Starfish and other seabed species plummet near oil and gas rigs off UK coast

Exclusive

A major study found large seabed predators such as starfish were completely absent near rigs, as Labour's pledge to end North Sea drilling is thrown into doubt

The Transocean Leader and Shelf Drilling Fortress vessels off shore, Cromarty Firth, Scotland (Photo: Peter Titmuss/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

By Lucie Heath

Environment Correspondent

July 29, 2024 

Oil and gas drilling has led to a significant decline in Britain’s marine biodiversity, research has shown, as Labour faces challenges to end fossil fuel exploration in the North Sea.

A major study of Britain’s seabed has revealed the extent to which our aquatic ecosystems have been impacted by decades of oil and gas extraction.

The research by the University of Essex, Natural History Museum and Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science found that the number of species plummeted by nearly 30 per cent in the immediate vicinity of oil and gas rigs off the coast of Britain.

It also found pollution spikes of more than 10,000 per cent within half a kilometer of offshore sites.

Researchers said the study was the “first time” such a strong link had been found between oil rigs and biodiversity loss.

The study comes amid questions over the future of the oil and gas industry in the UK as Labour seeks to fulfill its manifesto pledge to end new fossil fuel exploration in the North Sea.

The UK’s oil and gas resources are dwindling, but the previous Tory Government controversially introduced a plan to grant new drilling licences each year to “max out” the North Sea reserves.

Labour has vowed not to issue any new licences, but faces a decision over what to do about the existing licensing round started by the Tories, which is yet to complete.

The Government could decide to immediately cancel the licensing round, but this risks a flurry of legal action from companies that may have spent millions preparing their bids.

Alternatively it could allow the North Sea Transition Authority to hand out a final small number of licences, but risk breaking its manifesto pledge.

Either way, Labour has said it will not revoke existing oil and gas licences, including the 31 new permits that were granted under the Tories in May this year.

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Environmentalists have warned about the impact of the latest round of oil and gas drilling, with a quarter of newly granted licences overlapping protected marine nature zones.

The new study provides fresh evidence of the impact oil and gas drilling has had on marine biodiversity.

An analysis of data for 4,216 species collected between 1981 and 2012 at nine British oil and gas rigs found a 30 per cent decline in biodiversity around the platforms.

It also discovered pollutants like hydrocarbons were up to 10,613 per cent higher within 500m of the platforms than unimpacted, further away sites.

Amounts of heavy metals – like lead, copper, and nickel – were 455 per cent higher within the same distance.

“We’re seeing a decline in the types of species, we’re seeing changes in the abundance, changes in the body size,” said Dr Natalie Hicks, a researcher from the University of Essex.

She said one of the most notable findings was that larger seabed predators, such as starfish, were completely absent around the rigs, having a major impact on food chains in the area.

“This is one of the first studies that’s shown this clear linkage and it’s something we need to really be considering when we make decisions around where we’re going to place these things or how we’re going to place them, or more importantly how we’re going to decommission them,” she said.

“Many of our oil and gas platforms will be nearing the end of their serviceable life in the North Sea and understanding how we can deal with those in an environmentally friendly way or in a way that minimises the environmental impact is really key for informing that decommissioning practice.”

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “Making Britain a clean energy superpower is at the heart of the government’s agenda, securing our energy independence and tackling the climate crisis.

“We will not issue new licences to explore new fields and will not revoke existing oil and gas licences, which have only been awarded where compatible with environmental regulations. We will manage existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan.”

SHEFFIELD 
City bin workers' strike gets under way

Grace Wood
BBC News

Aaron Chown/Press Association

Crews are working extra hours to empty bins as soon as possible

Refuse workers at a Sheffield depot are beginning a five-day strike over claims management have refused to acknowledge their union.

The industrial action by staff with the Unite union at the Lumley Street site is planned to last until 2 August.

Veolia, which manages waste services on behalf of the council, said it was expecting “temporary disruption” but other non-striking crews would work extra hours to try and keep up with collections.

It added that green bin collections had been suspended until 11 August to prioritise waste and recycling bin rounds.

Veolia said residents should put their black, blue and brown bins out before 07:00 BST on their scheduled collection day and leave them until they had been emptied.

Workers at the depot in Lumley Street are represented by unions Unite and GMB, with some staff belonging to both unions.

