The flooding of the Somerset Levels can be summed up in one word - GREED. You have to have sympathy for houses and other forms of the built environment that have been flooded. But how can we have sympathy for farmland that is flooded? Much of the farmland that is currently flooded should not have been cultivated in the first place. Most of this land is at or below sea level and is only viable because huge amounts of money are spent on it year after year to pump it dry. Farmers continually try and squeeze ever penny out of land and it's because the system of farming subsidises allows them to do this. Every household in Britain pays on average £400 as taxes which are paid as benefits to farmers. Plus who pays for dredging and who pays the electricity bill of these huge water pumps that are pumping 24/7 - yes that's right, us the tax payer. Why should we subsidise the farming industry while other major industries have closed because they couldn't pay for themselves. If farmers want to farm this land then let them pay the full costs. If not then let the land go back to nature. Farm subsidies are ruining our countryside. I've posted this on the BBC News website - I would appreciate it if this message was posted on other blogs.
One mature oak tree drinks 50 gallons of water every day. You don't need to be a botanist nor a mathematician, to work out where the problem - and the solution lie.
If this was anywhere else int world we`d be bombarded with appeals for cash, aint seen one up to just. Wonder if other countries are responding to our cause pfff.
thats called being Drink Aware.. now a silly immature binge drinking Oak will probably drink 3 or 4 times as much, but will be brash and noisy about it.
farming pastures were obtained by deforestation look back to medieval maps of the British Isles you will see just how much of our forests have now gone. There is a movement going to encourage Hilltop farms in the first instance to plant more trees.
we should cut Foriegn aid for a year or two its always been said that charity begins at home.. well we need it right now.
Bang on Paul, I watched a programme a few weeks ago on this theme, de-forestation by hill farmers has a lot to answer for, it was also said that experiments were being carried out by felling trees to fall across streams and rivers, to create mini dams, to slow down the flow from the uplands and give the water chance to soak away in the hills. I don't know if this would help with present flooding in the Somerset Levels as these are flood plains anyway.
it was on the last edition of "Country File" exactly that. Also we are all aware that Somerset and its surrounds are below sea level.... now lets think if there is anywhere else near us like that... AH yes HOLLAND, now I wonder just how much flooding they get... their Dykes and sea defences were obviously such a waste time ..hmmm?
Re: it was on the last edition of "Country File" Hoyland is definitely not below sea level, Elsecar maybe.
yer daft bugger I have just had a nasal red wine rinse... almost bloody choked proper proper LOLOLOL I am actually from Hoyland tha sees... Daft bit is, well it flashed through my daft brain, if Hoyland did flood then the poor buggers in Elsecar would definitely be in a spot of bother. But it has been a tad damp to say the least down the bottom near the park and heritage center over the years.
but if you are a hill farmer.. you chop down trees and laugh at the poor bastads down below... which is exactly what has happened
and if you are a LUMBER JACK you chop down trees, you wear high heels Suspenders and a Bra I wish I'd been a Girle , just like My dear Mama Alltogether now He's a Lumberjack and He's okay....... etc etc
It's Thatchers fault. Until the 80's the rivers, drains, rheins and streams were dredged, then the taxes were lowered and it had to stop because the funds weren't there. No doubt the locals that voted Tory won't be happy to be told this, but it's their own fault. Taxes are a good thing.
I'm neither a botanist or a mathematician so I'll answer your question. We need less rain. Or more daffodils. Or is it more heterosexual sex? Oh, wish I'd paid more attention in class. Signed Mr Gove...
The majority who are screaming about this are a bunch of Tory supporting millionaires. These free marketeers now want the tax payer to give them more of our hard earned cash.