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The Government's migrant deal with France is unlikely to make a difference

The Government's migrant deal with France is unlikely to make a difference

Telegraph5 days ago
SIR – I live in Normandy, where we have regular influxes of Asian hornets (report, August 4). I don't think people in Britain appreciate quite how dangerous these insects are. Their stinger is so big it draws blood, and the pain is one of the worst I have ever experienced. I was stung multiple times a couple of years ago and had to go to hospital.
In France, if you find a nest you must report it immediately to your local mairie (town hall), and officials will send an exterminator to deal with it next day. The only way to eradicate them is to make reporting mandatory.
Richard Baker
Chasseguey, Juvigny les Vallées, France
SIR – We apiarists are very concerned about this insect invader.
Two beekeepers here trapped several Asian hornets a couple of years ago, and informed Defra immediately. It responded quickly and a large nest was discovered nearby, and destroyed.
This pest is a risk to both bees and humans, and I would urge a 'no tolerance' attitude from the public. Report any sightings, especially near southern ports, which can inadvertently bring Asian hornets to our shores.
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Cecil Newton obituary
Cecil Newton obituary

The Guardian

time20 hours ago

  • The Guardian

Cecil Newton obituary

My father, Cecil Newton, was one of the last surviving British Army Sherman amphibious tank soldiers who landed in Normandy in the first assault on D-day, 6 June 1944. Two years previously, he had joined the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards as a gun loader, training in the innovative and top-secret Duplex Drive (DD) 'swimming' tanks. On 3 June 1944, they sailed from Lepe Beach in Hampshire for France. Wading ashore on Gold Beach at dawn, they attacked the target blockhouse and the crew surrendered. On attacking Verrières on the 14 June, they prevailed, but 90 infantrymen and troopers, including Cecil's best friends, were killed, haunting him all his life. They fought through devastated Normandy villages, the liberation of Lille, Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, and into Germany, where his brother Frederic, of the 5th Royal Tank Regiment, was killed by surrendering prisoners. Cecil, who has died aged 101, later founded the Creully Club to ensure that the names of the 127 of his regiment killed in Europe were not forgotten. From the terrible battles he participated in, Cecil believed strongly in the need for resilient links across Europe to help prevent further wars, and flew the EU flag, with the regimental flag, from his garden. Every May he would cycle in Normandy to check on the memorials he helped erect. He was born Hugh Cecil Newton in Llanrwst, Wales, to Katie (nee Thomas), who was from an Anglesey farming family, and Frederic, a cotton broker in India who then worked in the Hindu newspaper London office, when the family settled in Muswell Hill, north London. Cecil was educated at the Stationers' Company's school, but with the outbreak of war was evacuated to Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. On finishing school he joined the Home Guard at Muswell Hill and volunteered as a naval clerk in Leicester Square. In 1942 he volunteered for the army, and after training at Bovington Camp, joined the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards. The next two years were spent in training, before heading to France. When his tank was hit in the battle for Tripsrath, Germany, in November 1944, a shell shattered his leg and he was shot in the chest. Cecil developed gas gangrene, but thankfully penicillin was available. After six months in hospital he was invalided out of the army. After the war Cecil trained as a surveyor and started the Swindon office of Bare, Leaning and Bare, becoming a partner, and settled in Aldbourne, Wiltshire, with his wife, Joy (nee Lidstone), a nurse and botanist whom he married in 1955. He worked on numerous projects in Wiltshire, including the Railway Village in Swindon. His civilian interests included helping found the Aldbourne Civic Society, which led to the protection of bronze age barrows in the parish, bird-watching, cycling, painting and playing the piano. In 2016, he was given the Légion d'honneur and honorary citizenship of Creully, and in 2019 the primary school in Creully was named after him. Joy died in 2012. He is survived by their three children, Claire, Richard and me, and two grandchildren, Joseph and Oscar.