Unite regional officer Shane Sweeting said the union had “significant numbers” at the depot and he could not understand why Veolia “was not being reasonable”.

He said they had attempted to use the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) to resolve the issue.

According to Veolia, Unite represented 47% of the Lumley Street workforce and 39% of the overall refuse workforce - which meant it did not have the requisite membership for recognition.

A Veolia spokesperson said they were disappointed Unite had not respected the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Code of Conduct and it had a long-standing recognition agreement with GMB.

They added: “We acknowledge and respect the right of our people to be members of a trade union and remain committed to fair representation and delivering outstanding services to Sheffield."

 UK

Union Leaders Demand Starmer Reinstates Suspended MPs

26th July 2024Leave a Commenton Union Leaders Demand Starmer Reinstates Suspended MPs

“The union leaders warn Starmer that the disciplinary action brought against the 7 MPs is a wholly unnecessary and counterproductive distraction”

By Taj Ali, Tribune Magazine

Ten trade union general secretaries have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling for the scrapping of the two-child limit on benefits and the ‘immediate reinstatement’ of the seven MPs suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party after voting against the two-child limit on benefits on Tuesday evening.

The intervention from trade union leaders reflects the wider discontent in the Labour Party and its affiliated trade unions at the government’s defence of the two-child limit and its decision to punish and exclude MPs for voting to expedite actions on child poverty.

The letter, headed up by the Trade Union Coordinating Group’s chair, Jo Grady, General Secretary of the University and College Union, has been signed by leading figures, including Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack, who serves as the President of the Trades Union Congress, representing 48 affiliated trade unions with a total 5.5 million members.

Other signatories include Mick Lynch of the RMT union, Daniel Kebede of the National Education Union, Steve Gillan of the Prison Officers Association, Fran Heathcote of the Public and Commerical Services Union, Sarah Woolley of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union, Michelle Stanistreet of the National Union of Journalists, Paul Fleming of the Equity union and Bob Monks of the United Road Transport Union.

Whilst recognising the opportunities presented by the election of a Labour government promising to implement the New Deal for Working People bolstering workers’ rights, the union leaders have told Keir Starmer:

“We greatly regret the omission from the manifesto and subsequent King’s Speech of any plan to scrap the two-child limit to Universal Credit claims, which the Resolution Foundation has said impacts on 1.6 million children who live in families affected by this policy — of which households more than 3 in 5 have someone in work.”

The letter also challenges Labour’s argument that abolishing the limit would be an ‘unfunded promise’, urging the government to announce it will scrap the two-child limit in the Autumn Statement, to be paid for by taxes on unearned income.

The union leaders warn Starmer that the disciplinary action brought against the 7 MPs is a wholly unnecessary and counterproductive distraction when the government should instead be working with trade unions to start delivering on the much-needed action to strengthen workers’ rights and invest in public services.

Many of those who voted against the two-child limit during the King’s Speech represent constituencies with some of the highest levels of child poverty in the country. Leading experts have argued that the two-child limit is the single biggest driver of child poverty in the UK. If it is not abolished, over half of children in larger families will be growing up in poverty by 2027/28.

The Labour leadership has defended its position on the two-child limit, stating that the economic mess they have inherited from the previous government makes its abolition unaffordable.  But child poverty campaigners have argued this ignores the long-term economic cost of keeping the policy in place. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, the societal cost of child poverty is estimated to be £39.5 billion a year. The group points out that scrapping the limit is the most cost-effective way to reduce child poverty and would lift 300,000 children out of poverty overnight at a cost of £1.7 billion a year — a minuscule amount in the context of a £2.7 trillion economy.

As teachers, parents, charities, trade unions and Labour MPs continue to speak out, it’s clear that dissatisfaction over this policy won’t be going away anytime soon.

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• Taj Ali is the editor of Tribune Magazine. You can follow Tribune Magazine on Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram.
• This article was originally published by Tribune Magazine on 26th July, 2024.

UK

Arms sales to Israel, two-child limit & election analysis – Jess Barnard reports back from Labour’s NEC

26th July 2024Leave a Commenton Arms sales to Israel, two-child limit & election analysis – Jess Barnard reports back from Labour’s NEC

“I asked Starmer, given his international commitments, would he ensure a Labour Government is not complicit in war crimes and therefore would he end arms sales to Israel.”

