Tag: climate change

No Worries; Worried Men at The Pump

Long overdue a visit to the Pump in Trowbridge, Jamie Thyer, frontman of the Worried Men twisted my arm Friday night and there I was, to witness, once again, these wonderful weavers of sublime blues to rock n roll tapestries…..

It’s been five months since I was last here in the legendary pump room converted music venue, and it feels good to return to this friendly appreciation society. Steeped in history of Trowbridge nightlife, newfound energy was, quite aptly “pumped” into the once adored folk club upon Kieran Moore’s takeover some years ago, in which diversity was widened by the Sheer Music promoter’s vast knowledge of indie bands both local and international. I’ve said this before; you can see established big names at our city’s larger venues, but at the Pump you’ll see the upcoming names soon to be big, that’s its unique appeal.

Despite the Pump bucking the concerning trend of grassroots music venues stumbling on financial difficulties, its future felt dubious at the beginning of 2024 when landlords of the Lamb, the Wadworth pub which houses the establishment planned to leave. A silver lining was emerging from the cloud when I was last there, Kieran was optimistic after meeting the prospective landlords, who were supportive.

It has to be said, my past experiences of the Lamb was such that it felt like there was a psychological barrier between it and the Pump. A thriving pub, but not interacting with a similar ethos of the venue, like the Pump was a welcome entity only for extra bar sales. But, alerted to the new landlords staging live music in the actual pub too, and hosting Brian Reid’s celebrated open mic nights as well, it seemed like the tables were, quite literally, turning.

Confirming this, I spoke to a few punters in the Pump last night, who had curiously wandered in from the pub, delighted in what they were witnessing, and dammit, if I wasn’t suspicious that the couple leaning against the wall by the actual pump itself wasn’t the new landlords themselves, lapping up the music (I should’ve asked rather than make the assumption, but it was loud!)

If it feels like a positive new chapter has opened here, the Pump is much the same visually; if it ain’t broke…. And who could blame those curious punters and the landlords, when the Worried Men do their thing, it’s something to behold and nothing, as the name might suggest, to be worried about.

Three matured rockers, new drummer I think, doing a show I’ve seen enough times before to know what gorgeousness I was treating my ears to. With a support act awol they started their journey early, no one minded getting a little extra worried, and Jamie mocked the situation, as he does many elements, in his psychedelic surrealist sense of humour.

A grand night indeed. For anyone not versed on the occasions I’ve reviewed The Worried Men, here at the Pump, their album, and at The Southgate, here’s how they throw it down. Yes, there’s life in covers, Jim, but not as we know it. Renowned riffs and rhythms of rock music classics you will acknowledge, but they’re woven into an original tapestry, a medley of homages in splinters, where the band interpret and Jamie improvs these wild experimental guitar adventures akin to Hendrix, and dare I suggest it, with equal skill and gusto? Okay, with honesty, it’s not far off that unbelievable benchmark.

On Jimi, it’s a personal favourite of mine when elements of The Wind Cries Mary come into play, but equally, the baby, please don’t go blues of Waters and Wolf, to mellowed Flyod-esque moments of sixties psychedelia, smoke on water, Louie Louie, Berry’s rock n roll finales with farewells to Johnny B Goode, all interspersed with original thoughts, observations and compositions, and a jumpin’ Jack flash encore; it’s easy riding, keepin’ on truckin’ as if the age of the Rubix Cube never happened!

And I call it a tapestry, for they are the most skilled pre-Renaissance medium created by the most proficient embroiderers, and The Worried Men are proof that practice makes perfect. Efficiently if cheekily quoting my own quotes, I’ve said in the past, “and Morpheus said unto Neo, “unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.” Funny cos, I kinda feel similar about The Worried Men!” and upon discovering them at the Gate two years ago, I explained Jamie’s gestures thus: “Jamie holds an expression of concentration, occasionally looking up at you through these spellbinding Hendrix fashioned excursions, as if to ask “is that alright for you?” Like a dentist with his tools stuck in your gum, you feel like responding, “yes, fine, thank you doctor.”

