke, one-nation, net-zero, EU loving candidates, which one do you want
July 31, 2024
The problem is offsets from net zero accounting.
Anyone who cares about carbon should campaign to uncloak the hypocrisy of net zero accounting and how it increases the amount of carbon produced.
Anyone who thinks net zero is a scam should campaign against carbon accounting as it is a method of making us uncompetitive. It exports industry
July 31, 2024
A lot more trees are going to come down in Wokingham Borough, assuming Angela Rayner gets her way and increases the local authority housing target from c. 790 dwellings per year to well over 1300.
July 31, 2024
Completely off topic but we saw two tier policing last night in Southport.
In Harehills the police let the rioters get on with it and didn’t interfere. Ethnic minority policing. Yesterday with the white demonstrations the police intervened and engaged.
The police should have engaged in both not just one.
July 31, 2024
Of course, NS. This is where we’ve been for some time. Demonstrations for individual rights got suppressed during the lockdowns, demonstrations for BLM got a free pass.
July 31, 2024
Yes, last night’s protest was “mostly peaceful” I think
July 31, 2024
What they didnât tell us is that a multicultural country has multi culti policing.
Nothing overarching, no one size fits all.
Not a bit (quavering voice) FAIR!
July 31, 2024
You are missing the point about policing, it is not about justice and not meant to be fair.
Policing is about preserving public order.
If a minority kicks off they can be soothed to calm down, they are not a significant threat.
If the majority kicks off then that is a totally different situation seen as a critical threat to authority, any flare up of the majority must therefore be crushed immediately before it turns into a conflagration they cannot control.
July 31, 2024
Pior to 1967, during a riot the local mayor or other local politician could read the riot act to disperse the assembly. Failure to disperse on it being read would mean that the Army would have to be called in. The Riot Act, for whatever reasons, was cancelled in 1967, leaving the door wide open for the continuation of riotous assembly without the police having any backup.
July 31, 2024
The police did not think the 100,000 âminorityâ marching through London was âeasily soothed. They fell on their knees, would have donned orange suits had it been required.
July 31, 2024
Atmosphere scientists say that at current CO2 levels trees have an insufficiency of the gas and would grow much faster if there was a lot more CO2 in the atmosphere.
July 31, 2024
Sir John
Nice thought, but government and parliament is dedicated to importing anything and everything. Not forgetting all fertile land must be handed over to windfarms…
July 31, 2024
then today we get
To encourage the building of ÂŁ1.5 million homes, labour is considering taxing planning applications with a ÂŁ270 surcharge
July 31, 2024
You have to laugh! Headless chickens âŠ.
July 31, 2024
It is an interesting topic. We donât hear much about the Forestry Commission which is an NGO. You would expect given that that it is not run commercially.
July 31, 2024
Gov.uk âThe Forestry Commission is the government department for protecting, expanding and promoting the sustainable management of woodlandsâ.
July 31, 2024
Can anyone else see the synergy? Dale Vince(Ecotricity) gives Labour a ÂŁ1 million donation and today according the media(DT) Ed Miliband is to add up to ÂŁ1.5bn to energy bills, i.e. the consumer is being forced to pay even more through high tariffs â its not the market that is keeping prices high, it is government appeasement.
They are incapable of seeing the wood from the trees, so they resort to pulling the wool over the eyes of the consumer – sorry
July 31, 2024
I wonder if it would ever be economic to grow a significant portion of our timber. Regarding softwoods the big timber producering countries have unpopulated tracts of land many times larger than the UK available and huge scale operations, with little nimby opposition or planning constraints.
Regarding hardwoods, I visited a commercial oak forest in France some years back. They had a 150yr cropping plan, with parcels coming up for felling on a regular basis, and replanting being carefully done! Hardwoods require the certainty of very long term government support (or at least non-interference), which is not going to happen here in the UK.
July 31, 2024
BBC of course wheel out Brendan Cox to unilaterally discredit an elected MP (which Cox is not) questioning the system which led to the Southport riots and trying to find answers. Had names and more definitive information about the perpetrator been released the riots could clearly have been avoided. Cox instead had no answers, and of course Farage as “merely” the elected representative here wasn’t let on there to explain his statement or defend himself.
We have years of this to come. Violent crime, silence or mealy-mouthing by authorities, violent backlash on the back of lack of information released, condemnation of the reaction by BBC etc. without reference or answers to prevent repetition of the original crime itself.
July 31, 2024
What knowledge or authority is Cox on the subject? Nil.
July 31, 2024
‘The latest Timber Development UK (TDUK) import figures show a âconsiderableâ shift in timber trade patterns for last year, with major supplies coming from the Republic of Ireland, Latvia, and China’
https://quercusfp.com/2022-and-the-changing-face-of-the-uks-timber-trade/
Is everything in the UK now imported from that climate change loving CHINA
July 31, 2024
Some of the ‘Chinese’ supplies may actually be Russian.