Jess Barnard, Labour Members’ NEC Representative, reports back from this week’s NEC, the very first since the election of the Labour Government.

We received a brief report back from Starmer and a very short Q&A. The brief headlines were:

• Tory mess left behind worse than expected, including decisions taken with no funding allocated.
• The Prison situation is much worse than expected
• The new Government was well received by NATO and full support was given to Ukraine
• Keir Starmer is keen to ensure decision making is in the right place by people with skin in the game
• The Government has been able to establish so much in just the first 18/19 days of labour government

I asked Starmer, given his international commitments, would he ensure a Labour Government is not complicit in war crimes and therefore would he end arms sales to Israel. He said that international and domestic law needed to be followed and the Foreign Secretary was engaged in those.

I also asked about high rents causing housing insecurity, poverty & debt for millions. A promising reply, he discussed the measures already announced, for example scrapping s21, but also ending the bidding wars and that rents need tackling – agreed to discuss at next in-person NEC.

On two-child benefit, he said he is absolutely determined to address child poverty and the issues surrounding this. Work beginning this week to start bringing down the NHS waiting lists which was a clear priority for Labour in the election period.

We also had an update from Angela Rayner, she praised the King’s Speech and the content, particularly the new deal for workers, a key win for the unions. On housing, she said the costs of rent were a supply/demand issue and sang the praises of plans including the Labour renters reforms.

Next up, a general election ‘wash up’ Some stats which caught my eye: Labour canvassers spoke to 3.1 million voters during the election, 5 million in 2024. On polling day we spoke to 500,000 voters using the app. 90% of polling day contacts made were in battleground seats.

Labour received more money from online donations than in any other elections and the General Secretary said he is not sorry for all the emails. 15000 new members since the election was called. Angela’s bus covered 6500 miles 34,000 people volunteered for Labour for the first time.

Lots of info breaking down the election win and voters but essentially we won because the Tory vote collapsed and we focused on convincing ex-Tory voters to vote Labour. Membership update: 358,000 members in total but 10,000 of those are in arrears. 3,825 joined since the election win.

I asked if the General Secretary would look into the anonymous briefings against some candidates in the media and stressed the need to support all candidates, not just those from one faction. I also asked if there are efforts to reach out to predominantly Muslim councillors who quit Labour over Keir Starmer and Gaza.

I didn’t get a response on the briefings but the General Secretary did respond that the party has been working with police and intelligence to support MPs who had been targeted/faced abuse during the election.

Lots of people stressed the need for the party to rebuild bridges with local members who had been denied the right to select their candidates – usually having them imposed by a small committee of the NEC (I did not sit on any of these).

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• Jess Barnard is a members’ representative on Labour National Executive Committee (NEC) and the former chair of Young Labour. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• This article is a slightly amended version of the statement published by Jess Barnard on Twitter/X.

UK

Public figures oppose sentencing of ‘Whole Truth 5’ in open letter

28th July 2024Leave a Commenton Public figures oppose sentencing of ‘Whole Truth 5’ in open letter

“This new government has inherited a suite of recent legislation that conflicts with International Human Rights Law, and has put everyone’s right to peaceful protest at risk. The new government can address this now, as they have with fossil fuel licensing.”

Defend Our Juries have published an open letter on the sentences handed to the ‘Whole Truth Five’, with signatories including political representatives, campaigners, trade unionists, faith leaders and cultural figures. You can read the Open Letter for Whole Truth Five below:

Dear Attorney General, Richard Hermer KC,

This week has seen one of the greatest injustices in a British court in modern history. On Thursday 18th July, five people were given the highest sentences for nonviolent protest this country has ever seen. They were on trial for holding a zoom call, calling on others to take action to raise the alarm about the greatest threat humanity has ever faced: the climate and nature crises.

These sentences were handed down just days after the new government’s policy of no new licensing for oil and gas infrastructure was announced. In a world of sound, evidence-based governance, none of this needed to happen. With prisons at breaking point and the new government acting urgently to address this, how can these sentences be seen as anything other than insanity? The sentences, ranging from 4 to 5 years, are higher than those given to many who commit serious sexual assault. 