And these quotes still fit, for if there’s nothing new to report about The Worried Men show, it doesn’t require improvement. The majority of acts at the Pump are younger, upcoming and to catch them irregularly over time you will see them progress. The Worried Men had their talents honed long before I came to report on them, it is, in a sentence, timeless bliss you’ll never tire of hearing.

The Pump is the proof, locally, the message is getting out there: support live music, and I look forward to returning; just wish there was a late night bus to and fro, because if there’s one good reason to head for Vegas, it’s their Pump! Check out what’s coming up there.

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Rooks; New Single From M3G

Chippenham folk singer-songwriter, M3G (because she likes a backward “E”) has a new single out tomorrow, Friday 19th December. Put your jingly bell cheesy tunes…

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Have Your Say on Forestry England’s Future Plans for West Woods and Collingbourne Woodland

The newly drafted forest plan for West Woods and Collingbourne is open for public consultation until Monday 7 October. The plan outlines how each woodland will be managed over the next 10 years to provide sustainably grown timber for the nation, promote public access for informal recreation, and improve habitats for wildlife….

The main aim for West Woods, near Marlborough, and Collingbourne, near Ludgershall, is  to gradually diversify the tree species. This helps to attract more wildlife and increase the forests’ resilience against threats, such as future climate conditions and pests and diseases.

Forest Planner at Forestry England, Abby Parravani said, “forest plans define the long-term, beyond-our-lifetime vision for the nation’s forests and set out how we will work towards this over the next ten years. We are keen to involve the local communities who use and value these woodlands to give feedback as they will see the forests evolving over the coming decade.” 

Photo credit: Forestry England/Crown
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Forestry England is an agency of the Forestry Commission. It manages and cares for the nation’s 1,500 woods and forests, with over 285 million visits in 2023/24. As England’s largest land manager, they shape landscapes and enhance forests for people to enjoy, wildlife to flourish and businesses to grow. They are continuing the work we have already started to make the nation’s forests resilient to climate change, and pledge by 2026 to create at least 6,000 more hectares where they will integrate wilding activities in productive forests, increase the diversity of visitors to the nation’s forests and have one million hours of high-quality volunteer time given to the nation’s forests, and planting at least 2,000 hectares of new, high quality, predominantly broadleaf woodlands.  

To view and provide feedback on the draft plan, visit HERE. For more information on forest plans see HERE.

Photo credit: Forestry England/Crown
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A Chat With Green Party Candidate For Melksham-Devizes, Catherine Read

Over the coming weeks I’m having cuppas with candidates of the Melksham-Devizes constituency crazy enough to indulge my political ignorance and endure my inane waffling; it’s funnier this way! First under my spotlight is Catherine Read, standing for the Greens….

Bulked with other scoops the night before I was short of time to put in any research. Luckily Krishnan grilled Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay on Channel 4, which inspired! Steadfast in New Society I planned to be ruthless like Krishnan, but it turned out Catherine is such a friendly person I couldn’t bring myself to! At one point I whimpered I was playing Devil’s advocate, to which she replied, “oh, was you? I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question!”

Not the guts to be Paxman, I love the Greens, with their radically leftwing ideas and knitted jerseys, but fear their popularity is dwindled, not only by the misconception they’re a one trick pony, but also by those who, whilst accepting the importance of climate change, or not, might not sway so far left: truckloads of ‘em around ‘ere!

There’s an angle I must ask in line with the Melksham-Devizes Primary’s strategic voting idea, if Catherine understood the dilemma some feel a vote for a party lesser in popularity like the Greens is dividing the votes against Conservatives.

“I can understand why people might worry and why they might want to get the Conservatives out,” Catherine told me. “But from all polls across the country, we’re thinking it’s going to be a Labour government. I know here we’re a very conservative county, and even if Michelle Donelan did get in, she’s not in power. She’s just going to be a backbench MP with no influence at all. So what’s important is we get the votes to put pressure on who’s next in, to say, look, a lot of people voted Green because they are concerned about the environment, and that will send a message to the Labour government then as well.”