July 31, 2024
Ah that other UN loving, coal burning, net-zero compliance country
July 31, 2024
You have my view on trees, the problem is politicians. An even greater problem, affecting every citizen in the UK is growing food or more accurately not growing it. The trend is led by government in blinkers, avaricious supermarkets, Nett Zero and residual EU law encouraging rewilding, wind and solar farms, and of course immigration generating a large city every year that has to be fed and housed. It all adds up to less food produced in the UK, more food imported from the EU, and a dying farming industry.
It is reported today that average farm incomes are down to ÂŁ11,000 per annum in the UK. Not helped by the cost of all inputs on a farm, fuel, energy, fertilizer, and capital plant all rising beyond reach. Add to this the cost of rural crime and necessary security and we have food production in decline because it no longer pays.
At the head of this growing disaster are 645 politicians whose only knowledge of food comes from their own subsidised restaurants and the odd lobbying invite to a restaurant for a free lunch. Money wasted by lobbyists because the current majority have their own cunning plan to destroy agriculture in the UK via Nett Zero.
This political disease does not stop at our shores. The EU farming industry is equally up in arms with their own politicians, witness the direct action of EU farmers. The NFU should organise peaceful rolling road blocks all over the UK. The farmers would have public support as the public suffer the results of political inaction.
July 31, 2024
If it were not for the discovery and use of coal not only would all our forests have been depleted but also most of the forests in British Columbia.
If we continue along the path to net zero our 1% contribution to global CO2 emissions then, according to the government funded UK FIRES reports, there will be no shipping so we will have to rely upon not only providing our own food but also all our construction materials which will be earth, stone and timber with re-used glass and steel.
Not an easy task for a country with already a very high population density but one where our leaders wish to see dramatically increase further.
It doesnât bode well for our standard of living, which is why the BBC will be pushing us to end eating meat, use far less energy in winter to heat our homes, and use only public and âactive travelâ within 15 minute cities.
July 31, 2024
@original Richard
“If we continue along the path to net zero our 1% contribution to global CO2 emissions then, according to the government funded UK FIRES reports, there will be no shipping so we will have to rely upon not only providing our own food but also all our construction materials which will be earth, stone and timber with re-used glass and steel.”
I’m glad you’ve made this point, Richard. I’m sure that even the most ardent net zero-ist don’t realise this! That UK Fires report really shows the true intentions of net zero.
July 31, 2024
I am sorry to say that most of the forest in BC is gone. There are screens of trees next to the highways and on hillsides visible from the highways and on the edge of islands and nothing much behind.
July 31, 2024
Mr Redwood – good name in this subject – clearly believes it is good for him to sound environmental. And plant more trees is a winner in that case. He also believes no doubt that growing trees on good food producing ground is worth doing too.
But what is more important to environmentalists, solar panels or trees? And maybe growing trees on heath land too. There are areas where I live which have just got grass on them. Hillsides and the tops of hills where it is possible to walk and get good views over the vale. Who needs views, just plant trees.
This country is going dangerously controlling and insane, in just about everything.
Some people think there are too many trees, many of them are just ‘weeds’ and waste. Oh, I forgot, CO2 and its effects are going to kill us.
July 31, 2024
The U.K. needed a lot of timber during the real Industrial Revolution.
Weâd already gone over to mainly burning coal for domestic use due to wood shortages c1700 onwards. âHearts of oakâ was very wood-expensive.
Basically we depleted our stocks and had to start importingâŠtoo busy making stuff to plant trees.
Then two World Wars further screwed up our forestry. Workers going off to be killed didnât help!
And now..sans oil, sans coal probably soon sans woodâŠ
WellâŠwe freeze.
And they just donât care.
I do hope they enjoy their NZ!
July 31, 2024
Whilst our PM would not use private medicine but only the NHS I suspect his ideology does not yet extend to accepting surgery by surgeons with degrees in PPE, law, history and political studies, although this may be coming as it is the ultimate aim of diversity replacing meritocracy. So why has he appointed ministers with these qualifications to the DESNZ who will be making the big decisions on how to run our energy system?
If anyone thinks that the senior civil servants the DESNZ department will be qualified to give advice then note that those who have declared degrees these are in modern history, geography and modern languages. Even the Chief Scientific Advisers at DESNZ and for the Government do not have degrees in either physics or engineering.
The Chief Scientific Adviser to The Treasury has a degree in foreign languages and literature.
July 31, 2024
What Rachel Reeves actually said before the election wasâŠ
âWeâve got the OBR now ( I think I mistakenly put ONS) We know things are in a pretty bad state. You donât need to win an election to find that outâ
Sorry for the mistake.
So Labour could have mentioned their plans for really gruesome austerity BEFORE the election. And hopefully have lost votes.
Assuming the âblack holeâ is a reality!
Reply The alleged black hole is ÂŁ22 bn. Labour has increased spending by ÂŁ25 bn in its first 25 days. The biggest part of the black hole is well above inflation pay awards with no increase in productivity.
July 31, 2024
Forgot.
From Financial Times as shown on GB News.
To the best of my knowledge.
July 31, 2024
Reply to reply
I thought that what she said rather proved jiggery pokery.
Labour trying to make out that books were obfuscated.
And as you say Labour is busy adding to âblack holeâ with pay rises.
A well known commentator was NOT impressed with her argument!!
