Tag: environment

Pitiful Anderson and Priti Awful Patel

Nikolay Kalinin slams Home Secretary Priti Patel and fellow Tory twerp Lee Anderson MP over their off-pitch antics over tonight’s football final

It seems that certain Conservative MPs have decided to abandon all sense of reason and intelligence given their recent comments about the England team and UEFA 2020.

A few weeks ago, Home Secretary, “snitch” and “neighbour from hell” Priti Patel spoke out against England players taking the knee at matches as “gesture politics” and stated that fans had the right to boo the players for their actions. Now, however, “hypocrite” Patel done an about turn and begun posting tweets congratulating England’s recent wins. In other words, she began participating gesture politics; not surprising behaviour for such a dogmatic deviant.

Meanwhile, fellow Tory MP Lee Anderson has gone even further, announcing that he will be boycotting the England team by not watching any of the matches because of the gesture. He stated: “For the first time in my life I will not be watching my beloved England team whilst they are supporting a political movement whose core principles aim to undermine our very way of life.”

I am not certain if Anderson knows this, but the values of BLM – which popularised the ‘taking-the-knee’ gestures – are among others: empathy, diversity, globalism and generally creating a better environment for black people. In other words, Anderson stands against the values many people within the government – including the Prime Minister – claim to be promoting.

In both cases, the Internet reacted about as calmly as you can expect, with LBC host James O’Brien telling Priti to “pick a side”, while Labour even launched a petition asking Anderson to not watch the finale on Sunday. They urged him to keep up his “pathetic one-man boycott for one more game” and “stay away, do the housework, watch Midsomer Murders, anything.”

As you might expect, our Prime Minister has also decided to adopt Patel’s strategy of being all patriotic and supportive of England’s team – which he made obvious by hanging England flags all over 10 Downing Street – while also stating in an interview on LBC that he “doesn’t believe in gestures.” Should we also talk about that one time he stood in front of a red bus with a logo promoting £350 million for the NHS, which Patel also did?

I can understand why many people are upset over the England team taking the knee and seeing it as “gesture politics.” However, if you are a politician stating that you don’t like gesture politics while doing that same thing, that shows that you don’t care about honesty and instead trying to capitalise on a trend simply for your own gain. In turn, perhaps the idea that you should not be involved in politics should enter the heads of these hairbrained twerps surely.

Pictured top: Priti Patel tweeted an image of herself cheering on the English team after having previously had a pop at the players over their “taking the knee.”

Priti Patel tweeted an image of herself cheering on the English team after having previously had a pop at the players over their “taking the knee.”

Naturally, the Home Secretary decided to talk to right wing rant show ‘GB News’ about her views on footballers “taking the knee.” When asked if England fans had a right to boo she responded saying “that’s a choice for them, quite frankly.”

July 11, 2021
Cornish Chaos G7

Nikolay Kalinin slams the disregard of the British government for the poor people of Cornwall as the G7 approaches

As the G7 summit approaches, hotels in Cornwall are cruelly evicting vulnerable homeless people in order to make room for members of the police and government officials attending the summit.

According to a report by the Cornwall council, around 130 homeless people were forced to leave hotels in order to make room for 5,000 policemen in recent days. Some of them were moved to other temporary accommodation, only to be evicted once again.

One of the people evicted, who has schizophrenia, was forced to stay at a surf hostel. Her mother, Claire, who did not want her full name used, described the horrific conditions there: “The hostel is full of drunk surf dudes and holidaymakers. She is terrified – she thinks people are coming to get her. They have not even put in her a safe place. She has been treated abysmally.”

Going further, the distraught mother quite justifiably added: “What gives them the right to force vulnerable adults out of their accommodation?”

Local charity DISC Newquay has also reported that homeless people have been evicted from the luxury Carbis Bay Hotel, which sparked fury back in March for pulling down ancient woodland in order to make wave for redevelopment, despite being supposedly “eco-friendly” accommodation.

What these incidents show is a complete disregard for human wellbeing; what was the reasoning behind throwing homeless people out of hotels where it is safer for them to stay? There are around 1,343 hotels in Cornwall, meaning that there HAS to be enough room for members of police and government.

