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Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Uncommon Ground by Patrick Galbraith: Everything wrong with Right to Roam
Uncommon Ground by Patrick Galbraith (William Collins £22, 368pp) Right to Roam is a vociferous pressure group that demands far greater access to the countryside for 'the ordinary people of Britain'. This demand depends upon a very particular narrative: at some point in the past, rich aristocrats stole the land from the people and shut us out. We must take it back. It's a matter of social justice. Does any of this make sense, asks Patrick Galbraith? What effect would it have on our precious, beleaguered countryside if Right to Roam triumphed? After all, one of their leading lights recently tweeted a demand for 'the People' to be allowed to wander freely anywhere along field margins. It caused uproar. Field margins are some of the most precious wildlife habitats of all, where our rarest birds nest. Yet what makes Uncommon Ground such a superb read is Galbraith's generous even-handedness, his endless curiosity and his energetic research among all sorts of people, including the Right to Roamers themselves. They like to dress as Morris dancers or woodland sprites, wear face paint, play ukuleles and sing folk songs. He likes their eccentricity but despairs of their ignorance. It isn't true we are excluded anyway. We enjoy an amazing 140,000 miles of rights of way across England and Wales. Some open-access campaigners, meanwhile, are bluntly destructive. They destroy crow traps, even though control of corvid numbers is crucial to bird conservation. An old Devon gamekeeper tells Galbraith about one activist who tore down a lot of fencing as a protest. Yet it wasn't put up by some greedy landowner but Natural England. 'It was to stop the sheep getting in the ancient woodland.' Other problems created by careless or selfish 'human access' include Scottish mountain bikers disrupting capercaillie breeding grounds and jet skiers terrorising wintering birds on the coast. Still, he enjoys his wild swim with a mass trespass group in a reservoir owned by United Utilities. Galbraith never argues puritanically, like some militant eco-warriors, that his fellow humans should be excluded from swathes of the countryside to protect wildlife. In fact he wants far more engagement between people and nature. In his ceaseless quest for a truly 3D, multi-faceted portrait of our country, he goes walking with the British Naturist Ramblers in a bluebell wood, appropriately attired (ie boots and socks, no more.) They're an amiable bunch, harmless and nature-loving, but rather lacking in female members, he notes. He meets the Earl of Leicester, proud proprietor of Holkham Hall in Norfolk, just the sort of toff that the Roamers despise. Yet fully one fifth of his 25,000 acres is superbly managed nature reserve. Public footpaths thread across the other 20,000, and Holkham also hosts a regular 5k Parkrun, which the earl joins in with! This is the kind of aristo we can warm to. Especially when he tells Galbraith, while rolling a cigarette, that it gives him 'great pleasure to beat farmers on the estate who are half his age'. The idea that 'they' are to blame – that is, rich landowners and aristos – is a hopeless oversimplification. 'Landowners and farmers aren't the cause, but they could be part of the solution.' In the end, lack of access isn't the problem, it's lack of understanding. Millions go to the seaside every year, he points out, yet how many know there are two different species of seal in the UK? If only more people did country things in the country. Our countryside is changing fast. Could the solution be a win-win for all concerned? With commitment and imagination, yes, says Galbraith.
The Sun
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
‘Woke' toy firm removing St George's flag from kid's jigsaw puzzle is nonsense – why is our national flag so offensive?