Story checks out nationally, according to the MRP the Greens are predicted to keep seats in Brighton, and Bristol Central, with 50% of the vote, and it shows Greens coming second in 46 Labour seats, which puts them in position to apply pressure on Labour. But this is not a Labour safe seat by any stretch of the imagination.

“I also think if you look at the percentage vote for the Greens it isn’t that high, where is that really going to make a difference? So I’m saying to everyone, vote for whichever party represents your values, because, you know the Conservatives aren’t going to be in, so this is your opportunity. And I would also ask; why vote for a different party which you don’t really like or want, and by doing that there is money attached to votes? I’m not sure whether a lot of people are aware of this. It’s called short money. What happens is it’s given to the opposition parties, and the amount they get is dependent on the amount of votes they get. Being optimistic here, if we get four Green MPs, we get money to help them through their parliamentary staff and produce policies. But that’s dependent on the amount of votes they get, so I would appeal to any Green voters not to give your vote and your money to a different party that you don’t agree with and try to support the Green Party.”

Catherine explained they were hopeful for at least four MPs in Parliament, mentioning Bristol and Brighton, but also Waveney Valley and one in Herefordshire. “I’m certain  Waveney Valley is between Greens and Conservative; they’re like us over there. It’s rural, and very farming,” she clarified. “I think what’s driving it is protecting the local environment and nature, and farming as well. The Greens stand up for farming.” Catherine continued to tell me about local butterfly camps and tree and hedge planting projects on Morgan’s Hill. “It’s great; you meet people out there and they’re not necessarily from the Green Party, just people who are concerned about their environment.”

And while inevitably the conversation will turn to national politics, I prioritise local issues and getting to know the candidates on a personal level.

Catherine has lived in Bromham for over twenty-five years and worked at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. Her only political background is parish council level, but hey, Liz Truss read philosophy, politics and economics at Merton College, Oxford, was the president of the Oxford University Liberal Democrats, and look how that panned out!

I take people at face-value, it’s not the party nor the policies, it’s the expression of excitement when Catherine told me about submitting her nomination papers the day before, “and our Chippenham candidates’ going today,” she furthered. “We cover three or four constituencies, and then there’s the other two of the South, West and Salisbury. I believe they’re putting up candidates across Wiltshire. It was the Green Party’s ambition, to stand candidates everywhere.”

Surely such excitement transfers to motivation, to perform an honest job? Though, I asked what I will ask them all; “in a sentence, why should we vote for you?”

 “I care about people, and I want to make people’s life better, basically. And I would put, climate change is what drives me to be in this position now.” Caring about people? A politician?! Now that’s a looney leftie concept beyond our fathoming around these sewage infested backwaters where we’d sooner just vote for the ‘circus of thieves’ with a blue rosette (enter winking emoji!) Yet the answer felt sincere, as everything Catherine said did. So we talked about her association with climate groups like Sustainable Devizes and Wiltshire Climate Alliance.

“They aren’t political at all, but I’m a member of them personally. They are great, they raise awareness and do good things. It’s good to be involved in your community to try and make it better, more sustainable,” Catherine said, enticing us to rap about the Sustainability Fair and pedestrianisation of the Market Place, Catherine said, “it doesn’t have to be a carpark, we can do something great with the space; that was the idea behind the fair.”  Leading me to waffle about the boater band Devil’s Doorstep who played, but it allowed us to roll the chat into cycling and public transport, as they came up from the canal on bicycles, somehow carrying their recycled washtub bass!

Obviously, Catherine, a keen cyclist herself, was keen to see environmental improvements such as a better public transport system, cycle lanes, et al, but she also talked on enhancements at Green Lane’s Health Centre. “I’m passionate about the NHS. Devizes had the hospital, that hospital was lovely, and convenient, so you didn’t have to travel too far, and I think everybody misses that. So they put in a replacement, the health centre. It’s an environmentally friendly building. It doesn’t have a lot of things that a hospital has. It doesn’t have A&E or any wards. You can’t do a walk in service. We don’t think it’s offering as much to people that it could. Because if you need minor injuries, you go to Chippenham. I think people like community hospitals, but we don’t have a good transport system. It’s not easy for people to get to these places. I think you need to bring it into the communities.”

