Hugh Webster

Taking a break from Twitter. Musk’s malign influence on the site and the active harm the platform is now doing mean it is no longer a forum I want to participate in. Recent events just the final straw. I will miss the exchange of knowledge and ideas, but Musk is simply toxic.

@bradm32751 @LibertyCappy Bradley here just proving (yet again) that a lot of people need to go back to school… You can’t argue with stupid but you can try to educate it.

@LibertyCappy That we had a large impact on the climate

@CSLyons The murderous cruelty of the Taliban and the capricious nature of Western governments whose unforgivable abandonment of Afghanistan was led by Joe Biden, displaying his moral cowardice long before he slow walked aid to Ukraine or corrupted the presidency by pardoning his own son.

Thinking tonight of the murderous cruelty of the Taliban, and the women they wish to see die in childbirth.

@DonnaBarford @ASo1omons America is baffling. All the guns. The healthcare costs. The medieval-level rich poor divide. The whole y’all Qaeda Christian hard right thing. The inexplicable pride in their exceptionally corrupt version of democracy. The flag weirdness. And tipping bad service? Just why?

How about go fuck yourself. You're not about to tell me how I spend my money. Good talk.

@secretsqrl123 Where do you get the idea that Russia is losing Georgia from?

what a week to be a russian!!! ruble hits 1- 116 market crashes lost major part of syria losing georgia moldova refuses to pay gazprom 750 million 2000+ dead russians in a day russian central bank about to fall finds out trump is not pro russia. turkey fucks over russia the 205th russian brigade refuses to fight

@LandEthics Love the on the table versus under the table split in the wildlife. What could that possibly signify?🤔

Uh oh! YDMG have got their old pop-up banner out again...

@RogerDowald1 @Alexander_Lees @CSLyons Seems more like an argument for not having too many (true of anything) rather than not having any, with risk of predation noted to relate to wild boar density. You could make the case that wild boar can be hard to control, but that hasn’t proven true in Scotland to date.

@DrHWeb @Alexander_Lees @CSLyons Just as another opportunistic generalist predator of GNBs including Capercaillie ? 👇🏻 …lpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…

They ARE 'Feral Pigs' as they are descended from domestic animals, which is the ecological definition of a 'feral population' of animals. They are also morphologically and genetically distinct from 'wild type' 'Wild Boar' link.springer.com/article/10.100…

@Alexander_Lees @CSLyons Fair. But ‘feral pigs’ rewilding back to wild boar behaviours and phenotypes in Scotland doesn’t pose any equivalent threat to a native species that I can see. Instead, they appear to be refilling a long-vacant niche. Or am I missing something?

@DrHWeb @CSLyons Absolutely, although that isn't desirable I guess - good example is selection pressures on Feral Pigeons driving them back to wild phenotypes nature.com/articles/43497… but people are still concerned by the disappearance of Rock Doves.

@Alexander_Lees @CSLyons Interesting. But then, perhaps you can 'rewild' animals equally quickly, both behaviourally and in terms of phenotype?

@DrHWeb @CSLyons The Silver Fox experiment shows you can domesticate mammals incredibly quickly - link.springer.com/article/10.118… 6 years in this case!

@Alexander_Lees @CSLyons Really? Just checking I’m following the argument here: so, if genetically “pure” wild boar were kept as livestock but escaped, you’d class them as feral pigs, due to their “origin as escaped livestock.”

@CSLyons Agree to an extent, but, genetic introgression goes back a long way. Moreover, these are operational definitions and don't need to reflect 'level of domestication' as measured by genetic divergence. What matters is their origin as escaped livestock.

@ReisselpCram @TallbarFIN “Make China pay compensation…” Any suggestions how you force the world’s second super power to do anything?

@TallbarFIN Zero drama: Board the vessel, arrest the crew and make China pay compensation before releasing the ship and it’s contents. The crew members can go home once cleared or having served their sentences for criminal damaged - if found guilty.

Swedish authorities have reason to suspect that the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3 deliberately dragged its anchor on the seabed for kilometers in order to damage the submarine cables between Finland & Germany and Sweden & Lithuania.

@nature_thorne @WoollyMaggot @andyheald @Buzz_dont_tweet My guess was some sort of beetle but hoping for an expert to tell me something definitive!

@DrHWeb @WoollyMaggot @andyheald @Buzz_dont_tweet Looks like a beetle's handiwork to me! I've seen similar marks on trees in the Highlands. Would love to know what you think it is, DrHWeb!