MIKE JUPP'S jigsaw I Love Spring was Gibsons Games' 'most profitable' puzzle. Suggesting, you might think, that those buying it in their droves rather liked it and, accordingly, it should be considered an unmitigated success and left alone. 8 8 8 But no. It seems 'the team' at Gibsons Games decided that, 'acting in line with our values' (sigh) it needed to be changed so it was 'no longer offensive'. At this point, your mind is perhaps boggling at what might be considered offensive about a cartoon image depicting the bucolic scene of a rural English village enjoying a fete and parade? Well, for starters, there's apparently 'no need for the St George's flag on the top of the church' even though, according to Mike, the scene is set 'on or around' April 23 — aka St George's Day. Is Emily Thornberry now in the top job at Gibsons Games? Or does this fourth-generation family firm based in Sutton, England, genuinely feel there's something offensive about the English national flag? Would they remove the Saltire from a scene depicting the Scottish Highland Games, or the Red Dragon from a St David's Day parade? Doubt it. Next they came for the Morris dancers who, despite having tell-tale bells on their legs, were mistaken by 'the team' at Gibsons for members of Ireland's Orange order. 'Although many Orange marches are without incident, marches through mainly Catholic and Irish nationalist neighbourhoods are controversial and have often led to violence', they opined in an email to Mike who is based in Bognor Regis, West Sussex. It would be laughable if it wasn't so dumb. Once Mike had pointed out that they were actually Morris dancers, they were allowed to stay, but other saucy postcard-esque images didn't fare so well. A bride was showing too much cleavage and needed 'smaller breasts', a bull drooling over a cow in stockings had to be replaced by cute rabbits, and a cartoon baby left on top of a bin bag was substituted with a fox because 'the team' were 'struggling even to see why it's funny'. As Mike himself points out: 'Telling a cartoonist how to depict humour is as disrespectful as it is infuriating.' Quite. Nonetheless, given the implied threat that the puzzle would be withdrawn from sale if the changes weren't made, he spent three months altering it as asked. But then they wanted 'loads of changes' to his back catalogue, which includes I Love Gardening, I Love Winter etc, and he decided 'enough was enough'. 'I told them to shove it and withdrew my licences. They then sold off my remaining stock for next to nothing,' adds Mike, who says that taking this stand means his income has reduced by 90 per cent. He's now selling through AJP, a Devon- based company 'who appreciate that the public like and buy my nonsense' but it's small beer compared to Gibsons. So here's a suggestion. If you're thinking of buying a jigsaw, why not support Mike's stand against this seeking-offence nonsense by buying one of his puzzles direct from him? I have just completed his new creation I Love Healthcare and would thoroughly recommend it. He has also produced a poignant 'Remember' puzzle to commemorate the fallen. And if you see the original Gibsons version of I Love Spring in a charity shop, make sure you snap it up. It's now a collector's item. You can take a look at Mike's work, and buy it, at IT'S A JOB TO FATHOM 8 SARAH FOSMO used to work for Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates and has experience of 'managing complex, high-stakes operations for ultra-high-net-worth individuals'. So why, pray tell, has she just taken a job as 'chief of staff' to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex? Will she be helping Meghan decant pre-bought pretzels into paper bags for house guests? Or perhaps helping Harry to remember where his old friends live? Time will tell. If, of course, she sticks around long. HUMAN IDIOCY A LION has mauled its 'owner' to death and then eaten him. What a shock, said no one. For reasons best known to himself, Aqil Fakhr al-Din was keeping the animal in his garden in Iraq and planned to 'tame' it. Yeah, right. Why do people lose all common sense around dangerous animals? Like the woman from West Lothian who saw a bear outside the car window while on holiday in Romania last year. She wound down the window to take a photo and, surprise, it reared up and mauled her arm. But thankfully, her thick M&S 'this is not just a jacket' saved her from losing the limb. In 2016, a woman got out of her car on a safari in Beijing and was dragged off by a tiger. She survived but her poor mother was killed as she understandably tried to save her daughter. Koalas are supposed to be the dumbest animals. But in some cases, it might just be humans. BLUNT TV SO SHARP 8 ITV 's The Assembly is wonderful television. The premise is simple: A group of neurodiverse young adults take it in turns to put questions to whichever celebrity has agreed to be in the hot seat. So far, we've seen Danny Dyer, David Tennant, Gary Lineker and Jade Thirlwall from Little Mix. 