The defendants were denied the right to explain to a jury why they took the action they did, making a mockery of the right to a fair trial, with the judge saying that the Crown Prosecution’s agreed facts on climate collapse – including that the world has gone beyond 1.5 degrees for 12 consecutive months – were “neither here nor there”. These five brave, defiant people, like all nonviolent protestors, are fulfilling a necessary service by alerting the nation to the grave risk we all face, as scientists in their droves express their fear that many of the Earth’s systems are already at breaking point.

Immediately after the verdict, the UN’s special rapporteur on environmental defenders issued an extraordinary statement: “Today marks a dark day for peaceful environmental protest, the protection of environmental defenders and indeed anyone concerned with the exercise of their fundamental freedoms in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.” 

According to the Office for National Statistics, 74% of people in the UK want urgent action on the climate crisis. Until a couple of weeks ago that majority was blocked by a Prime Minister who used climate – an existential threat – as a wedge issue in an election he lost. This new government has inherited a suite of recent legislation that conflicts with International Human Rights Law, and has put everyone’s right to peaceful protest at risk. The new government can address this now, as they have with fossil fuel licensing.

The world stands at a crossroads and so does our democracy. We write in support of Chris Packham and Dale Vince’s request for an urgent meeting with you, to be recorded so it is transparent to the public, to discuss the jailing of truth tellers and their silencing in court.

Sincerely, and with love for all humanity,

Rowan Williams – Former Archbishop of Canterbury
Juliet Stevenson – Actor
Chrissie Hynde – Musician
James Hansen – Climate Scientist
Ben Okri – Writer
Sandi Toksvig – Writer
Danny Boyle – Filmmaker
Brian Eno – Musician
Sir Jonathan Pryce – Actor
Peter Gabriel – Musician
Philip Pullman – Author
Greg Searle MBE – Olympic Gold Medallist – Rowing
Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC – Solicitor
Sir David King Chair – Climate Crisis Advisory Group (CCAG)
Annie Lennox – Singer
Mick Whelan – General Secretary of ASLEF Union
Clive Lewis MP
Peter Kalmus – NASA Climate Scientist
Jolyon Maugham KC – Director, Good Law Project
Eddie Dempsey – RMT Senior Assistant General Secretary

Legal
Dr Svitlana Romanko – Lawyer and Non Profit Director
Melinda Janki – Environmental Lawyer
Lord John Hendy KC – Barrister
Michael Mansfield KC – Barrister
Prof Bill Bowring – Emeritus Professor, Barrister
Liz Davies KC – Barrister
Gregg Taylor KC – Former Barrister
Guy Linley-Adams – Solicitor, Lecturer
Renata Avila – Human Rights Lawyer
Christina Eckes – Professor of European Law

Cultural
Chris Martin – Musician
Frankie Boyle – Comedian
Steve Coogan – Actor 
Jarvis Cocker – Songwriter
Tracey Emin DBE – Artist
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – Chef, Broadcaster
Es Devlin – Artist and Stage Designer
Adam McKay – Filmmaker
Toby Jones – Actor
Adam Buxton – Podcaster
Stewart Lee – Comedian
Matilda Swinton – Actress
Lynne Ramsay – Filmmaker

Political
Yanis Varoufakis – Economist
Jeremy Corbyn MP
Lord Cashman CBE Peer of the Realm
Scott Ainslie – Actor and Politician
Prem Sikka – Member of the House of Lords
Carla Denyer – MP
Stella Assange
Iqbal Mohamed MP 
Len McCluskey – Former General Secretary of UNITE
Maryam Eslamdoust – General Secretary of The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association

Academics
Prof Jeff Waage OBE – Ecologist
Ann Pettifor – Economist on Scottish Government’s Just Transition Commission
Terry Eagleton – Writer and Public Intellectual
Professor Jason Hickel – Author
Professor David Whyte – Poet
Professor Mike Berners-Lee – Author and Business consultant
Dr Feja Lesniewska – Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Transitions and Environmental Law
Professor Steve Keen – Economist
Kate Raworth Ecological economist
Professor Mark Maslin – Earth System Science UCL

Athletes
Etiene Stott MBE – Olympic gold medalist, London 2012
Lewis Pugh – OIG UN Patron of the Oceans
James Brown – Retired Paralympian
Laura Baldwin – Olympic Sailor
Damian Hall – Author, GB athlete