Swarm of jellyfish shut down massive nuclear plant in France
Swarm of jellyfish shut down massive nuclear plant in France

Daily Mail​

time2 days ago

  • Daily Mail​

Swarm of jellyfish shut down massive nuclear plant in France

A swarm of jellyfish has caused one of the largest nuclear power plants in France to shutdown. It was temporarily closed on Monday after a 'massive and unpredictable' cluster of the sea creatures clogged the pumps used to cool the reactors, French energy group EDF said. The automatic shutdowns of four units 'had no impact on the safety of the facilities, the safety of personnel, or the environment', according to EDF. The Gravelines nuclear power plant in northern France, capable of powering five million homes, was brought offline when a fourth reactor shut down. 'These shutdowns are the result of the massive and unpredictable presence of jellyfish in the filter drums of the pumping stations,' the Gravelines plant operator said. The site was fully shut after the incident, with its two other units already offline for maintenance. Teams were carrying out inspections to restart the production units 'in complete safety', EDF said, adding the units were expected to restart on Thursday. 'There is no risk of a power shortage,' the company added, saying other energy sources, including solar power, were operational. It is also said there does not appear to be any change to electricity exports from France to the UK. Gravelines is Western Europe's largest nuclear power plant with six reactors, each with the capacity to produce 900 megawatts. The site is due to open two next-generation reactors, each with a capacity of 1,600 megawatts, by 2040. The plant draws water from a canal connected to the North Sea, which is the habitat of several native species of jellyfish. This is not the first time jellyfish have shut down a nuclear facility, though EDF said such incidents were 'quite rare', adding the last impact on its operations was in the 1990s. There have been cases of plants in other countries shutting down due to jellyfish invasions, including a three-day closure in Sweden in 2013 and a 1999 incident in Japan that caused a major drop in output. Experts say overfishing, plastic pollution and climate change have created conditions allowing jellyfish to thrive and reproduce.

British trout is back in fashion – these are the best ways to cook it
British trout is back in fashion – these are the best ways to cook it

Telegraph

time3 days ago

  • Telegraph

British trout is back in fashion – these are the best ways to cook it

Trout is quietly making a comeback at the dinner table, edging out the Atlantic salmon, which has long been crowned the king of fish but is now teetering on the brink of extinction. Four to five decades ago, trout featured on many restaurant and hotel menus. I remember serving it myself when working part-time in a hotel kitchen. The dinner-plate-sized fish was cost-effective, convenient and easy to stash in the deep-freeze – a reliable staple. My fishing friend and restaurateur Robin Hutson once told me about his trainee days working at Claridge's in the 1970s, when he was put in charge of the guéridon trolley which starred truite au bleu – an old-school French dish where trout are plucked from the restaurant's live fish tank and lowered into a vinegar-spiked court-bouillon within minutes, which turns the skin blue thanks to a natural pigment reaction. As the broth cools, the fish poaches, but in Robin's case, as he proudly lifted the fish from its aromatic bath and attempted to remove the meat for his eager diners, he realised – to his horror – the trout was still completely raw. The recipe I share here for truite au bleu recommends you test for done-ness before you present it to your guests with a grand flourish… More often than not trout was frequently served with brown butter, almonds and parsley – a classic crowd-pleaser back then – but perhaps we became tired of it. It certainly vanished from the menu. Then, a decade ago, Hugo Hardman and Arthur Voelcker launched ChalkStream with the aim of getting trout back on to restaurant menus – they sell fish, sourced from the rivers Test and Itchen in Hampshire, to top restaurants and direct to your door. In these streams trout can grow to an impressive three kilos (more like sea trout and small salmon in size), which produce generous fillets perfect for cooking, smoking or curing. These days, I often take a fish kettle – a long pan made for poaching whole fish – down to the riverbank. The first catch of the day goes straight in and gets served on toast with a bit of mayonnaise mixed with fresh herbs. A simple way to honour the trout (so rich as it is in omega-3 fatty acids and such an excellent source of protein) – as the recipes here do to delicious effect.

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