This is not going the callous way I planned so I told a story about a neighbour of a customer of mine who, one spring morning when the temperature had dropped, suggested with a shiver it was cold, and jested, “so much for all that bloody global warming rubbish!” It’s alarming, his thinking being just because it’s colder today in his village, a pinprick on the world map, climate change is a hoax, not forgoing we don’t refer to it as global warming anymore, it’s climate change! It’s not such an uncommon jest, but my point was, if Greens want in, least be able to persuade government on environmental issues, how do we go about convincing people with this mentality, how do we get this guy onboard with a leftist philosophy he’s not going to warm to?  

“So they think what’s in it for him?” Catherine asked, talking environmental and social justice in one. “Obviously we want to reduce global heating or cooling because it’s overheating the planet. We want to reduce carbon, so maybe we put solar panels, insulate homes, because it reduces the amount of carbon energy they’re using. But that has a knock-on benefit for them, because they’re saving money, you know, they’re literally getting free electricity when the sun shines. If you insulate it, they’re going to get warmer homes as well.”

“It is strange,” Catherine replied to my rant about doughnuts who think it’s a hoax. “But when I’m trying to make things better anyway, so if somebody believes it was made-up, we’re only trying to make their life better. We’re trying to reduce the pollution and we’re trying to keep their homes, homes warm. They’re going to benefit from that. You know, we want to increase public transport too, and make it cheap.”

The Green Party are due to release their manifesto on the 14th of June, and like other party’s promises, it will bait the question how we will pay for these initiatives, the ones of the Greens being radical, like a national wage. With higher taxes? It seems the Greens think it’s all about eat the rich.

“A universal basic income, so everybody gets a set amount every year,” Catherine confirmed, “can help with poverty, because everyone’s getting an income, young people don’t even get the minimum wage. These things they will help everybody who’s really struggling now, and what they’re saying is, tax the wealthiest people. We’re not talking middle-class, we’re talking the top 1%, if that, you know, so it’s not going to affect us. This tax is just coming from those that can really afford it.”

I’m with this, there’s enough money to go around, it’s the unjust distribution of it, especially when it comes to taxes and the misuse of public spending. But common immediate reaction to the Green Party is they’re just going to whack our taxes up, and how do you convince folk otherwise?

“We’re not whacking up tax, we put tax on the richest people.” Catherine reaffirmed. “The reason we don’t seem to get services that work is, where does all that money go? That’s a question to be asked. We’ve paid our taxes. And like you say, the tax burden is the highest. But where has it all gone? And I think we’ve seen an example of why.” Catherine went onto example the PPE contract scandal during the pandemic. “It seems to me they don’t have any balances, any value for money, and we have the scandals with Lady Michelle Mone, and you know that I was quite upset and angry about all that, because that was our money. That should have gone into NHS services and protecting us, and it was an excuse to literally give away our money. It’s just not being put back into our public services. It’s being put into different things, and I think that’s the problem. I think that’s what needs to be addressed.”

And that’s where we are. While environmental issues should so obviously be top priority, though rarely are in other manifestos and folk’s day-to-day minds, and I vow never to be that spanner calling it all a hoax just because it’s a bit chilly today, I’m willing to consider the Greens and love what they say, but my fear their other policies are either vague or too radical for the majority will affect my vote being lost from the beloved ethos of getting the Tories out.

Lovely as our chat was, and interesting, it hasn’t helped my dilemma of what box to put my cross, it’s just reaffirmed my affection for the Green Party, and my prayers the others standing will have an eye on environmental issues too rather than just perfidious piffle; Lib Dem’s Brian Matthew is up next, we’ll see what he has to say on it!