'Did you get sacked from the BBC?' Lineker was asked. Answer, no. He was also asked how much he's paid and whether he'd be going to the World Cup in Saudi Arabia, where the LGBT community can face the death penalty. I'll leave you to watch the show to find out his answers, and the David Tennant episode is surprisingly moving. It's a clever vehicle because, were these celebrities asked such blunt questions by journalists, they'd have a fit of the vapours and some helicoptering PR would step in to say, 'We're not talking about that.' But as the inquisitors are neurodiverse, there's no hiding place. Delicious. CARE COSTS CRISIS MY mother, who has dementia and requires 24/7 care, is in a nursing home near me in South London. Following a small price rise last year (to give the lovely staff a pay rise – no problem) the bosses have just imposed a hefty 9.6 per cent rise. Which means that staying in a nice but not particularly fancy care home is now costing £1,900 a week. Yes, you read that right. And that's still pretty reasonable for London. So my mother's hard-earned savings from her job as a teacher are dwindling fast. When I queried the eye-watering price hike, they replied that 'several significant external factors' had forced it. Namely that water rates have increased by as much as 50 per cent in some regions, waste collection charges are expected to rise by eight per cent, and the Government's recent National Insurance hike means they anticipate their organisation-wide expenses to rise by more than £2million. That cost is immediately passed on to the elderly savers of the world and, of course, now Labour plans to make it harder for care homes to employ foreign workers (a significant chunk of their workforce), the situation will only get worse. FROM KISS CHASE TO OLD HAT 8 8 8 OLIVIA HAWKINS and Louis Russell (nope, me neither) have been spotted kissing. Apparently, she was once a contestant on Love Island, and he was on a similar dating show called Too Hot to Handle. And their appearances on these two shows seemingly means they can now be regarded as 'famous' – hence their appearance on Celebs Go Dating, where the smooch took place. They join the merry carousel of former muggles who now earn a living from 'influencing' (being paid to flog brands to their online followers) via their newly acquired stardom. And when they're deemed too old for all this bikini-clad malarkey, there's always Celebrity Antiques Road Trip.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Huge crowds turn out for Beltane celebrations in Glastonbury
HUNDREDS of people took to the streets of Glastonbury to celebrate Beltane, or May Day, in a colourful procession and a series of live performances. In Glastonbury, May Day celebrations, also known as Beltane, is a Pagan celebration of the start of the summer and the halfway point between the spring equinox and summer solstice. The festivities prominently feature a procession of giant red and white dragon figures, a May Pole, musicians, drummers, Morris Dancers, fire-keepers and ribbon bearers. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement The dragons are said to symbolize the transition from winter to summer and are a central part of a neopagan celebration in Glastonbury that includes other traditional elements such as naming the May King and Queen. READ MORE: Large quantity of drugs seized, two people caught in possession, police say Mike Jeffries said: 'The red dragon represents summer, while the white dragon represents winter, and a battle between them is sometimes staged before the main procession.' The 2025 May Queen and May King are Thomas Irvine and Eva Margarethe. They said: 'Beltane is about fertility in every sense. A new growth, new energy, new connection, and we all saw it in motion yesterday. 'We feel so blessed to hold the roles of May Queen and May King this year. This isn't just a title to us, but a responsibility, a gift and an honour to receive this blessing from the community.'
ITV News
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- ITV News
More than a thousand Morris Dancers take over the streets of Stockport for a Day of Dance
More than a thousand Morris Dancers have descended on Stockport for a Day of Dance. The celebration is thought to be the largest gathering of Morris Dancers the UK has everseen. The event featured a spectacular parade, hourly performances and a show-stopping Grand Dance finale. More than 60 Morris Dance teams set off from Viaduct Park at 10.30am on a parade which weaved its way through the town centre before reaching Market Place. Throughout the day, there were traditional Morris jigs, high-energy folk jam sessions and impromptu dance-offs at dedicated performance zones located at the Underbanks, Merseyway, Viaduct Park, Prince's Street, Suffragette Square and Market Place. The annual event was hosted by Adlington Morris Men on behalf of the Morris Ring and supported by Stockport Council, Totally Stockport BID and Merseyway. One of the organisers, Rob Tidy from the Adlington Morris Men, said it was a real national celebration with dancers coming from all over the country to take part. "We've got sides coming in from Yorkshire, from Wales, as far away as Somerset, lots of different types of morris dancing representing the diversity of English folk traditions and dance from across the country." Cllr Helen Foster Grime, Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture and Sport at Stockport Council, said: 'It's a real honour for Stockport to host this national celebration of Morris dancing, welcoming groups from all over the country to our town. It's events like this that bring our communities together, fill our streets with joy, and make Stockport such a fantastic place."
