.png%3Ftrim%3D0%2C0%2C0%2C0%26width%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)
Poll of the day: Should lynx be reintroduced to the British countryside?
Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England, has voiced support for renewed conversations around lynx reintroduction, calling for more public engagement to understand the potential impact on communities, landowners, and wildlife.
The comments follow a proposal by the Lynx UK Trust to bring the animals back to Kielder Forest in Northumberland, using individuals rescued from culls in Sweden.
Lynx, which have been extinct in Britain for over 1,000 years, are elusive forest-dwellers that prey on deer and rabbits.
Conservationists argue they could play a vital role in controlling deer populations, helping restore damaged woodlands and boosting biodiversity.
But opposition remains strong in some quarters, particularly among farming groups, with concerns over livestock safety, legal barriers, and public accountability.
Readers are already divided on the issue. Templer commented: 'I would imagine sheep farmers in the area are thrilled at the prospect. I also wonder why lynx were hunted to extinction. Maybe there was a reason for that!'
Uriba, however, countered: 'In areas where lynx have been reintroduced, like parts of Switzerland, Germany, and Slovenia, predation on livestock is extremely rare. In fact, lynx are more useful than harmful to farmers, as they help control deer populations that damage crops and young trees.'
As debate grows over whether Britain should welcome back once-extinct species – and who should decide – we want to know what you think.
Should the UK reintroduce animals like the lynx as part of a wider nature recovery strategy? Or are the risks and uncertainties still too great?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Secret code on fruit & veg will tell you how fresh they are – as ‘best before' dates stripped from 1,000s of products
Every year, Brits throw away 10.7million tonnes of food CRACK THE CODE Secret code on fruit & veg will tell you how fresh they are – as 'best before' dates stripped from 1,000s of products SUPERMARKETS have begun to strip 'best before' dates from many pre-packaged greens to help fight food waste. In the UK, the average household throws out nine pieces of fruit every week, which adds up to £468 in the bin every year. 3 Supermarkets have started to ditch best before dates on their fruits and veggies Credit: Alamy The best way to tell if your fruits and veggies are off is to go by what they look like, taste like, or smell like. But, if you've been left a little flustered by the change to packaging, experts have revealed a secret code to help you decipher how fresh your groceries are. It also means you can buy food with the longest life to make sure it makes it to your plate, rather than a bin. According to consumer site Which?, different supermarkets use their own secret codes to show when your food is still at its best – but you need to know what to look for. At Asda and Tesco, the key is a letter followed by a number. Each letter stands for a month – A for January, B for February, all the way to L for December. The number is the day of the month. So H22? That's August 22. Sainsbury's shoppers face a different puzzle. Their code starts with J, ends with S – a nod to founder John Sainsbury – with the date tucked in between. So J0904S means your item is good until April 9. Morrisons keeps things simple. Just the first letter of the month and the date – like O12 for 12 October. But watch out – June and July both start with 'J', which could cause a bit of a brain-fade in the fridge aisle. Which? warns: 'Food is usually perfectly edible after its best-before or sell-by date – it should be fine to eat if it looks and smells OK.' But with use-by dates, like on pre-cut fruit, it's a strict deadline: eat it by midnight, or risk getting ill. The scale of food waste in the UK A survey by Aldi of 2,000 Brits revealed the shocking truth: although a third of us want to eat more fruit and veg, over half admit they chuck too much of it away. The worst fruit offender? Bananas – with the average home tossing 115 a year. Tomatoes, mushrooms and even easy peelers aren't far behind. Nearly a quarter of people admit they never finish a bag of salad before binning it, while 57 percent don't actually know how to store fresh food properly. So next time you're in the fruit and veg aisle wondering whether those mushrooms are still good – check the code, not the label. As well as saving yourself some cash, you'll be doing good for the planet too. Every year, the UK throws away an eyewatering 10.7million tonnes of food - that's around 25 percent of all the food we buy. Whilst businesses aren't saints by any means, households alone contribute to over half of the food wastage in our country. It was revealed that 6.4million tonnes of food were thrown into kitchen bins in 2021 - and roughly 70 percent of that was perfectly edible. 3 Remember to check the codes on your veggie packaging Credit: Which?