This is not the only problem currently plaguing the summit, as over the last couple of days, environmental activists have organised a series of protests in Cornwall, with one featuring protesters in Boris Johnson masks pushing a burning boat into the water with “YOUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE” written on it in order to convince the delegates to tackle ocean pollution.

In addition, 80 activists have set off on a 6-day walk from Plymouth Hoe to Carbis Bay in an attempt to convince the delegates to prioritise climate change agenda during the summit, with some of them from the Extinction Rebellion.

I also see very little point in the existence of the Group of Seven, because they seem to meet every year or so and yet achieve very little in terms of global policy. It’s been eons since they pledged to tackle climate change, and yet corporations are still pumping oil and contributing the global warming. The EU has done more to tackle climate change, and its existence in my opinion is more beneficial than the existence of the sockless G7.

Pictured above: The Carbis Bay Hotel – a supposedly ‘eco-friendly’ venue that will host the Group of Seven meeting that has also taken to disgracefully chopping down trees to make way for a parade of pointless politicians.

The Carbis Bay Hotel has quite rightly been targeted by protestors determined to show it as anything but ‘eco friendly’ and anything but supportive of its very own locals. That this business, to suit the short-term visit of a bunch of egomaniac politicians, has shut out locals and destroyed trees for a set of rooms that haven’t even got proper planning permission is utterly disgraceful. The Carbis Bay Hotel deserves nothing but the grief that it is quite deservedly getting.

‘The Convenient Catholic Couple’ Mr and Mrs Boris Johnson will use the G7 summit as the first opportunity of their union to laud it over the world. This shameless puppet mistress and her sidekick will most likely find a way to embarrass Britain only further.

June 8, 2021
Word of the Week 2021 – ‘Meghan Markled’

The tedious twerp formerly known as Meghan Markle has had her maiden name turned into both a verb and a noun – go get ‘Meghan Markled’

Last week, both the Guardian and The Sun revealed a note of amusement in the context of the otherwise tedious familial feud between the devious Duchess of Sussex and her fobbed-off father in sharing that the walk-away royal has had her maiden name turned into a verb.

Whilst The Sun predictably mocked this trivial story at a time of a lack of news other than coronavirus, the Guardian’s “social justice” focused columnist Poppy Noor unsurprisingly lauded “to Meghan Markle” – or as she somewhat soppily put it, “to get the hell out [when] love is not returned.”

Noor went further and, in a decidedly ‘woke’ fashion, added of the Duchess of Sussex’s decision to head off to the land of profit in LA: “You could understand why Meghan Markle, who opted out of royalty this month after a year of being hounded and vilified by a racist, rightwing press could be referred to in some circles as the patron saint of good mental health” and shared a definition

“Meghan Markle, a verb, past tense – Meghan Markled: to value yourself and your mental health enough to up and leave a room/ situation/ environment in which your authentic self is not welcomed or wanted.”

Elsewhere previously, in January 2018, the Urban Dictionary took another view on what being ‘Meghan Markle’ and being ‘Meghan Markled’ means. They suggested it to be a “noun for coming up nicely despite your family’s socio-economic status.”

Putting it in context, they gave an example:

“A: I wonder how Lisa is doing. I haven’t spoken to her since her family drama situation. Poor thing.”

“B: Girl, she’s engaged to a Russian billionaire now. She Meghan Markle’d her way to the top!”

We’ll leave it to you, good readers, to decide which you prefer, but one thing’s for sure the saga of the attention obsessed ‘Modern Day Mrs Simpson’ and her row with the media: It isn’t going to end any time soon.

Word of the Week 2021 – ‘Meghan Markled’ – The Duchess of Sussex has most definitely ‘Meghan Markled’ her way to the top and, along with her drip of a husband, is cashing in with huge payments from projects with Apple, Disney, Netflix and Spotify amongst other things.

January 25, 2021
Oysters Ahoy!

Native oysters bizarrely reappear in Belfast Lough after 100 years of absence without any human intervention

In March, as the world locked down due to coronavirus, one note of positivity came in the form of reports of Venetians reporting that their canals were clearer and cleaner.

Now, this morning, the Guardian, followed up with similarly good news from Northern Ireland in sharing that “native oysters have unexpectedly returned to the shores of Belfast Lough after more than 100 years” absent.