Faith Leaders
John Perumbalath – Bishop of Liverpool
Rev Vanessa Elston – Diocese of Southwark
Prof. Carmody Grey – Philosopher and Theologian
Rev Mark Hutchinson 
Rev Matthew F Smith 
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman 
Rev Andrew Allen – Academic
Elizabeth Slade – Chief Officer, General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches
Rev’d Hilary Bond – Church of England priest
Anne Litherland – Laudato si animator

Climate Experts
Professor James Dyke – Earth Systems Science at the University of Exeter
Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt CBE – Writer
George Monbiot – Journalist
Bill McGuire – Professor Emeritus of Geophysical & Climate Hazards, UCL
Dr. Genevieve Guenther – Author
Prof. Kevin Anderson – Energy and Climate Change Manchester University
Bill McKibben – Writer
Judy Lin Wong CBE – Honorary President, Black Environment Network
Farhana Yamin – Climate Lawyer
Martin Spray CBE – WWT Chief Executive
Mark Lynas – Author
Luisa Neubauer – Politician and Activist

Campaigners
Helen Pankhurst – Women’s Rights Scholar
Peter Tatchell – Human Rights Activist
Tzeporah Berman – Founder Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
Nick Dearden – Director of Global Justice Now
Asad Rehman – Executive Director War on Want
Joshua Wright – Forest Defense Activist
Dr Gail Bradbrook – XR cofounder and NGO consultant
Sandrine Dixson – Decleve Co President, The Club of Rome
Areeba Hamid & Will McCallum – Co-Executive Directors, Greenpeace UK
Jo Verrent – Director of Unlimited, Disability Arts Commissioning Charity

You can read the full list of 1200 public figures who’ve supported the public letter here.

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• This letter was originally published by Defend Our Juries.
• You can help get the petition against these sentences to over 50,000 signatures here, and join the demonstration in Parliament Square from 2-4pm on Saturday 3rd August 2024.

 

Peace & Justice Project International Conference 2024: how can we build a better world?

29th July 2024Leave a Commenton Peace & Justice Project International Conference 2024: how can we build a better world?

“Our movement is international and totally committed to the principle that an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us, no matter how many miles, oceans or borders come between us.”

By Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace & Justice Project

Our second international conference will continue the intensive and painstaking work of building a radical and hopeful alternative to the misery faced by millions here in Britain, as well as billions more across the world.

With countless wars raging around the world and the climate crisis threatening our very existence as a species, the need to build a progressive agenda to tackle these challenges has never been so urgent.

The recent successes of independent and Green candidates in the UK general election, as well as the resurgence of left-wing parties in the French legislative elections, show that there is both a want and a need for a different kind of politics around the globe – one that puts the needs of people and planet before profit, refuses to cede ground to the far-right and empowers all of our communities.

This conference will build on last year’s inaugural event, which laid out the Peace & Justice Project’s 5 Demands with an internationalist view, and focus on building global momentum for progressive politics against the backdrop of the rising threat of nationalism, hate and division in our society.

The leadership of the Labour Party, now in government, continues in its monumental failure to take on these challenges head on and has enabled a fertile breeding ground for far-right ideology, fear-mongering and the politics of authoritarianism.  We have seen as recently as last week, with Yvette Cooper’s announcement of Home Office immigration crackdowns on car washes and beauty salons, that this Labour government has absolutely no commitment to building a society that embraces the significant benefits of migration and will embolden the likes of Nigel Farage and the Reform Party.

Further evidence of this worrying authoritarian tendency exists with the appalling sentencing of Just Stop Oil’s ‘Whole Truth Five’, each given 4 to 5 years in prison for protesting the former government’s inaction on the climate crisis.  These sentences are significantly longer than the average time handed down to those convicted of many violent crimes and robbery.

Make no mistake, these insidiously harsh sentences are a completely concerted attempt by the political establishment to protect themselves and those responsible for the climate breakdown.  It is telling that most Western governments, our own included, are more than happy to lock up a group of people largely in their early twenties for causing delays on a motorway but are totally unwilling to legislate or appropriately tax those literally threatening our future on this planet, such as fossil fuel giants and the wider billionaire class.