The key, I think, is a coalition with Greens, to put the cat among the pigeons. But in the past election I found every time I mention coalitions to prospective MPs of yellow and red, they pull the expression of looking into the eyes of Medusa! Catherine though seemed keen on the idea, or at least to work with other parties. “I think they would work with the government on topics that we agreed we had common ground on.” Catherine said. “But I don’t think they would commit to supporting everything that the Labour government say, because obviously there’s differences. So I think where there’s overlap, yes, they probably would. But I can’t speak for the National Party, that’s just my opinion. I’m fairly new to politics. I think working with your community is what it’s about. I don’t think it’s about bashing heads all the time; it’s about just doing the best.”

It was a lovely chat, and I am thankful to Catherine Reed for her time; she’s an inspirational person, and as she said, if you’ve faith in the Greens, which you should, consider not giving your vote to someone you don’t fully agree with.

Christmas Ideas at The Healthy Life Company, Devizes!

This week I popped in to see Justina at Devizes’ Healthy Life Company in the Little Brittox, and she took me upstairs …. okay, pack it in, you lot! If you’re reasoning I best not read this any further think again, especially if you’re stuck for a few Christmas shopping ideas, because upstairs, and I didn’t even know they had an upstairs, a wonderful Christmas market is blossoming……

There I stood amidst a mini winter wonderland, chock full of gift ideas as Justina explained they do this every year, and showed me the centrepiece, a colour-changing mushroom lamp which will be raffled at the end. She told me a delightful story of a past raffle prize, which fascinated a young boy who came up everyday after school to see it. “His Dad eventually bought him a ticket,” Justina continued, “and when we went to pull the raffle we pulled out two tickets by accident. One was the little lad’s and the other was my other half! So we had to tell him what had happened…” There’s me speculating Justina’s ‘other half’ was left disappointed, “it was very sweet.” Then she directed my attention to this year’s prize.

“We do it every year, and we’ve still got lots of things to arrive. It’s all from good companies that we like, like the English Soap Company, most things we have here are from English companies.” 

And there was me thinking Justina had some bad news, on the basis of the Little Eco Shop in Couch Lane shutting down. “The whole industry of zero-waste shops, most of them have closed, there’s hardly any left,” she expressed. But the Healthy Life Company has been trading for an amazing forty years, and Justina has been at the helm for the last fifteen of them, it was popular, shoppers dropping in throughout our chat. “I never meant to stay this long,” she told me, “But Devizes does that to you, doesn’t it? And I love it!”

So, long live the Healthy Life, I reckoned, as Justina showed me the more daily products downstairs. “This is all our refills which we’ve been doing for a long time now,” she explained, showing me a tiered system for storing products. They have to sell fast in the refills and if they don’t, Justina showed me some packaging made from potato starch, “so it’s home compostable. Another thing we do, if it comes in this packaging, that gets taken away and is made into pet food bags.”

Twenty-six different liquid products I was introduced to next. “We have this thing we call the Devizes Refill Challenge,” Justina went on to, “which says, just make one change. It’s not about making masses of changes. If every family in Devizes went, right, one bottle, what one can we lose, let’s do washing up liquid, or laundry; it’s a real easy win. If everyone did one tiny change, you’d probably save six hundred plastic bottles a month.” I supposed, once you were doing this, and you were here among the other liquid refills, you’re more likely to try others, until it becomes the new norm.

Organic veg is a new thing for the Healthy Life Company. “Research from the Soil Association is saying now that one of every three foods has pesticides in it. So, organic is about minimising the amount of stuff that’s in your shopping basket which isn’t good for you.” Though, the blinkered illusion is this comes at a price, wonderful though these independent and caring shops are. “I’ve done a price-check,” Justina said, “comparison against Sainsburys and our organic veg is cheaper, and it’s not a not a massive difference between organic and non-organic.” Then she worried it all sounded middle-class, “but if you’re going to cut meat out of your diet, occasionally, perhaps once a week, and go to veg, you might as well have some veg with optimal nutrition, and it will be cheaper than buying that meat!” 

Optimal nutrition was a term Justina used quite a bit, and there was me, thinking about nipping into Greggs afterwards! But what of this current trend of lunch on the run? I wondered why The Healthy Life didn’t sell lunchtime snacks, and lo-and-behold, it seems I came here on the right day. “We just want people to come in, do a price check; we are mindful of quality and price,” she told me, a tad understandably frustrated with the scaffolding outside and the roadworks; herein where I suggested my lunchtime snack idea.

