NATURE LAW IS A GOOD FIRST STEP
Posted on 15th July 2023
It is in weeks like this that I have to remind myself what the real news is about and that not everything revolves around Ryan Tubridy’s salary and the mental anguish of Huw Edwards, the BBC presenter. As is often the case my immediate environment provided the trigger. I found a Red Admiral butterfly in my bathroom. In Strasburg this week the European Parliament passed the EU Nature Law. It was a close-run affair, 324 votes to 312. Fine Gael’s five MEP’s broke ranks and supported the proposal. Their leader, Sean Kelly MEP, said they could now sit down with the 27 member governments and achieve, “workable compromises that will restore the environment and ensure Irish and European farmer’s interests are also served.” I consider myself very lucky to live in a beautiful rural landscape and was from an early age taught that we are but custodians of the land. This is the responsibility that is handed down through the generations. What, of course, is now unsettling is the speed with which some changes attributable to climate change are taking place. I know it sounds crazy but I’ve started to think that the raindrops falling on our heads are getting larger. Certainly it seems that the rain showers are more intense. In short, I for one, was mightily relieved when the European Parliament passed that bill. We have a difficult and challenging road ahead and I feel in particular that those farmers, primarily in the West of Ireland, who were encouraged to reclaim land from bog and expand their family farm can now see their entire way of life threatened. Agriculture is one of our most important industries but it faces substantial challenges particularly dealing with the obligation to reduce methane emissions. Our dairy industry has been a stunning success but it comes at a price. We are truly all in this together and the EU Restoration Law is an important step on a new path.
So it seems there is more trouble in the land of Vlad the Bad. Major General Ivan Popov, Commander of the 58th army was apparently dismissed from his post for telling the top military brass some home truths about the conduct of the war. He did not mince his words: “I called things by their proper name, focussed on the most important thing, the tragedy of the modern war. This is the absence of counter-battery combat, reconnaissance and the massive injuries of our brothers from enemy artillery.” Furthermore, he said: “We were hit from the rear by our senior commander, treacherously and villainously, beheading the army in the most difficult and tense moment.” If this is true and I have no reason to feel otherwise, can you imagine what is the true state of morale in the Russian army. Throw in the antics of that maniac Prigozhin into the mix and you can begin to understand why Putin feels it is safer to move around Russia in a specially armoured train. This week he must surely realise that his grandiose plans of restoring the USSR have crumbled as a revigorated NATO meets in Vilnius to embrace Finland and Sweden as members. This adds 800 miles to NATO’S border with Russia and two fresh well-trained armies.