The left must mount its fight back or face the prospect of missing this genuinely once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape and rebalance the scales of power and the redistribution of wealth.

With the likes of Jeremy Corbyn being sensationally re-elected to Parliament, we have shown that grassroots action and people-powered campaigns can win against the corporate-sponsored, lobbyist-backed machine favoured by the political establishment and its depressive status quo.

Those are the building blocks that our second international conference will lay down as we unite the peace and social justice movement to create a genuinely progressive alternative to the Western political dogma that has effectively signed the death warrants of hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and every corner of the world.

It is this vision and direction that will bring about the victories of the future, inspired by those that have come generations before us and those fighting for a fairer world now.  Our movement is international and totally committed to the principle that an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us, no matter how many miles, oceans or borders come between us.

We stand as ferociously steadfast with the food workers of Leicestershire and Cornwall as we do the garment workers of Bangladesh.  We stand as tirelessly with the displaced people of Palestine as we do with the people of West Papua.  We stand with the whole world’s growing movement for climate justice and will continue to do so until we have secured our sustainable future on Earth.

With speakers such as our founder Jeremy Corbyn, ShadowWorld Investigations director and former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein and Founder of the Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples, Gender Justice & Peace, Binalakshmi Nepram, joining conference panels on the day, we are bringing together some of the most acclaimed individuals in the world on issues surrounding peace and social justice to support and equip our movement for many years to come.

We have made history before- and there is absolutely nothing stopping us from doing it again.

• Tickets for the Peace & Justice Project International Conference 2024 are on sale now and available here.
• You can follow Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace & Justice Project on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X and TikTok. 

‘Warning sign to us all’ as UK butterfly numbers hit record low

Helena Horton Environment reporter

THE GUARDIAN
Mon, 29 July 2024 

A large white butterfly. Many people have noticed the lack of fluttering insects in their gardens.Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Rex/Shutterstock

Butterfly numbers are the lowest on record in the UK after a wet spring and summer dampened their chances of mating.

Butterfly Conservation, which runs the Big Butterfly Count, sounded the alarm after this year’s count revealed the worst numbers since it began 14 years ago.

Many people have noticed the lack of fluttering insects in their gardens. Experts say this is due to the unusually wet conditions so far in 2024. Climate breakdown means the UK is more likely to face extremes in weather, and the natural rhythms of the seasons that insects such as butterflies are used to can no longer be relied on.

The UK had its wettest spring since 1986 and the sixth wettest on record, as an average 301.7mm (11.87in) of rain fell across March, April and May, nearly a third (32%) more than usual for the season. The Met Office has said recent decades have been warmer, wetter and sunnier than those of the 20th century.

Dr Dan Hoare, the director of conservation at Butterfly Conservation, said: “Butterflies need some warm and dry conditions to be able to fly around and mate. If the weather doesn’t allow for this there will be fewer opportunities to breed, and the lack of butterflies now is likely the knock-on effect of our very dreary spring and early summer.”

The extra rain is not the only problem; the charity said 80% of butterfly species in the UK had declined since the 1970s, with habitat loss, climate breakdown and pesticide use being the main causes. Butterfly populations already hit by these issues would be less likely to be able to cope with extreme weather.

“The lack of butterflies this year is a warning sign to us all,” said Hoare. “Nature is sounding the alarm and we must listen. Butterflies are a key indicator species. When they are in trouble we know the wider environment is in trouble too.”

Butterfly Conservation said there was still a chance of some butterflies emerging late if the weather got drier and sunnier.

There is one week left of the 2024 Big Butterfly Count, which asks people to go outside for 15 minutes and record the number and type of butterflies they see – and to submit their results even if they see very few or no butterflies.

Record low butterfly numbers so far in annual count as wet weather hits breeding

Emily Beament, 

PA Environment Correspondent
Mon, 29 July 2024 

Record low numbers of butterflies have been spotted so far in an annual citizen science survey, as a charity warns the weather this year may have affected the insects.

People taking part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count are seeing just over half the number of butterflies they were spotting this time last year, the charity said.

As the count enters its final week, members of the public are being urged to get outside for 15 minutes and record the number and type of butterflies they see – and to enter their results even if they see very few or none – to help experts understand more about how the insects are faring.

