Quote of the day

The incomparable Simon Barnes is always worth a read:

This is the country of the BBC Wildlife Unit and the incomparable Sir David Attenborough. This is the country with the remarkable organisation called the RSPB, with its million-plus members. We are the country that shows the way when it comes to the understanding of wildlife and its conservation.
And it’s all true apart from the last word of the last sentence. When it comes to conservation, we are not leading the world. We are not even leading our own region. Take a hard look at the figures and you cannot escape the conclusion that when it comes to practical conservation at government level, we are crap.