“Fished to oblivion” from the 1800s, a systematic survey in May and June found 41 live ostrea edulis European flats along the coast and of the news, Joanne Preston of the University of Portsmouth told the paper: “I think it’s really interesting. The take-home message is, if you create the environmental conditions… then the species will be able to establish again.”

Obviously a “boost to biodiversity in the lough, since [they] filter seawater and their shells provide a habitat for many other sea creatures including tiny worms, snails, algae and anemones,” David Smyth of Bangor University in Wales commented: “The big question is, how did they get there?”

Citing that “the lough could one day be home to a future oyster fishery right near Northern Ireland’s capital,” here indeed could be one light of hope for the fishing industry as we career into Brexit Britain 2021.

When Covid-19 restrictions allow, we urge readers to head to Britain’s oyster capital, Whitstable, and visit the restaurant we reviewed in March 2016, the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company (first established as a cooperative in 1793). Here, we suggest, you’ll find the finest seafood that will utterly delight you.

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Credited with reviving interest in oysters, the current owners of the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, the Green family, have very much led the transformation of Kent’s answer to Burnham Market in Norfolk or Salcombe in Devon into a fashionable destination for foodies and art lovers. Could the same eventually happen in Northern Ireland at Belfast Lough?

December 26, 2020
Socking Greta

Matthew Steeples suggests Greta Thunberg needs to be told to put a sock in it at a time when economy needs to be put ahead of climate

Climate change is indeed a problem but right now the impact of coronavirus on our economy is what we ought to be worrying about.

This morning, however, in a wishy-washy interview in the Guardian, the petulant poker face that is Greta Thunberg returned to plague with a “blast” against just about everyone and everything.

In the feature, the misguided moaning minnie whinged about how the world doesn’t treat “the climate crisis like a crisis” and stated there “was not a politician on the planet [she] would vote for.”

‘Grim Greta’ went further and declared: “We are in an emergency.” She added: “We have reached the end of the road.” Perhaps she could just lay down and fill in a pothole there. That’d be a hell of a lot more useful right now. Thanks, Greta.

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Greta Thunberg once claimed: “How dare you… I should be back at school.” The majority of the world seconds her sentiments and wishes her parents would just keep her under control.

November 9, 2020
Moron of the Moment – Benjamin Clark

Extinction Rebellion activist Benjamin Clark deserved more than a fine for painting the word “racist” on a statue of Churchill

In spite of being the son of a pastor, 18-year-old Extinction Rebellion activist all-round petulant prat Benjamin Clark is a youngster completely lacking in sense.

Plainly a wannabe Greta Thunberg, Clark took it upon himself to paint the word “racist” on the plinth of the Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square on 10^th September and in doing so disgracefully caused £1,642.03 worth of damage.

As he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Clark’s legal representative, Laura O’Brien, ridiculously tried to defend the teenager. She ludicrously and obviously incorrectly tried to argue that “he did not attend the scene with the intent to damage the statue.”

O’Brien continued: “This case is not about Winston Churchill and it is not about the motivation of using that word, it is about the damage that was caused. This is not a case about offending the history of this country… We are here to deal with a small amount of spray paint on a statue.”

Deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikarm, however quite rightly saw through this utter nonsense and sensibly remarked:

“You were part of an Extinction Rebellion protest, as a result of which you became in possession of some yellow chalk paint which you then sprayed on the base of the statue.”

“You’ve caused great offence it appears to a lot of people and I’m told it has provoked a very strong reaction.”

Benjamin Clark – who claims to have been subject to death threats since the incident – was deservedly given a £200 fine and ordered to pay £1,200 in compensation for his actions. He was also slapped with £85 in court costs and a £34 victim surcharge and now should jolly well grow up.

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October 10, 2020
E-Scooter-ing a Shameless Minister For Rent
As the government disgracefully announces they’ll be allowing rentable e-scooters on Britain’s roads, Matthew Steeples asks: “Who gave ‘a Robert Jenrick’?” to get this multi-million market going

‘Doing a Bernie’ became the stock description of a political bung of £1 million in the Blair years and now, in ‘Bosie The Clown’ Britain, it seems ‘a Robert Jenrick’ should be the description for a much cheaper option: A £12,000 donation that allegedly could have “handed Tory donor [Richard Desmond an] extra £106 million.”

