MP rants against 'career conservationists'

[The Black Rabbit]

Wonder what interested parties on WAB think of this (a piece by Ian Liddell-Grainger MP who spews his bile at Butterfly Conservation, as well as Jenny Plackett and 'career conservationists' with their 'cushy jobs'....)

Plenty about like Ian Liddell-Grainger. Plenty. And not just MPs.

TBR

[PMG]

Well he's got a nerve to talk about Miss Plackets ego hasn't he??? Kettle pot and black ... (good morning tbr by the way - nice to see you are still around!) Meanwhile back at the subject ... not only has Mr Liddell-Grainger got ego - he's got nerve as well in recent times when we discover how cushy ministerial jobs are and what can and has been claimed for by others on the government gravy train ... when in a tight corner start flinging mud and aspertions around - always helps to get the publics eye off what is really going on ... Thank goodness we still have organisations like Butterfly Conservation and an army of supporters - some with very big clout indeed - to keep an eye and a leveling influence on MP's who's world begins and ends in London ...

Farming and getting back to the 'old ways' of farming as Mr LG suggests is a very big can of worms and I have great sympathy for the farmers who are being squeezed like the rest of us till we all squeek. In my eyes its not the 'old ways' that causes problems its the 'new ways' of taking every bit of land and ploughing it up, grubbing out the hedgerows, filling in the little ponds, taking down old large trees, reducing diversity to a monoculture so that bigger and yet bigger combine harvesters can take more and more (?unwanted) grain to add to the 'mountain'. Which requires evermore chemicals to make the depleted soil produce more wheat for more folks to develop a wheat allergy/intolerance. And all in the name of business ... development ... progress ... getting on in the world ... making money ...

And at this point I really need to get off my soap box and get out into the countryside for a welcome break from the madness this world is being whipped into - building sand castles in hot air - just wait till it all comes crashing down - because this topic is about a lot more than just a few pretty looking butterflies being able to flit about in summer .........

Pauline

[pressld2]

I genuinely feel sorry for him. Quotes like

Schemes like this are verging on lunacy. If you tried to present a business case for them in the Dragon’s Den you would be laughed out – or possibly carried away in a straitjacket.

show that he's totally incapable of understanding that there is more to this life than business and turning a profit. Business case? Dranon's Den? Unbelievable! If he cannot appreciate the simple beauty of a butterfly without asking for a business case then he is dead inside and I pity him.

Dave P.

[nikolai_avenger]

Normally I try not to let what is in the 'news' papers bother me too much, but the double standards (unwittingly?) perpetrated herein by Mr. Liddell-Grainger have got steam coming out of my ears this morning. I totally agree with the comments you have left on the article, Dave!

Cheers. Nik.

[Ukwildlifeo]

Originally Posted by The Black Rabbit

Wonder what interested parties on WAB think of this (a piece by Ian Liddell-Grainger MP who spews his bile at Butterfly Conservation, as well as Jenny Plackett and 'career conservationists' with their 'cushy jobs'....)

Plenty about like Ian Liddell-Grainger. Plenty. And not just MPs.

TBR

Good to see you on WAB BR.

This cmae up on twitter yesterday, I did type out a comment on the story but then it asked for a login...

There are some key phrases in this article

The conclusion is clear: get rid of the interfering conservationists, let farmers run the moor like they used to and cattle numbers will rise, scrub will go and the butterflies will return

Get rid of those pesky conservationist that stop us mnaking money and moving that annoying wildlife and let the farmers do what they want. Rural vote grab per chance?

Butterfly Conservation – which styles itself, presumably for tax purposes, as a charity – wants people to fork out another £155,000 for this work over the next three years. A sum which is, quite frankly, ludicrous and out of all proportion to any results that might be achieved.

Borderline libel there, with some great word use thrown in so you are let in no doubt who the bad guys are.

The monstrous fact, however, is that funding has been available for this kind of conservation work to be done for the past six years at a time when far more worthy causes have been starved of cash and the country has been sailing into recession.

What causes exactly? What makes these causes more worthy? Besides if he donated his expense account from the last 6 years to these causes that would probably easily cover the amont given to the evil butterfly conservation.

At a time when the national park authority is struggling with a massive deficit, when staff are having to be paid off and services cut back, the last thing it can afford to do is to shovel £18,000 into a scheme whose only guaranteed outcome is that will create a cushy little job for someone for three years.

