Author | Lightnews

Reposted by Sarah Jane Butler

Doug Parr @dougparr.bsky.social · 1d

Drinking water for up to 6 million people in England may have levels of 'forever chemicals' which could "constitute a potential danger to human health"

Drinking Water Inspectorate have issued enforcement notices on water companies to reduce levels of chemicals

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www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Firms ordered to reduce forever chemicals in drinking water for 6m people

The persistent pollutants which build up in the environment have been linked to serious illnesses.

www.bbc.co.uk

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WATERSHED Investigations @watershed-i.bsky.social · 2d

Often overlooked, small water bodies - streams, damp ditches, small bogs, ponds - support more rare species compared with larger habitats while high-quality ponds support about 2/3 of all freshwater plant + animal species in a landscape.

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freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/news/start-w...

Surveying wildlife in a pond with water reeds, amidst farmland, trees, hills, woods in distance.

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Sussex Wildlife Trust @sussexwildlife.bsky.social · 2d

Butchers Broom now has large shiny red berries. It is an ‘ancient woodland indicator’ because it doesn’t spread easily to new woods. So where you see it, the woodland has usually been there for a very long time. Words & pic Barry Yates @rxnature.bsky.social

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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 2d

Great trespass along the River Dart today to kick off @righttoroam.bsky.social's 9 river trespasses in November - protesting the inadequacy & unworkability of the Govt's 9 river walks pledge

We trespassed in an estate owned in the Cayman Islands & later met up with kayakers from Friends of the Dart

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Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 2d

I’ll choose and announce the winners to this later today.

I’m not saying posting cat photos as a reply helps.

But I’m also not saying it doesn’t.

Tom Cox @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social · 3d

Hello! My CEO Roscoe and I are giving away TWO signed copies of my novel 1983 to two randomly selected people who repost this & pop a reply below. You also get a free postcard of this illustration of Roscoe by my mum.

It’s been called “Stranger Things rewritten by Kurt Vonnegut & Sue Townsend”…

Roscoe with 1983 and a postcard of her which depicts her looking unusually cheery

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Sarah Jane Butler @sarahjanebutler.bsky.social · 2d

Research assistant Flo - always ready with a fresh angle/swiping paw

A black cat peeps over the top of an open book and a handwritten book of notes

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Sarah Jane Butler @sarahjanebutler.bsky.social · 6d

Enforcement takes the form of … not a lot. But I really don’t enjoy being yelled at, which has happened even before the signs so I fear worse now

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Sarah Jane Butler @sarahjanebutler.bsky.social · 6d

You never know where the danger's coming from next though. Today I heard that a mink can take down an adult swan, through sheer gutsy determination (it dragged the bird out of the water by the neck). Mind you, I wouldn't tangle with either

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Sarah Jane Butler @sarahjanebutler.bsky.social · 6d

Sad, sad, people. Possessive too. Tellingly the sign doesn't mention fishing ... (I have lovely friends who fish, but we don't agree on sharing river access)

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Sarah Jane Butler @sarahjanebutler.bsky.social · 6d

A local farmer, who's probably been put up to this by the anglers who fish here - it is telling that neither puts their name to the notice.

Sarah Jane Butler @sarahjanebutler.bsky.social · 6d

All down the upper Medway Keep Out signs banish us from the river - the miles I paddled quite legally in the 80s are forbidden to us now, and all the swimming spots are plastered in No Swimming notices. I’m outraged and grieving our loss

A sign banning in a river bridge people from swimming, diving, jumping or paddling canoes, boats or inflatables - no picnics, BBQs or littering either. NO FUN OR JOY!

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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 6d

Right to Roam campaigners call for access to all England’s rivers

Our local groups are organising 9 river trespasses in November to highlight how inadequate & unworkable the government’s pledge of a mere 9 river walks is:

www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

Right to Roam campaigners call for access to walk along all England’s rivers

Activists will stage nine protests where they will trespass on to private land along rivers.

www.standard.co.uk

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Dr Hannah Fluck @hannahfluck.bsky.social · 7d

Today I found an Ent

An oak tree with two trunks like legs that grow together about halfway up before branching out into outstretched arms.

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Sarah Jane Butler @sarahjanebutler.bsky.social · 16d

I’m over in Wealden (in East Sussex) - Greens are doing amazing work all over the country!

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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 17d

The @whitehouse-47.bsky.social account has so far only been blocked 57,000 times. I'm sure we can do better than that.