Now, at a time when coronavirus deaths look set to once again spike with what is sadly going on in Leicester being our starter-for-ten, our government has decided to put lives at risk in another totally avoidable way. Last night, in announcing that the ban on rentable e-scooters will be lifted on Britain’s roads for 12 months, Tory transport minister Rachel Maclean did just such and now this moronic woman also leaves herself open to questions of sleaze as well.

Under Maclean’s new rules, set to come into play from Saturday, rental scooters will be allowed on roads, but not pavements. Privately owned e-scooters, for now, however, will continue to be illegal.

Opening up a line for substantial profits for those set to own and manage rental e-scooter operations, Maclean is endangering the public quite unnecessarily. Whilst she argues that her scheme will “ease the burden on the transport network… and allow for social distancing,” she neglects to mention that in July last year, YouTuber Emily Hartridge died after being struck by a lorry in Battersea whilst riding an e-scooter on the road. There have been many injuries as a result of accidents caused by these ridiculous contraptions in addition on both roads and pavements.

Last night, in response to the news, registered blind disability awareness campaigner Deborah Farley-Persaud told the BBC: “[E-scooters] are frightening because you can’t hear them and you can’t see them.” Mrs Farley-Pesaud was “injured last year following a collision with an e-scooter” in Old Street and now “does not feel safe to go out.” She added: “They clearly haven’t got any regard for the rules of the road,” whilst previously Colin Wingrove of the Metropolitan Police stated: “Electric scooters should not be on the pavement or the road.”

As was pointed out by Inc. in their winter 2018/2019 edition, one e-scooter rental operator in America, Bird, was alone valued at £1.6 billion. The numbers involved in this new market are potentially colossal and now, in the UK, the questions that need to be answered are:
- “What donations have those who’ll be operating e-scooter rental businesses in Britain given to the Conservative Party to date?”
- And: “Who’s been Robert Jenrick-ed?”
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Rachel Maclean took to Twitter on Tuesday to boast about having “accelerated [e-scooter] trials to provide a safe, fun and zero emission way to travel!” One is left asking: “What really motivated her actions?”

Many Twitter users reacted with fury at the decision. One suggested: “A&E is going to be rammed” whilst another argued the “trouble with e-scooters… is the people who ride them.” They added: “Unfortunately there will be deaths because they don’t stick to road rules.”

Another tweeted: “This coincides with half the population hitting the pubs with a thirst like a kangaroo’s jockstrap. Excellent.” Another quite rightly pointed out: “They are really dangerous for pedestrians.”

In July 2019, ‘The Steeple Times’ reported on a twerp named Ambar Zohra bashing into a pensioner on a scooter in Walton Street, Chelsea. At the time, this foul-mouthed horror was rightly asked by Jane Morris of Percy Bass: “Where do you think you are from? The five floors of whores?”

In August 2019, ‘The Steeple Times’ highlighted an example of a danger on the road on an e-scooter. Of this particular terror, a taxi driver rightly observed: “If I’d hit him, I’d have blood on my hands but he isn’t meant to be there. He is breaking the law purely by his presence. He should be prosecuted and that thing should be confiscated.”

Emily Hartridge tragically died after being hit by a lorry whilst on her e-scooter in Battersea in July 2019. After such an occurrence, you’d think the government would ban these dangerous contraptions; Conservative minister Rachel Maclean has shamefully gone and done to the contrary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilNc6WeqCHc
E-scooters are deservedly disliked contraptions. They are, after all, dangerous and generally operated by irresponsible idiots.

Vile porn star and alleged sex offender Ron Jeremy “nearly died” on an e-scooter in October 2017.
July 1, 2020
Kingly Kinlet
Grand Grade I listed Shropshire mansion Kinlet Hall for sale after coronavirus forced the closure of its wedding venue and summer school
- Striking Grade I listed Palladian mansion in Shropshire for sale.
- Kinlet Hall is priced at £3.5 million or just £104 per square foot.
- The house has until recently been a school and wedding venue, but this usage has been stopped because of the coronavirus lockdown.
- A cricket ground included with the property was lauded as one of “Britain’s most scenic” by ‘The Telegraph’ whilst HRH Princess Anne has competed in horse trials in the parkland.
Coinciding with the partial relaxation of the coronavirus lockdown, the ‘trophy country house’ market seems to be revving up with the commencement of marketing of several historically significant residences.