What made these marks? Some form of boring (burrowing, not dull!) insect? Found in a birch in Highland Perthshire… @WoollyMaggot @andyheald @Buzz_dont_tweet

@FattebertJ @WoollyMaggot @andyheald @Buzz_dont_tweet No idea. Maybe some sort of egg chamber?

@DrHWeb @WoollyMaggot @andyheald @Buzz_dont_tweet What's that triangle at the one end?

@jharphamtrees @WoollyMaggot @andyheald @Buzz_dont_tweet Really? I can’t see signs of separate rings indicating a join, and there is a second smaller triangular mark on the other side which looks like the same insect has been at work - assuming it is an insect!

@DrHWeb @WoollyMaggot @andyheald @Buzz_dont_tweet Looks like an area of included bark

@RichardOnSafari @jeremycorbyn When push comes to shove, pacifists are allies of Putin’s war in the end. Condemnation doesn’t cut it when your children are being stolen, your people are being killed and your home destroyed. Sometimes you have to stand and fight, or live in a world owned and run by dictators.

@jeremycorbyn You have consistently condemned. And Putin has consistently ignored all those who condemn. So, is that it then? Might is right?

The Prime Minister should make a statement to Parliament, immediately, to confirm whether UK missiles have been fired into Russia. He must tell the British public if this means we are now at war with a nuclear power, what risk this poses to people in Britain, and why this action was taken without any approval from Parliament. I have consistently condemned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and called for a diplomatic solution to stop the endless bloodshed. As we edge closer and closer to catastrophe, we should be doing everything in our power to bring about de-escalation and peace. Instead, our political leaders have added fuel to the fire and gambled with people’s lives for political gain. Presidents and Prime Ministers must know that in the event of nuclear war, nobody wins. I’m not interested in bombs. I’m interested in peace – and I will continue to campaign for peace in Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, the DRC and beyond.

@mirandadevine Of the small majority who stated a desire for a quick, negotiated end to the war, only 52% were happy for those negotiations to include territorial concessions. So yeah, Ukrainians want peace (big shock) but 3/4 still oppose surrendering stolen territory. x.com/Tatarigami_UA/…

Most Ukrainians want a quick, negotiated end to war with Russia: Gallup poll. So why is lame duck Joe Biden escalating it? nypost.com/2024/11/19/wor…

@Georgethefarmer @JimBrandham @theladyfarmer Soft fruit farms?

@JimBrandham @theladyfarmer Well said Jim. I really admire those who are able to make a decent living from less than 20 hectares, but I cant actually think of any around here.

The average value of a UK farm is £2.2mill so under the £3mill you can pass with the right structure. So most WON’T be affected. I fear small farms are being whipped up when they’re actually not in the fight for the benefit of the larger land owners.

@JoeWStanley Key to this seems to be in the detail. Independent analysis reportedly suggests only 117 of the largest/richest farms will be affected by this each year, given a threshold of up to £3M before IHT kicks in. NFU disputes those figures. Who to believe?

New Defra stats out. The average lowland grazed farm made £17,300 last year. Hardly the level of profit required to pay a death tax which might stretch into many £100,000s - without being forced to liquidate the farm itself. gov.uk/government/sta…

@herdyshepherd1 So a huge but relatively cash poor estate that maintains a working farm escapes any IHT? Not sure that’s ideal. What’s wrong with setting a threshold (up to £3M in current proposal?) and taxing inheritances above that? Might cool land values a bit and help poorer farmers?

I think inheritance tax on land that is part of working and continuing farms that are cash poor is dumb and not in the public interest Land isn’t a liquid asset It has to be sold to become so And if we aren’t going to support farms they need to be globally viable

I 100% think large estates and corporations shouldn’t be able to hide their £ in land to escape tax I 100% think revenue and benefits from farming should be taxed like anyone else’s income

@BBCr4today @amolrajan @bbcnickrobinson Lots of sympathy for all that context and all the ineptitude farmers have suffered. Less sympathy for only protesting about IHT, which independent (non-NFU) analysis suggests will only affect 117 of the richest farms each year, with an interest free tax bill payable over 10yrs.

“Farmers are p***** off!” @amolrajan & @bbcnickrobinson talk to farmer James Rebanks ahead of a planned protest against inheritance tax changes in the Budget. Listen to The Today Podcast: bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…