The Sun
6 hours ago
- The Sun
Full list of DWP benefit errors that can lead to refunds worth £1,000s – including PIP and state pension
HOUSEHOLDS should be aware of these benefit errors that can lead to refunds worth £1,000's. If the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) underpays you on a benefit you could be entitled to the money you are owed back. 1 Vice versa, if you are over paid on a benefit you will need to give the money back or it could result in legal action. This is the case even if you didn't notice and have spent it already. Currently, claimants could be entitled to back payments on a number of benefits including the State Pension and Personal Independence Payments (PIP). We explain who have been impacted below. State Pension error If you took time away from paid work to look after a child or someone with an illness, you could be owed money back. The issue mainly impacts those carrying out caring duties between 1978 and 2010. During this time, the government had a system in place to ensure people would still be paid the state pension if they took time out for these reasons. This system was called Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) and it should have been automatically awarded to those claiming Child Benefit. But an error in the system found that hundreds of thousands of people were left with gaps in their National Insurance records that should not be there. Disability benefit explained - what you can claim Those impacted have been underpaid on their state pension or could be in the future. But the government has said that all issues related to the error should be resolved by March 2027. How to claim You might have received a letter if you are thought to be affected. People can check their eligibility for backdated HRP and make a claim via HMRC said the process takes around 15 minutes. According to MoneySavingExpert, the average amount being paid out is more than £7,000. PIP Benefit claimants could be owed cash from the government after a PIP payment error. What are state pension errors? STEVE Webb, partner at LCP and former Pensions Minister, explains what state pension errors are and how they can occur: The way state pensions are worked out is so complicated that many thousands of people have been paid the wrong amount for years without even realising it. The amount of retirement pension you get usually depends on your National Insurance (NI) record. One big source of errors has been cases where NI records have been incorrect, particularly for years spent at home with children. This is a system known as 'Home Responsibilities Protection'. Alternatively, particularly for older pensioners, the amount you get can depend on the NI contributions made by your spouse. Errors have arisen where the Government has failed to adjust the pensions of married women when their husbands retired or failed to increase pensions when someone was bereaved and lost a husband or wife. Although the Government has spent years trying to fix these problems, there are still many thousands of people – many of them older women – on the wrong pension. If you have always thought that your pension seems low, then it is worth contacting the Pensions Service to ask them to check, especially if you spent time at home raising children or if you were widowed and your pension didn't change when your spouse died A review was launched following a Supreme Court judgment in July 2019 that changed the way the DWP defines 'social support' in one of the assessed PIP categories. Dubbed the "MM judgement", the DWP realised that hundreds of thousands could now be due additional support. It means that people may not have been given one of the two elements of PIP when they were actually entitled to it. Others may have been awarded the standard rate but should have received the enhanced rate, which is a higher amount. It occurred after some people were given one of the two elements of PIP when they were actually entitled to it. The DWP launched a review in 2021, looking at cases since 2016. How to claim An estimated 633,338 households are thought to be have been affected by the error. The average payout works out at around £5,285 per claim, but you could get more or less. One couple told The Sun they were left shell-shocked" after learning that they were due £12,000 in back payments. The DWP tends to get in contact directly with claimants thought to be impacted. New PIP error The DWP has flagged two more errors relating to the benefits claim. That includes PIP claimants without a National Insurance number not having their claims processed correctly, even though it is not needed to make a claim. Up to £500,000 has been paid out to those impacted. Elsewhere, The DWP has also paid out £13million to Scottish PIP claimants who mistakenly saw a "loss of entitlement" when they tried moving over to the Adult Disability Payment (ADP). How do I appeal a PIP decision? If you've been contacted by the DWP or think you are affected by the MM judgement, you'll need to appeal your PIP decision. If you think a PIP decision was wrong, you can challenge it. If you've been contacted by the DWP or think your PIP payments may be affected by the MM judgment, you should ask for a "mandatory reconsideration notice". This is where the DWP looks at your claim decision again. If you are still unhappy with this outcome, you can then appeal to an independent tribunal. You must send your appeal form within one month of the date shown on the mandatory reconsideration notice. Be aware that it usually takes up to six months for an appeal to be heard by the tribunal. Before it gets to the tribunal, the DWP can make a revision to the original claim. If you're unhappy with the decision you get from the tribunal, you may also be able to get the decision cancelled - known as "set aside". You'll be told how to do this at the time. Another option is to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) if you think the tribunal wasn't able to give you proper reasons for its decision, or back up the decision with facts, or if it failed to apply the law properly. Full details about challenging your PIP decisions can be found on
BBC News
7 hours ago
- BBC News
Cumbria river project is Thiess International awards finalist
A river restoration project has been named as a finalist for a prestigious international Cumbrian River Restoration Partnership Programme has been shortlisted for the Thiess International River Prize Awards for its work on almost 100km (62 miles) of rivers and 150 hectares (370 acres) of floodplain in the by the Environment Agency (EA), it has undertaken more than 100 separate projects including reintroducing meanders, removing weirs and planting trees across the catchments of the Rivers Eden, Derwent and goes up against projects on the Chicago and Klamath rivers in the United States, and the Vjosa River in Albania, with the winner announced in September. Over centuries, the rivers of the Lake District have been modified or altered to create space for upland farming and intensive dairy a result, the area had seen flooding and a decline in biodiversity, which the programme has worked to reverse. How restoring rivers' natural curves can prevent flooding The Thiess International River Prize, awarded by the International River Foundation since 1999, was the world's most esteemed prize for river restoration, the EA winners include the James River Association in the US, which won in 2019 for its work to restore Virginia's largest year's winner will be announced at a ceremony in Brisbane, River Restoration Programme manager Olly Southgate said the nomination was a "huge honour". Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