Now, following on from our feature on Saturday on the £10 million crumbling Jacobean gem Lilford Hall Estate in Northamptonshire, the same agents, Savills, have now introduced the sale of another treasure – the utterly stunning Palladian architectural treasure that is Kinlet Hall in Shropshire.

Significantly cheaper at £3.5 million or £104 per square foot and in far better condition than 33,406 square foot Lilford Hall, the 33,609 square foot Grade I listed Kinlet Hall comes with less land – 102 acres as opposed to 321 acres. It is further from London, which may limit its appeal to wealthy city sorts, but given it has been used as both a school and wedding venue until lockdown, it is in actual “working condition” as opposed to the perilously falling down state that Lilford is sadly currently in. That is, indeed, a major plus.

Featuring a seven-bayed central block of three storeys plus cellars, the hall is flanked by two two-storey wings. Presently configured to provide 5 reception rooms and 15 bedrooms, there are classrooms, gyms and flats also. Surprisingly, unlike with many residential to school conversions of mansions in the 1940s where ugly modern extensions were distastefully tacked on, damage to the integrity of the original structure has been minimal.

In addition, to a 5-bedroom detached house named ‘The Old House’ and a range of farm buildings within the grounds, there is a cricket pavilion and a cricket pitch. The Telegraph named its runner-up for “Britain’s most scenic cricket ground” in 2008 and interestingly amongst the many established plant and tree species in the grounds is a Wellingtonia that allegedly came as a seed in a matchbox from the Americas.

Of Kinlet Hall, Tony Morris-Eyton of Savills comments: “[This is] an exquisitely beautiful Palladian country house, formerly a prep school, awaiting its next chapter with enormous potential as either a private home or [for] other uses.”

The village of Kinlet is situated on the northern edge of the Wyre Forest about 18 miles from Telford and 23 miles from Birmingham.

Design Maestros – Villa Pisani, Montagnana (top left) by Andrea Palladio (lower centre) inspired both Francis Smith of Warwick (lower left) in his designs for Kinlet Hall and William Buckland (lower right) in his creation of the Hammond-Harwood House (top right).

The Names & Numbers – Kinlet Hall, Kinlet, Bewdley, Shropshire, DY12 3AY, United Kingdom

June 2020 – Put up for sale for £3.5 million ($4.4 million, €3.9 million or درهم16.3 million) through agents Savills. Orchard Lodge, a 4-bedroom cottage with an acre of paddock, is available by separate negotiation.

July 2017 – Moffats School closes for the final time citing financial pressures. Of the decision, school chairman Julian Engleheart told the Shropshire Star: “We have always been a small school by choice, maintaining the family ethos of our founders. However, the current financial climate is putting enormous pressure on small schools and we have decided that it would be unwise to commit to a new year this September. However, we will continue to run educational activities in our lovely house and grounds, which provide such a wonderful environment for learning.”

1946 – Moffats School (founded in 1934 by the children’s writer Natalie Engleheart in a Hertfordshire house called Moffats) is relocated to Kinlet Hall.

1939 – 1945 – The house was temporarily home to a school for the blind; the parkland became a camp for the US army as part of their preparations for the Normandy Landings.

1827 – Ballroom added to the designs of Sir Jeffrey Wyattville (1766 – 1840) trained architect Edward Haycock (1790 – 1870) for William Baldwyn Childe. He died three years before it was completed and “this is the only significant part of the house not dating from 1729.”

1727 – 1729 – Kinlet Hall is “built in a classic early Georgian style with the symmetry and grand elevations synonymous with [the English master-builder and architect] Francis Smith of Warwick (1672 – 1738)” for Tory politician William Lacon Childe (1700 – 1757) close to the site of an older Tudor manor house.

Other notable works by Smith and his family include Calke Abbey, Fawsley Hall, Kirtlington House, Ombersley Court and Stoneleigh Abbey. His design was said to be inspired by Andrea Palladio’s (1508 – 1580) Villa Pisani at Montagnana – which also reportedly was the influence for the ‘Anglo-Palladian’ Hammond-Harwood House by the English architect William Buckland (1734 – 1774) in Annapolois, Maryland, USA.