Experts say the unusually wet and windy spring, coupled with colder than usual temperatures so far this summer could be contributing to the absence of butterflies.

While they say there could be a late emergence of the insects if there is a prolonged sunny spell, numbers are currently the lowest recorded in the 14 years of the Big Butterfly Count.

And it is not just the weather this year that is a problem, with 80% of butterfly species declining in the UK since the 1970s, mainly due to habitat loss, pesticide use and climate change.

Because populations are already depleted, they are less resilient to bad weather, Butterfly Conservation warns.

Peacock butterflies are usually seen throughout Europe (Andrew Cooper/Butterfly Conservation/PA)

Dr Dan Hoare, director of Conservation at Butterfly Conservation, said: “Butterflies need some warm and dry conditions to be able to fly around and mate.

“If the weather doesn’t allow for this there will be fewer opportunities to breed, and the lack of butterflies now is likely the knock-on effect of our very dreary spring and early summer.”

And he said: “The lack of butterflies this year is a warning sign to us all. Nature is sounding the alarm and we must listen.

“Butterflies are a key indicator species. When they are in trouble we know the wider environment is in trouble too.”

He urged people to record what they were or were not seeing in the way of butterflies as part of the annual count to give experts the evidence to take “vital action” to conserve species.

The Big Butterfly Count ends on Sunday August 4. For more information and to take part people can download the free Big Butterfly Count app or visit www.bigbutterflycount.org

Israel-Gaza: some vital context

 

Mike Phipps review Deluge: Gaza and Israel from crisis to cataclysm, edited by Jamie Stern-Weiner, published by OR Books.

July 29, 2024 Labour Hub Editors

For most of this century, Israel’s approach to the Palestinians has been to keep the West Bank and Gaza Strip divided. It relied on the Palestinian Authority to maintain Israel’s security in the West Bank, while periodically launching military offensives against Gaza in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Israeli leaders called this ‘mowing the lawn’. “It was a strategy of managing the conflict, of avoiding peace talks,” writes Avi Shlaim in the Foreword to this book. But the strategy lay in tatters following the Hamas attack on October 7th 2023.

From then on, the Israeli government adopted a major change in policy – destroying Hamas and preventing Gaza from ever again being a threat. “What has not changed is the Israeli addiction to occupation, its hugely exaggerated trust in the utility of military force.”

The chapters in this collection aim to place the war in its proper historical context. Israel’s siege of Gaza is not new. After Hamas won democratic elections in the territory in 2006, Israeli sanctions reduced its inhabitants to penury. Western governments followed Israel in refusing to recognise the election results and joined its economic warfare against Gaza.

In 2008, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, noted: “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution, with the knowledge, acquiescence and – some would say – the encouragement of the international community.” Later, as Sara Roy points out, a Wikileaks cable would confirm this was the Israeli intention: “to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge.”

Military offensives added to the agony. 1,600 civilians were killed in the 2014 assault alone.

But Israel’s response to October 7th was unprecedented for the scale of killing and destruction. Israel evidently wants to render the territory uninhabitable. This may be more achievable than eradicating Hamas, whose slaughtered members are likely to be quickly replaced by new, more militant, recruits.

To those in the international community who insist that Hamas is the principal obstacle to peace, Colter Louverse shows how Israeli military action has repeatedly been used to sabotage genuine peace efforts and marginalise moderate Palestinian voices, thus helping to foment rather than combat Palestinian terrorism. Insofar as that has resulted in making a lasting peace process more unlikely than ever, the strategy could be considered successful.

If provocation is a driver of Israeli strategy, then the high number of civilian casualties is a logical consequence rather than an unfortunate by-product, argues Yaniv Cogan. An Israeli general admitted this as far back as 2008 when he said of any Palestinian village from which Israel is shot at: “We will subject it to disproportionate force and cause enormous damage and destruction. We don’t consider them to be civilian villages but military bases.”

Dehumanisation is an essential ingredient of this approach. “We are fighting human animals,” announced Israel’s Defence Minister in October 2023, as native Gazan Ahmed Almaouq points out in a powerful personal memoir. His entire family – father, three sisters and two brothers – were wiped out by an Israeli bomb two weeks into the onslaught.

