Now ... I don't want this to turn into a Brexit bashing thread please (or I will shut it down myself) as the subject matter is far too serious.
But please see the message attached below and if you feel you can support this, follow the link and join the petition.
Many thanks
Mark
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Hello,

Have you seen this?
https://bit.ly/38yxvEj

Our bees are in danger. Again. The UK government has just approved use of toxic, bee-killing pesticides on fields in England. These pesticides have been shown to do serious harm to bees time and again. That means damage to a vital part of our environment, so it's down to us to make sure that these pesticides don't come back.

The UK government did ban these pesticides when we were part of the EU, but now they're going back on that. We were told that leaving the EU would not worsen the UK's environmental protections, but this first major decision by the UK government sends a worrying signal.

People are furious that this has been allowed to happen - and a massive petition will show the government we won't let them get away with this. This could be what persuades them to ban these pesticides for good - and protect our bees and our ecosystem.

Will you join me and sign the petition today?
https://bit.ly/38yxvEj

Done......Heard that on the radio a couple of days ago, and thought it was particularly 'iffy'.

Cheers - Phil

I have already signed it - I have to say it is the kind of thing I was expecting post-Brexit.

Also - we don't want you under threat Big Insect as apart from anything else we are sill waiting for CWC and FWC

Done

All signed - but are you quite sure Boris can read ?

Quote from: ianrs54 on 13 January 2021, 01:06:27 PM
All signed - but are you quite sure Boris can read ?

Much like a toot from a Prussian Trumpeter blowing his Bugle outside Sparta post-Brexit  we can expect a world leading  most superb cornucopia of possible outcome for Bees and other arachnia

Quote from: flamingpig0 on 13 January 2021, 12:44:32 PM
Also - we don't want you under threat Big Insect as apart from anything else we are sill waiting for CWC and FWC

And the Korean War supplement ... I know ... WORK HARDER ... to quote Ian!  

Quote from: Big Insect on 13 January 2021, 02:07:22 PM
to quote Ian! 

Ok - quoted Mark's last post - it says quiet not quote in that....and it's WORK FASTER - dat be an order !!!!

And miseriously the original as now changeth....

Done and I hadn't realised they had changed the rules . I grow plenty of bee friendly plants in our garden to try and help, as do some of our neighbours. Each little bit helps.

Quote from: ianrs54 on 13 January 2021, 02:10:45 PM
Ok - quoted Mark's last post - it says quiet not quote in that....and it's WORK FASTER - dat be an order !!!!

I found this video of Techno at home and at work.


What isn't well known is that he is on fact on 11mm tall (to the eyes).

Done.

According to the articles it is only approved for emergency use in certain circumstances, in order to save sugar beet crops which are losing up to 80% of their yield due to a virus (not COVID!) and is not a blanket approval, nor anything related to Brexit as the same measures have been taken in a number of EU countries also.

Nevertheless, given how vital bees and insects are to our ecology and how damaging the refined sugar industry has been to our health the trade off here seems unbalanced to future sustainability. Not to mention the impact on the wider ecosystem as they enter the water system.

There is also another petition from change.org http://chng.it/hzshSY5K8v

Signed.

OK done. Cannot be bothered with another pro/against Brexit argument...the EU DOES want to preserve fish stocks...right? LOL!    So...signed, and let's see... 

The 'Sugar Beet' argument - e.g. that as sugar beet doesn't flower before it is harvested, spraying doesn't harm useful flying invertebrates is more than a bit tenuous, as sugar beet is also one of those crops where flowering weeds are left to flourish by farmers as they have little or no impact on the end crop.
So you end up with quite a high level of plant (wild flower/weed) bio-diversity in a sugar beet field as opposed to the monoculture of a wheat field (for example). That actually attracts more insects (bees) onto the crop and so they get effected by the residual effects of this poisonous insecticide.
Apparently the advice to farmers is to spray their fields with weed-killers to reduce the levels of wild flowers and weeds - so the insects (bees) are not attracted onto the crop!
So in effect our sugar beet fields are being blasted by a double dose of poisons.

Of course the organic answer to the problem is proper crop rotation - a couple of years of alternative crops to sugar beet and then maybe a replanting with a different strain of sugar beet. But that reduces the value of the yield on the land. Intensive plant production tends to produce similar issues to intensive meat production - year upon year of growing the same high yield crop on the same land allows pests (& viruses) to proliferate. We've seen it in viniculture for hundreds of years - we just don't seem to learn the obvious lessons.

But I do also agree that there is far too much refined sugar in our food anyway. But that is for another thread!
Cheers

Quite so. Of course organic options are expensive. Sugar beets produce 50% of the UKs sugar, but if the prices rise imported sugar will become more attractive. Reducing overall demand for sugar would take some pressure off the intensity, but I don't see that happening. And even if we do, no doubt we'll manage to screw the bees and ecosystem over another way. Look at the intense pollination of almonds in California and the problems it's causing to colonies, along with the syrup adulterated honey from China flooding the market putting legitimate beekeepers out of business.

So it is definitely worth signing the petitions to at least try and reduce one avenue of ecosystem destruction, or at the very least discourage any additional expansion to who can use the dangerous pesticides.

Signed

Quote from: Big Insect on 14 January 2021, 07:27:40 AM

But I do also agree that there is far too much refined sugar in our food anyway. But that is for another thread!

Where do you think I get most of my calories, to keep my finely honed physique in shape ?  

Weird....I take four heaped sugars in each of the umpteen cups of 'coffee' I drink everyday......But it's very rare that I eat sweets. 

Cheers - Phil.