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Sarah Jane Butler @sarahjanebutler.bsky.social · 16d

Welcome! You’ve found a hopeful, practical home - our local council is co-led by Greens and the whole ethos is about finding good solutions and making everyone’s lives better. And I think it’s working!

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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 19d

And if you’re wondering who Labour is listening to? “Reeves boasted she hatched plan to rip down our nature protections over a “smoked salmon & scrambled eggs breakfast” with corporate lobbyists”. While Starmer’s resolve to kick down planning rules are result of his “conversations with leading CEOs”

Wage war on nature to build new homes: that’s Labour’s offer, but it’s a con trick | George Monbiot

The government’s new planning bill is tearing down environmental protections to benefit developers. This nation of nature lovers won’t stand for it, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

www.theguardian.com

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 25d

After a long pause, I've just done another England Covid & NHS update as we head into the autumn/winter season.

TLDR: we're in a significant Covid wave now, the NHS is stretched, get boosted if you're eligible.

christinapagel.substack.com/p/england-is...

England is now experiencing a significant Covid wave, after 10 months of relative quiet

The latest Covid situation in England and a look at where NHS services are as we head into winter

christinapagel.substack.com

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Ben Fenton @benfenton.bsky.social · 26d

If a news organisation is making -200% margin after five years, it is not a commercial operation and should be assumed to have a different purpose.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 26d

The channel lost £33 million to communicate its content to a large audience
www.business-live.co.uk/enterprise/g...

GB News suffers huge loss despite doubling revenue and growing audience

The TV channel, whose well-known presenters include Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, fell to a pre-tax loss of £33.4m in the year to 31 May, 2024

www.business-live.co.uk

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Lulu Allison @luluallison.bsky.social · 27d

Just written a Banned Books Week post about this that says exactly the same thing.

For those who can't bear living in a world that seems confusing and complicated, they equally can't bear the obvious fact that most of the rest of us are fine with the glorious mix and mess of it. It drives them insane, and there we all are, just being normal.
When Sunak had his drab little moment, he talked of stripping the arts out of schools because who needs that weird, hard to understand, colouring outside the lines stuff? He spoke with the residue of a long hurt, a baffled square who had got sick and tired of watching the cool kids do their awkward, exploratory, glorious, messy, sometimes inept and always entirely necessary thing. He spoke in the spiteful tone of a boy who was fed up with not getting it, of not even really knowing what it was - but now the shoe was on the other foot, and by golly, he was going to make them pay.
Banning books is a desperate rearguard action by the terminally afraid. But I wonder if it is also in part an attempt at revenge - the anxious, spiteful, fearful, revenge of the ones who can only use their crayons to delineate who they think does not belong.

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Josiah Mortimer @josiah.writes.news · Oct 5

On reports the Home Secretary plans to grant police more powers to prevent ‘repeated protests’, Greenpeace UK:

“Protest works because it is repetitive. If police had told the Suffragettes or civil rights activists ‘you’ve made your point,’ they would never have won the victories we all enjoy today"

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Ben Whitham @drbenwhitham.bsky.social · Oct 5

Men in balaclavas set fire to a mosque in East Sussex last night. It's only appearing on the BBC's local coverage, rather than its main national headlines, despite coming just a week after the (also under-reported) firebombing of an asylum hotel in London last week
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Peacehaven: Fire at East Sussex mosque probed as 'hate crime'

Video appears to show two people in balaclavas at the mosque before a large blaze spreads.

www.bbc.co.uk

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HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · Oct 1

Farage plays the everyman, but he’s not harmless, he’s not honest, and he’s not on your side. ❌

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Mr and Mrs Trellis @thenorfolkcoast.bsky.social · Sep 30

UK govt faces court for conservation area dumping licence. Sussex Wildlife Trust has launched legal action over govt's decision to allow the dumping of 100,000 tonnes of dredged sediment directly into a locally protected marine conservation zone..

oceanographicmagazine.com/news/uk-gove...

UK Government faces court for conservation area dumping licence - Oceanographic

Sussex Wildlife Trust has launched legal action against the UK government for granting licence to dump dredging spoil in marine protected area

oceanographicmagazine.com

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Melissa Edmundson @melissae.bsky.social · Sep 20

Violet Hunt and her amazing cat. #caturday

The author Violet Hunt standing in a Victorian/Edwardian era drawing room. To her right is an upholstered chair with a floofy black cat sitting on it.

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