UK Reform for Sustainability

@curlewcalls Classic example of how useless our system of government is, not doing it because the other side suggested it. Pathetic and childish...but thats what we've got, and everyone accepts it

IMPORTANT The campaign for a GCSE in Natural History has stalled. Labour see it as a "Conservative initiative" and won't progress it. It is not a political football, every child has the right to learn about the wonder of the natural world. Plse ask you MP to lobby for it now. 🙏

Following the news that Defra has paused capital grants for farmers, we're calling on UK Government to set out clarity and certainty on future support for farmers to transition to nature-friendly farming practices. Read our latest blog here: wildlifetrusts.org/blog/barnaby-c…

It's really quite simple; If we had more #beavers in our landscape, we'd have fewer flooded homes and flooded businesses...

The clock has been started by @CambsCC to fell hundreds of trees, including ancient Bramleys, oaks, ash & elms. @SouthCambs has delayed protection orders for 12 of the oldest ones for 265 days. Zero hour: 8 Jan to object. Act now: cotonbuswayaction.com #NationalTreeWeek 🌳🪓❌

As the COP29 climate meeting is reaching its end, it should not come as a surprise that yet another COP is failing. The current draft is a complete disaster. But even if our expectations are close to non-existent, we must never ever find ourselves reacting to these continuous betrayals with anything but rage. The people in power are yet again about to agree to a death sentence to the countless people whose lives have been or will be ruined by the climate crisis. The current text is full of false solutions and empty promises. The money from the Global North countries needed to pay back their climate debt is still nowhere to be seen. The host country - Azerbaijan - is a repressive and authoritarian petro-state that has committed ethnic cleansing and genocidal acts towards Armenians. Civil society present at COP29 are being silenced, yet continue fighting and pushing negotiators towards the bare minimum. All this while oppression, inequalities, wars and genocides all over the world continue to intensify. Those in power are worsening the destabilisation and destruction of our life supporting ecosystems. We are on track to experience the hottest year ever recorded, with the global greenhouse gases reaching an all time high just last year. It is clear that our current systems are not working in our favour. The COP processes aren’t just failing us, they are part of a larger system built on injustice and designed to sacrifice current and future generations for the opportunity of a few to keep making unimaginable profits and continue to exploit planet and people. With every negotiation, with every speech made by a world leader and with every agreement they sign, it becomes clear that it is up to us as a global collective to take the action we so desperately need and show where the leadership truly lies. They are not going to do it for us, as this COP29 yet again proves. #COP29 #PayUp #ClimateJusticeNow

@bphillipsonMP Entirely predictable that @bphillipsonMP hasn't replied to this post as she has no interest in the wrong sort of teachers, TAs, cleaners, caterers, caretakers, minibus drivers, administrators. We, like the wrong sort of children, are collateral damage in her ideological campaign

Imagine @bphillipsonMP being a teacher, TA, cleaner, catering assistant, caretaker, administrator, minibus driver, librarian, lab tech etc, working incredibly hard to support the education of children, having a Secretary of State for Education gunning for you. It's demoralising.

@anthonyboutall Children should be trained to cook, clean, be healthy, do basic practical things, act sustainably, budget etc before understanding fronted adverbials and how to solve quadratic equations.

@anthonyboutall Whole heartedly disagree with the proposition as described in the article but it should be recognised that there is a huge bias towards academia, as opposed to life skills, in our national curriculum.

@drdavidajames @bphillipsonMP Refuses point blank to engage with the Independent Schools sector in her official capacity but happy to use the facilities they make available to the community in her personal life. Its an interesting position and approach.

Hi @bphillipsonMP I just wondered how many independent schools you're visiting, or is far and wide contained to only certain sorts of school?

@anaboultertv @bphillipsonMP @piersmorgan Funny how @uklabour don't agree with universal entitlement of pensioners to winter fuel allowance but they're fine paying for the education of children whose parents could afford to pay for it themselves

Should state parents move to private? Given many like our esteemed Education Minister earn over £150k pa, I’m thinking yes. It’ll relieve the beleaguered state system @bphillipsonMP claims to want to save AND boost the economy! Well done me. I should be in politics. @piersmorgan @EducationNotTax @EdwardJDavey youtu.be/k0SJ0YHFF3s?si… via @YouTube

@anaboultertv @bphillipsonMP @piersmorgan In every state school, there are many parents who could afford to pay for school but who choose, instead, to prevail on the taxpayer

@peterproperty Well that's good. @uklabour why not now scratch that terrible plan and put in a robust building code, backed by both incentives and enforcement, for conversion, refurb and revite of existing buildings. Squandering historic investment in carbon and minerals is morally repugnant.

Mail: “..plan to build 1.5million homes by 2030 will be 'more difficult than we expected' to achieve, housing minister, Matthew Pennycook admits, before going on to suggest it is “essential” the target be met. dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

This was meant for you @LouHaigh @jreynoldsMP and @RachelReevesMP @UKLabour

Can uk rail operators be stripped of their franchise if they fail to provide high quality, reliable WiFi on all services? Fixing UK productivity starts with basic practical steps. Having thousands unable to work whilst travelling puts us at massive international disadvantage.

@NextGenMP @EducationNotTax At least gambling companies can't recover their input VAT. Meanwhile, housebuilders don't lose any of their sales income to HM Customs but can recover 100% of their input VAT, whilst making absurd profits. But taxing independent schools struggling to break even is OK.

It’s interesting that Labour have applied VAT to the education of 550,000 children but not considered VAT on gambling. Perhaps the Independent School sector should have donated £100m to Labour as it appears economic policy can be bought @EducationNotTax #educationtax

“The UK has more potential for temperate rainforest restoration than anywhere else in the world… UK rainforests are resilient to low & medium amounts of future warming” But climate action needed to save other temp rainforests Ace new paper by Leeds Uni: leeds.ac.uk/research-32/ne…

@GCon22911353 @guyshrubsole @BylinesEast @mrjamesob @LBC Is there a case for using "value in use" for purposes of IHT that would address concerns from farmers?

@GCon22911353 @guyshrubsole @BylinesEast @mrjamesob @LBC Is it the case that investment in land to avoid IHT is massively inflating its value? Message from farmers is that farm income isn't consistent with current land valuation. If 300 acres was only valued at, say, £1m, IHT wouldn't be an issue for the farmer either.

"1% of the population own half the land in England... the media have portrayed a very distorted view of the countryside, how land is used & who owns it" Great to speak to @mrjamesob on @LBC about the #ClarksonTax protests - watch the full interview: youtube.com/watch?v=r-kRyY…

Quick reminder that 355 huge aristocratic estates benefit from a *different* inheritance tax break for 'heritage assets', separate to APR This rewards them for owning ecologically damaging grouse moors & pheasant shoots Let's close this loophole: theguardian.com/money/2024/oct…