During construction, the old village was removed to “improve” the setting. Only the original church, St. John the Baptist, which contains monuments dating to the 1580s, was left as a “remnant.” It was restored subsequently in 1892.

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June 17, 2020
Hero of the Hour – Terry Waite

Former hostage Terry Waite wisely tells the nation to keep their dignity, structure their day, become creative and be grateful during the coronavirus lockdown

Speaking to Sarah-Jane Mee of Sky News on Tuesday from his home in Hartest, Suffolk, Terry Waite CBE provided insightful and wise tips to the nation about how to cope with the current coronavirus lockdown.

Waite, who spent 1,736 days or almost five years in captivity in Beirut from 1987 until 1991, told of how he is himself self-isolating and of how the current strange conditions have “levelled” us all. He urged people to be positive about the future and remarked:

“The way to do that, in part, is to try and live for the moment; try and live for now. Erm, try and make the moment as full as possible. Now, how do you do that in captivity where you’ve no books, you’ve no paper, you’ve nothing? Well, I had to do that by mentally adjusting to the situation. Saying there’s little or nothing I can do to change this, but I can hold on to the fact that I have life now, not tomorrow, I have it now. And I’m going to live it as fully as possible.”

Speaking of finding something useful to do, he continued:

“I began to write in my head, I began to use my mental capacity in a way that extends that. And that was a way of just surviving. And, as I say, there will be many people who are deeply afraid and worried at the moment; well, somehow, remember that this virus will be defeated, there will be a life after that and, you know, things do have a habit of turning out well if we want to work for them.”

“For the majority of us, it will be fine. But we just somehow have to develop that capacity within ourselves to take the situation at the moment as it is.”

“What I had to do, also, was to keep myself, keep myself, erm, alive in the following way. I mean, I’ll tell you a silly story, but it is perfectly true. In the first week of captivity, I had my own clothes. And at night, I managed to get my trousers off even though I was chained. And I put them under the mattress to press them. Now, that might sound really stupid, but it was something that I learned in the army during National Service.”

“In all these situations, keep your own dignity, keep yourself smart and the same applies today when those people are at home in lockdown. You know, don’t just get up and hang around all day in a dressing gown or pajamas. Take a pride in your appearance still, keep yourself smart. Retain your own dignity. That’s really pretty important.”

“The other thing to say is form a structure for the day. Now, I’m sitting here at home alone. I’ve been in lockdown for the last week, maybe longer, but I’m so fortunate. I mean, I’m surrounded by my books, I’m surrounded by papers, I’ve got access to the Internet, a whole range of things. I can use this time creatively, which I’m trying to do. I’m actually beginning to start writing a new book at the moment. We can use this time creatively… rather than emphasising the negative.”

Moving on, more generally, the humanitarian added:

“I remember a few years ago, a politician saying: ‘There’s no such thing as society.’ Well, I think that’s been proved to be absolutely wrong. I’m here in Suffolk in a small village and we are very, very fortunate because there is a good sense of community.”

Waite finally spoke of the positives he sees for the future. He concluded:

“On Saturday, I needed some shopping doing and on Sunday morning someone left a bag of shopping at my front door. I heard yesterday, that the local church, through a charity, has organised a system of distributing meals for those that need it. And in all sorts of ways, people are responding… The British people, the time like this, it often brings out the best in people. It brings out the worst in some people and we’ve had examples of that. But, overall, it brings out the best.”

“And what I hope will happen is that we’ll have a new sense of community and society when we’ve been through this and, in fact, even going much further than that perhaps we’ll have a new understanding that be in tune and in touch with our environment in a way that perhaps we haven’t been in the past.”

Terry Waite is entirely right: It’s time we were more grateful for what we actually have and it’s time we put to good use this lockdown. Let his words be a lesson to us all.

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This Twitter user nicely summed up Mr Waite’s advice.

March 31, 2020
A Victory for Babar

IFAW secure a ban on the sale of most items of ivory in the UK with the assistance of Michael Gove MP and ‘Fake or Fortune’s’ Philip Mould

Elephants love Wednesday, and so will you.

Elephants remember Wednesday as if it was only Tuesday.

Anthony T. Hincks, author.