As opposed to his cushy little job after being elected - pot kettle black much! He has obviously never worked in conservation (lets face it, like many MPS he's proberly never had a real job that involved working!) as its not easy and not even all that £18000 will go to the conservationists wages!

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by The Black Rabbit

Wonder what interested parties on WAB think of this (a piece by Ian Liddell-Grainger MP who spews his bile at Butterfly Conservation, as well as Jenny Plackett and 'career conservationists' with their 'cushy jobs'....)

Plenty about like Ian Liddell-Grainger. Plenty. And not just MPs.

TBR

Well I got made redundant from my 'cushy' job last year. Fortunately I am gainfully employed again. I'd like to take him out on a days wet woodland or reedbed habitat management in the depths of winter up to our waists in freezing water. See how cushy it is then. I bet he'll be straight back to the cosiness of the Parliament bar!

[Dogghound]

This, in case you haven’t heard almost certainly the case) is dedicated to halting an alleged decline in numbers of the High Brown and Marsh Fritillary butterflies by habitat management schemes.

I find it rather strange that the word alleged is used, it is not an allegation that these two species have declined it is scientific fact, backed up by huge amounts of survey data and (since the 1950's) a good number of now unoccupied sites. High Brown probably occupy less than 5% of their former British range and continue to decline and be lost from sites. Marsh again has declined significantly to the extent that it only occupies a tiny range in comparison to its historical levels (despite some recent population increases). It is also declining in Europe too.

Yet I see that Butterfly Conservation’s Jenny Plackett says despite progress ‘there was still much to do’. Well of course there is. Have you ever heard a conservationist say their work is completed? No. There is always something else to be done, so more grants are needed to keep them employed and doing it. Right through to retirement.

This highlights how igorant he actualy is. Is the work ever complete? No because conservation is an evolving ever changing process which is reflective of the environment. So many historical activities which have had impacts on native species take a long time to rectify especially in terms of butterflies which are highly colonial, often sedentary and have evolved to suit specific habitat types. You could say the same for MP's in respect to trying to keep themselves in the job. I seriously doubt working in Butterfly conservation is a highly paid job, it is largely made up of volunteers (which I am glad to have contributed to) and does not aim to just keep people in the job. Fortunately the importance of our native wildlife is valued by some people who dont want to see a barren intensively farmed landscpe and want future generations to enjoy it too.

The conclusion is clear: get rid of the interfering conservationists, let farmers run the moor like they used to and cattle numbers will rise, scrub will go and the butterflies will return. (In fact there are many locations known to locals where these ‘threatened’ species thrive – but no-one’s about to reveal them because they don’t want career conservationists ‘managing’ it.)

Its all very well saying things like this but in the real world it doesnt happen. What happens when the farmer decides to increase stocking levels which then overgraze and damage the colony site, or when eutrophication leads to over dominance of rank grasses over dominating the violets/scabious, or when he decides to farm sheep instead and they clear the whole site.

It would be quite a said world if we all thought like Ian Liddell-Grainger.

[ChrisJB]

The man is clearly a nitwit.

Chris

[PMG]

Originally Posted by ChrisJB

The man is clearly a nitwit.

Chris

Clearly ... but we should be worried cos he's a nitwit in a position of power - fortunately he also daft enough to spout his off kilter ideas and thinks he's being erudite .... what worries me most is those in government who don't give themselves away as idiots and are working quietly but deviously to undermine all the things that matter in the natural world ...

Pauline

[The Black Rabbit]

I hoped this piece might be of some interest. Thanks for the comments and evening Pauline - yes I am still (sort of) around!

Maybe I should also point out that ILG is something like 400th in line to the throne (being the great great great something something of Queen Victoria).

I might also add that even David Cameron was concerned about ILG's strange, divisive rants and asked him to remain quiet before the last election (see his telling blog entry of April 11th 2010 here and whilst you're at it, please also note the witty title of his blog)

He also tends to top the "Parliamentary nepotism league" (employing more staff with his surname (i.e. his wife and two of his three "kids") than other MPs).

This has meant his expenses claimed in 2007-8 and 2008-9 were £166,109 and £174,333 respectively.

That's £340,442 claimed in expenses, (over and above his salary) in two years - more than double what he alleges Butterfly Conservation need over three years.


I also tend to sympathise with a great many farmers (for example - my local farmer is doing all he can for wildlife and has been very kind to me granting me land access to watch and maybe photograph breeding little owls), but I rather think there are many of ILG's ilk out there who truly believe there is NO space at all for conservation or 'career conservationists' - and that is very worrying indeed...

TBR