Latest news with #EnglishPastoral
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Labour's war on sheep needs to end
Does Angela Rayner have a beef about lamb? The Deputy Prime Minister has joined the Labour Government's mission to make farmers graze fewer sheep. Having taken over responsibility for wildfires, she has joined Defra in its obsession with reducing livestock emissions to meet Ed Miliband's net zero targets. Sheep numbers have been artificially reduced, causing dry vegetation to accumulate and turning vast tracts of countryside into a tinderbox. Ms Rayner should listen to those who really understand our rural ecology: hill farmers (such as James Rebanks, author of English Pastoral) and the Moorland Association. The latter has appealed to her to halt the campaign against sheep, which is destroying ancient farming practices and making wildfires on the scale of Los Angeles more likely. Seven years ago, wildfires in the Manchester region caused pollution that afflicted millions. Now fire chiefs have warned that conflagrations due to lack of grazing and land management are increasing. This is an environmental and human disaster waiting to happen. The official prejudice against sheep is unwarranted. It seems to be inspired by zealots like George Monbiot, who claim that overgrazing by 'the white plague' has ruined our uplands – ignoring the evidence that sheep-farming has been an integral part of English agriculture for centuries. No less arbitrary is the talk of carbon emissions. Why single out sheep, merely because they are visible, rather than animals kept out of sight on intensive megafarms? On these islands we are particularly good at rearing sheep. Last year, the Welsh flock stood at 8.4 million, or a little over 2.6 sheep per person. Even these prodigious numbers are down from their peak – there were more than 12 million in the 1990s. There remain around 70 per cent more sheep in Wales than the entire United States, a country over 470 times larger. Ovines do very little harm and a great deal of good. Elsewhere, sheep grazing is not seen as a cause of climate change, but a prophylactic against its effects. Ms Rayner should take wildfires seriously, rein in Defra and get behind this British success story. How about lamb for lunch, Deputy Prime Minister? Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Labour's war on sheep needs to end
Does Angela Rayner have a beef about lamb? The Deputy Prime Minister has joined the Labour Government's mission to make farmers graze fewer sheep. Having taken over responsibility for wildfires, she has joined Defra in its obsession with reducing livestock emissions to meet Ed Miliband's net zero targets. Sheep numbers have been artificially reduced, causing dry vegetation to accumulate and turning vast tracts of countryside into a tinderbox. Ms Rayner should listen to those who really understand our rural ecology: hill farmers (such as James Rebanks, author of English Pastoral) and the Moorland Association. The latter has appealed to her to halt the campaign against sheep, which is destroying ancient farming practices and making wildfires on the scale of Los Angeles more likely. Seven years ago, wildfires in the Manchester region caused pollution that afflicted millions. Now fire chiefs have warned that conflagrations due to lack of grazing and land management are increasing. This is an environmental and human disaster waiting to happen. The official prejudice against sheep is unwarranted. It seems to be inspired by zealots like George Monbiot, who claim that overgrazing by 'the white plague' has ruined our uplands – ignoring the evidence that sheep-farming has been an integral part of English agriculture for centuries. No less arbitrary is the talk of carbon emissions. Why single out sheep, merely because they are visible, rather than animals kept out of sight on intensive megafarms? On these islands we are particularly good at rearing sheep. Last year, the Welsh flock stood at 8.4 million, or a little over 2.6 sheep per person. Even these prodigious numbers are down from their peak – there were more than 12 million in the 1990s. There remain around 70 per cent more sheep in Wales than the entire United States, a country over 470 times larger. Ovines do very little harm and a great deal of good. Elsewhere, sheep grazing is not seen as a cause of climate change, but a prophylactic against its effects. Ms Rayner should take wildfires seriously, rein in Defra and get behind this British success story. How about lamb for lunch, Deputy Prime Minister?
BBC News
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Ashington art competition attracts record number of submissions
An art exhibition showcasing works produced by artists from across the north-east of England has attracted its largest ever number of Northumberland Open Exhibition at the Woodhorn Museum, in Ashington, received 458 submissions from 197 amateur and professional Newton, from Rowlands Gill in Gateshead, was selected as this year's overall winner for his landscape painting English Newton said he "almost fell off his seat" when he found out he had won. "To be honest, I got on with other things, new work and what have you," he said."And then the email popped up."Mr Newton said he tried to pay homage to the masters of the past, such as 17th Century Dutch painters and Claude Lorrain. English Pastoral was inspired by a former open-cast mining museum's selection panel picked the painting as the overall winner from the 379 pieces on to the gallery can also have their say on their favourite piece of art."In addition to awards that are awarded by the selection panel we have the People's Choice Award," said the museum's director of programmes and engagement, Liz Ritson."Every visitor to the exhibition has the opportunity to vote for their favourite artwork and that will be counted and announced at the end of the exhibition in June." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