Others have argued that wreaking deliberate devastation acts as a deterrent to neighbouring countries getting involved. This seems to have had some effect; not only have other states in the region been feeble in offering support to the people of Gaza, but the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has also been slow to react, in the eyes of Musa Abuhashhash. He argues that its “unwarranted complacency” has not protected it from increasingly murderous attacks by Israeli settlers, supported by the IDF.

The international response

“Just eight days before Hamas launched its attack, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan declared that ‘[t]he Middle east region is quieter today than it has been in two decades’,” notes Mitchell Plitnick. “Sullivan’s boast reflected the Biden administration’s indifference to both the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and the escalating attacks by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank.” In the seven months before the October 7th attack, 237 Palestinians had been killed.

The US response since then has been utterly supportive of Israel, while affecting to maintain an indifferent detachment regarding the future. There hasn’t been the smallest sign of how the administration might even begin to use its considerable leverage over Israel.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s talk of an “effective and revitalised Palestinian Authority” governing Gaza in future ignores the Authority’s long-term ineffectiveness and Israel’s opposition to it, suggests Nathan J. Brown. Planning for the “day after” assumes Hamas will soon be gone – it won’t – or that international agencies will be willing to provide a form of governance. But why would they, when UNRWA alone has seen more than 130 of its workers killed? The most likely form of future government could be self-appointed gangs.

It’s been left to ordinary people across the world, taking part in solidarity protests in their millions, to lay down some basic principles in relation to the conflict – an immediate ceasefire, respect for civilian life and an end to arming what has become a genocidal regime.

These simple demands are beginning to influence the political elites – impacting for example on the UK’s general election, with the election of several Independent MPs who highlighted the plight of Gaza, and on President Biden’s base of support in the US.

Initially, Biden’s staff dismissed concerns about alienating  Muslim and Arab-American voters on the smug rationale that they would be unlikely to vote for Trump. But as the scale of Israel’s murderous bombardment increased, wider sections of the Democratic vote have begun to peel away. Some 70% of younger voters said they disapproved of Biden’s policy on Gaza.

Any book about such a volatile political situation is likely to feel out of date as soon as it leaves the printers and this is reflected particularly in the chapters on international solidarity, the scale of which continues to grow and impress. But this collection remains  an excellent introduction to the underlying issues and provide vital context to this much-misreported war.

Mike Phipps’ book Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow: The Labour Party after Jeremy Corbyn (OR Books, 2022) can be ordered here.

Millions of Brits could be forced to turn to A&E as GPs threaten to ‘bring NHS to standstill’ with industrial action

29 July 2024,

GPs are likely to take industrial action. Picture: Getty


By Kieran Kelly@kellyjourno

Industrial action by GPs could have a ‘catastrophic’ impact on the NHS, health leaders have warned.

Family doctors who run GP surgeries will vote by noon today on whether they reduce the care they provide, including by limiting the number of patients they see every day.

The British Medical Association (BMA) launched the vote in protest against the previous government increasing their budget by 1.9% for this year.

Doctors are expected to vote in favour of taking industrial action, without partaking in full-scale strikes.

A General Practitioner's Surgery In North London. Picture: Getty

“If all GPs implemented the patient cap, that could have a catastrophic effect on the entire healthcare system”, Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, told The Guardian.

“General practice is now supporting more patients than before the Covid pandemic, so any reduction in their activity will put more pressure on other services, including A&E.”

Dr Dave Triska on being 'brought to tears' as an NHS GP

Some GPs see as many as 50 patients a day, though the average is around 37. Industrial action would involve capping that figure at 25.

Three million GP appointments could disappear every month as a result of the industrial action, heaping pressure on A&E, 111 and mental healthcare services.

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GPs could also refer patients to hospital rather than giving them an appointment at their surgery.

Despite the impact on the wider healthcare system, the BMA is urging GPs to vote in favour of the industrial action.

“We need all GP contractors/partners to vote Yes to send a message to the government that we are ready to stand up for a better service for our patients and to protect our practices,” they told members.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Picture: Getty

A source close to the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “This is just the latest example of the mess left by the Conservatives.

“We are determined to work with the profession to rebuild general practice, which is critical to making the NHS fit for the future.

“We will increase the proportion of resources going into primary care over time and help address the issues GPs face.”