Last week, the International Fund for Animal Welfare announced that the Ivory Bill had been approved in the House of Commons and will now go for Royal Assent.

Superb news for elephants in the regard that this will close most elements of the UK ivory market, The Steeple Times has long supported this cause. Prior to Theresa May’s pointless election in 2017, Matthew Steeples, editor-in-chief, wrote to Lady Borwick – then the MP for Kensington. This bizarre woman, who was also President of The British Antiques Dealers’ Association and spoke frequently in the House of Commons in support of the ivory trade, responded with the bizarre comment: “[Doesn’t everyone enjoy] tinkling the ivories – playing the piano?”

Of the news, David Cowdrey, UK head of policy and campaigns at IFAW told The Steeple Times:

“This amazing news means we can give the best present ever to elephants this year; namely that another ivory market is closing and increasing pressure for all countries to do the same and help make the killing of elephants for ivory a thing of the past.”

“The Bill’s passage through Parliament was not easy and at times worrying. There were a number of attempts by the antiques lobby to water down the Bill, putting forward amendments that would have created more loopholes than a sieve full of water, but IFAW was on the case and briefed hundreds of supportive MPs and Lords throughout the Bill’s passage through Parliament. The end result was that all of those bad amendments were either withdrawn or voted down and we will now have one of the toughest ivory bans in the world, with a few very limited exemptions, which we put forward and supported.”

“The resulting Ivory Act will now ban the sale of most ivory items in the UK, which is fantastic news and we could not have done this without you. With elephant populations in crisis and an elephant poached every 26 minutes for the illegal ivory trade, it is vital to shut down the legal markets as urgently as possible so that they can no longer be used as a smokescreen for illegal killing and trafficking.”

“IFAW would like to congratulate everyone involved, especially our supporters and the UK Government for taking such swift action since pledging to introduce a ban. It has to be said that the Ivory Bill must be one of the quickest pieces of legislation to pass through Parliament in recent years and this reflects the importance that the Government attached to it.”

“I have to personally congratulate The Rt. Hon. Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, who has championed this Bill from our very first meeting and also the Ivory Bill team at Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) for their amazing support and work in delivering a balanced and excellent piece of legislation. It is also important to note that all political parties supported this Bill and without their support it would not have succeeded.”

“When IFAW stepped up its campaign for an ivory ban in earnest about three years ago, we were starting from a bleak place. Though it had been included on manifesto documents little had been done politically, it was not a priority and was even dropped as a manifesto pledge by the Government at the last election. IFAW crafted a campaign that would create real change and brought in some vital players we needed to reassure and have on side, such as the Musicians’ Union, Music Industries Association and Association of British Orchestras to really understand their issues and work together as partners.”

“We spoke to museums and fine art dealers like Philip Mould and took their concerns on board, worked with them and built strong relationships that would shape the campaign and achieve real positive change for elephants. I also spoke to enforcement officers to understand what would work and what would not work, because at the end of the day any new legislation has to be enforceable and we want the people behind the illegal wildlife trade to be brought to justice. We lobbied hundreds and hundreds of MPs, Lords and civil servants. We wrote letters, IFAW published reports, gave evidence to select committees, conducted surveys, signed petitions and kept up a constant pressure, advocating real joined up solutions to the Government and all of our suggestions were taken on board.”

“As a public element to the campaign, we ran another UK ivory surrender, our fourth in the UK, where members of the public were encouraged to give up any unwanted ivory to be put beyond use and ensure it would not be traded. We continue to be overwhelmed by the huge public response to this, with hundreds of ivory trinkets and tusks donated to IFAW over recent months. The majority of donated ivory is passed to the relevant Government agency to destroy, and just a few items are retained for education work and publicity purposes.”

“Our partnership approach was supported and echoed by other NGOs and we all worked together to deliver one of the best and strongest ivory bans in the world. We now hope this will be replicated by the European Union and that they will act as courageously as the UK Government did to close down the EU to ivory and produce equally strong legislation. Our job will not be done until all ivory markets are closed and people only value ivory on a living, wild elephant.”

“It has been a hard, long and successful campaign thanks to all of your support and I hope has delivered a great Christmas present and one that we can all celebrate. The elephants won’t forget, and neither will we.”

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December 17, 2018