Great minds think alike(!), a new fridge was being installed later on that day, by coincidence, to offer vegetarian Buddha bowls, salads and wraps. Although Devizes may be awash with choice for such, The Healthy Life are hoping, with over twenty nutritional ingredients in each, and available from Wednesday to Friday, lunchtime you might pop in, and while you’re there, check out the Christmas gift ideas upstairs, try the Devizes Refill Challenge or just browse this lovely independent shop we are lucky to have here in town.

The Healthy Life Company can be found at 4 Little Brittox, Devizes.  Tel: 01380 725558 or email: enquiries@thehealthylife.co.uk and they also have a wonderful online shop with more products they can store in the shop, HERE.

Me? I bypassed Greggs in the end; another time, cold and malign sausage and bean melt, another time! 

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Snow White Delight: Panto at The Wharf

Treated to a sneaky dress rehearsal of this year’s pantomime at Devizes’ one and only Wharf Theatre last night, if forced to sum it up…

Chatting With Burn The Midnight Oil

It’s nice to hear when our features attract attention. Salisbury’s Radio Odstock  picked up on our interview with Devizes band Burn the Midnight Oil and…

Does Wiltshire Council’s Climate Strategy Lack Ambition and Commitment?

A month after Wiltshire Council’s Climate Strategy was criticised by the Wiltshire Climate Alliance for lacking “ambition and commitment to achieving its goal of seeking to make Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030,” I’m horrified, yet not surprised to see social media pages still maintaining climate change is a hoax, when I thought all was pretty much conclusive, and a majority, aside political opinion, accepted that climate change is real, and is happening.

I was checking out a Facebook page called “Climate Change is a Hoax,” because, for the same reason I occasionally click on the fascist GB News site, I enjoy deliberately annoying myself with the stupidity of far-right illogic! With a laughable forty-one “likes,” it hardly carries much clout, neither many of its shared articles remained live after factchecking algorithms stripped them bare. But one YouTube video by Canadian conspiracy theorists, The Climate Discussion Nexus does give sensible argument against climate change, just when I tarnished them with the same brush as flat-earth theorists.

The content of the video portrays Michael Mann akin to a narcissistic nerdy schoolkid, who assumes his homework is superior to everyone else’s, simply because he did it, and claims other researcher’s papers have been poo-pooed by the IPCC in favour for Mann’s. While I shrug, the United Nations owns the IPCC, and is an intergovernmental body, it’s not completely impossible climate change has been exaggerated for this supposed purpose of “controlling the masses,” or for any other bizarre reasoning they invent, I have to question, what if they are wrong? Furthermore, quotes from the “about” section of the Facebook page such as “don’t let the globalists and socialists destroy our lives,” is so chockful of falsehoods and propaganda I don’t know where to begin. Least not when the majority of the world today seems to politically side on the right, who commonly seem to debunk climate change, and so-called globalists and socialists are not in power anyway. Hence the reason the world spins on its axis and nothing much appears to get done to tackle the issue.

Come in, let’s squabble, oh, apologies, just step over that cataclysmic natural disaster someone left out asking to be tripped over, there’s a good fellow.

So, what if either side of the argument is wrong? If those who believe in climate change are wrong, we’ve been duped and possibly even burdened by a bunch of passive reformist lefties, which sounds far better than previous historic oppressing by purists and conservative philosophies, which always seems to result in bloodthirsty wars. So, we dust ourselves off, mix plastics with household waste again, break out our diesel Chelsea tractors and drive to the abattoir for steak pie.

However, if those who believe climate change is a hoax are wrong, we’ve either caused the extinction of all life on earth, including ourselves, or least ignored the chance to slow or prevent it from happening. Seriously, you have to ask yourself which possible outcome you’d prefer. Personally, I’m thinking being oppressed by lefties, which equates to eating lentils and maybe listening to Buffalo Springfield, then allowing everyone to die in catastrophic disasters, is the better option of the two, but hey, that’s just me.