Anyway isnât ÂŁ20bn ( including the pay rises) rather small potatoes?
July 31, 2024
Met Office measuring stations in both Heathrow and Kew Gardens, south-west London, reached 32C (90F) earlier â exceeding the 31.9C recorded in the centre of the city on 19 July.
Nothing like a thermometer next to the runway to provide climate data!
July 31, 2024
Or standing in a mug of hot tea? đ
July 31, 2024
or in a Kew tropical greenhouse.
July 31, 2024
If the effort to combat an excess of C02 was a serious one we’d already see encouragements to ‘Grow a tree in your garden’. Trees absorb Co2, so why are we not planning to grow a lot more of them?
Is it because we don’t really have an excess of Co2, which is barely measurable at .004% of the atmosphere?
Our country used to be full of great forests, and we will surely need those trees again when restrictions on energy hit us hard. People are going to start burning whatever they can when the impact of no energy hits. Trees being a great source of heat when burned. Is that why HMG doesn’t want too many trees grown, or is it more about population control?
You can be sure of one thing – When it comes to any subject related to the environment HMG are running a script to deceive, distract and pursue a globalist agenda.
July 31, 2024
0.04%. And it is easily measurable by a technique called Cavity Ring-Down Spectrometry. It is precise it gives eg 421 ppm or 0.0421% within a few minutes of putting the flask containing the sample of air into the spectrometer. Even better the same machine will give not only CO2 concentration but also those of CO (carbon monoxide) and CH4 (methane).
July 31, 2024
All your academic post shows is that CO2 is at a low historic level.
PS
I would ask you hefner….if the UK achieves it’s ambition to get to net zero, just how much will that reduce global temperatures.
Come on, tell us.
July 31, 2024
Near where I grew up, there was lots of woodland; we would play in the woods, swing over brooks, slide down the clay banks and make dens under the trees. They cleared all the trees over thirty years ago for no purpose; my Dad thinks they can’t build on it because of methane, and if they did, it would cause problems as other newly built housing sites with poisonous methane gas are causing problems with households evacuated, there is nothing mysterious about leaks when housing is built on landfill or known problem brown sites.
I don’t understand why they aren’t reforested with fast-growing wood-burning trees if those are required.
July 31, 2024
Because the drive is to re-wilding, eg a working farm off the M25 is reported to be slated for re-wilding “so they can build some houses on part of the land” – their warped rationale not mine
One question might be – Crown estates operates a lot of forestry, what are they growing and what for?
July 31, 2024
We should not concentrate on one thing or another for fuel or buildings supplies but rather spread our wings and give everything a chance.
A routine of planting growing and chopping trees needs careful thought and action now taking into consideration the time trees need to grow yet I agree, we need to concentrated on planting.
I watch ‘U’ tube as I find it far more educational and we can actually see how people live in other countries for survival. The women in the mountains of Vietnam actually make their own houses out of bamboo and then change to wood, they grow their own crops , harvest and sell them in a local market , they generate their own electricity from running water, they farm fish , rear animals and other livestock . We could learn a lot from these women.
July 31, 2024
It’s about taking personal and family repsonisibility, mutual support with your community.
Good luck with that on this blog where everyone demands the government should do this, that or the other, ie that everyone else should fund it.
If people want a measure of food independence they should learn to grow their own foodstuffs, same for energy.
July 31, 2024
Marvellous. We will need all those skills shortly. Did those âsurvivorsâ have the lights, cameras, microphones, electricity etc to make the films?
July 31, 2024
Great article, Sir John; I have not stopped laughing at the idea that our Government, whether Labour or Conservative, can think 30, 50 or 100 years ahead!
Starter, Reeves and Rayner have already shown their limitations in under four weeks!
July 31, 2024
Softwoods have been imported to Britain from the Scandinavian countries for hundreds of year for a very good reason. The hard winters and slower growth in Scandinavia produces a far superior timber.
July 31, 2024
I agree fully with the general proposition, that, just as we should maximise foor production, we should maximise output of timber and other natural products. However one of the problems in the past has been growing the wrong trees in the wrong place. As Robert Thomas immmediately above says, scandinavian timber is slower growing and generally better for purposes such as log buildings. Fencing timber used to a large extent be from European Larch, which lasted much better than Japanese larch. And planting large areas of Sitka spruce in eg the Flow country, just for tax reasons, was short sighted, partcularly if planted too near water courses.
As usual, Sir John is mostly correct, but I would prefer to widen the whole argument to say that we should produce whatever we can from our own resources, whetehr it is food, timber or whatever. . Whoever thinks that it makes sense to import anything including oil, gas, etc, etc. when we have it here is just not being logical, Too many politicians do not use their heads, in any party. I didnt even know one recently highlighted Labour Minister still existed, until he started banning using our own oil, and pefers to import it. Mad. The Conservative party hasnt been much better, res ipsa loquitur when they dont listen to Sir John,s mostly good and experienced sense!
August 1, 2024
Dear Sir John,
This is the kind of policy that captures the imagination and support of (millions) of young Green-ish Tories (like my niece and her posh, public-school friends at Exeter University – and to a degree, and increasingly so, the parents).