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If you like bees, then keep an eye out this summer for a dangerous invader from the Continent – the Asian hornet. A single Asian hornet can consume 50 honeybees in one day. In recent years the Asian hornet has spread across Europe, devouring honeybees by the tens of thousands. They are most likely to...

During lockdown this Spring, the NSPCC was receiving a call every hour about children who were at risk from domestic violence. Reports to its helplines about children caught up in abuse had risen by 32 per cent, from 140 a week before the pandemic to 185 a week during lockdown. Child abuse concerns have been...

So says the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The large-scale removal of peat from bog “is destroying one of our most precious wildlife habitats. It takes centuries for a peat bog to form with its special wildlife – modern machinery destroys it in days.”

All in the month of July The NHS – bearing one another’s burdens The crash that killed off Concorde The man who created Sherlock Holmes When the Pope was declared to be infallible Remembering the man who founded Barnardo’s Buttercups – treasure in our countryside Does the fruit you buy look a bit wonky? ‘Safe...

It was: 175 years ago, on 4th July 1845 that Thomas Barnardo, Irish humanitarian and philanthropist was born. He founded Barnardo’s, a charity which cares for vulnerable children and young people. Also 175 years ago, on 17th July 1845 that Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister (1830-34) died. Earl Grey tea was named...

“Save the NHS” was the slogan chosen by the British government when the coronavirus began to spread.  Meant to evoke public compassion, and compliance with emergency regulations, it sounded as though the NHS was an endangered species.  In fact it was the public themselves whose lives were in jeopardy; the National Health Service existed solely...

It was 20 years ago, on 25th July 2000, that an Air France Concorde crashed outside Paris after taking off for New York. All 109 people on board were killed, as well as four people on the ground. The plane was a charter flight from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris to New York, and...

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the multi-talented writer who created Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most famous detective, died 90 years ago, on 7th July 1930 at his home in Sussex, probably of a heart attack. He was 71. He had been born in Edinburgh to a prosperous Irish-Catholic family with a dysfunctional father and a loving mother...

It was 150 years ago, on 18th July 1870, that the Vatican issued the declaration of Papal Infallibility. It preserved the Pope from the possibility of error when he defined a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole Roman Catholic Church. The dogma of papal infallibility is one that has, not...

It was 175 years ago, on 4th July 1845, that Thomas Barnardo, the humanitarian and philanthropist, was born in Dublin. He founded Barnardo’s, a charity which continues to care for vulnerable children and young people. The son of a furrier, he worked as a clerk until converted to evangelical Christianity in 1862. He moved to...

Buttercup! What a delicious name! Rumour has it that, as they were frequently to be found in meadows where cows grazed, they were responsible for butter’s yellow colouring.  So the name was an obvious choice. However, since buttercups are poisonous and therefore are avoided as far as possible by our four-footed friends, this is somewhat...

That’s because growers have faced a labour shortfall, when many seasonal workers from eastern Europe were unable to reach the UK due to the pandemic. So instead, there has been a British recruitment drive, targeting inexperienced furloughed workers. As Martin Lines, of the Nature Friendly Farming Network says: “Fresh produce may not be as evenly...