Therefore, it goes without saying, on a local level, I’m keen to hear what climate change specialists think of our county council’s climate strategy, being they’ve a majority conservative seating, and by my reckoning, seems while not every conservative is a climate change denier, all climate change deniers seem to have a conservative ethos. Suspicious some lurk in Bythesea Road, I asked the Wiltshire Climate Alliance, who formed from a meeting of over twenty interest groups from across Wiltshire a year after the moment Wiltshire Council acknowledged that there was a climate emergency and set themselves a target to make Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030. Which was in 2019, even though a seminal paper by Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius first predicted changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, and noted they could substantially alter the surface temperature through the greenhouse effect, in 1896, you know, these things take time.

Wiltshire Climate Alliance (WCA) welcomes the fact that Wiltshire Council is developing a Climate Strategy but laments its lack of ambition and commitment to achieving its goal of seeking to make Wiltshire carbon neutral by 2030. Bill Jarvis of WCA’s Steering Group described it as, “recognising that major changes are needed but lacking any commitment or timescale for reducing emissions outside of the Council’s own operations,” adding that “there is little sense of the urgency needed for taking action, and a dependency on future plans and policies that may take us in the opposite direction.”

And there was me thinking they didn’t bother trimming the hedgerows of the A361 because of “reforestation,” our minute contribution to a worldwide area the size of China which needs to be restored to forest before it having much effect. The WCA continue, about the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, predicting the world is likely to exceed 2C between the early 2040s and 50s, and while UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “the alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable,” The WCA extends this locally by saying, “this renewed urgency doesn’t come across in Wiltshire Council’s Strategy, which speaks of ‘exploring’ and ‘investigating’ the kinds of policies and actions that should by now be in place and well underway.”

The Tyndall Centre calculated, in 2019, that “with no change to current emissions Wiltshire would use up all its budget [to 2050] within seven years.” Ergo, I have to agree, if it seems there will be no significant change to policy or action for at least another two years, where is there any sense of urgency? Apply this ludicrous lucidity to a did I leave the kettle on moment, and your house is potentially toast, my friend.

‘Future delivery plans’ are the order of the Council, yet the WCA explain, “stabilising the climate requires rapid, deep and sustained emissions reductions. It is particularly concerning that the Strategy provides no detail of how its objectives will be delivered.”

They worry Wiltshire Council’s decarbonisation objectives will be no more than a ‘wish list’ in the Local Plan, Local Transport Plan and other plans, most of which have completely contrary objectives and will not be in place for at least two years. WCA would like to see the Strategy go further, and recommend a moratorium on implementing climate destructive, high emission plans and policies until such time as detailed carbon reduction delivery plans have been adopted, and it has set out its concerns.

Wiltshire Climate Alliance is keen to continue to support Wiltshire Council and its councillors in taking the urgent action that is now required. “The solutions are clear,” they say, “achievable and a large number are touched on in this document. However, they require political will to make them happen. There is limited need for more evidence gathering, investigations and assessments. But there is an urgent need for more ambition and immediate action in areas in which others are already showing leadership.”

Okay look, I’m no tree hugger, love a bacon butty, and, I’m willing to admit, my presumptions climate change deniers lurk at county hall is a scare story evolved from the content of worldwide keyboard warriors, adamant on spreading myths. But it is exasperating, becoming tiresome, and dreadfully perilous to assume they’ve no influence at any level of politics. Here’s hoping the WCA can urge Wiltshire’s residents and its elected representatives to join in demanding better, as the steering group say, “climate denial must not be replaced by delaying climate action.”

Their website is here, Facebook page here, there’s a petition; Wiltshire Council should make Carbon Reduction a top priority in every Council decision, a Facebook discussion group too, and a demonstration this Tuesday (19th October) at Trowbridge Civic Centre.

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The Lost Trades Float on New Single

I’ve got some gorgeous vocal harmonies currently floating into my ears, as The Lost Trades release their first single since the replacement of Tamsin Quin…