When well-meaning people introduced the American grey squirrel into Britain in the 19th century they could hardly have foreseen the disasterous impact it would have on our native red. Today, of course, the native red has been driven to the very fringes of Britain, although - with a little help from man - it is making something of a comeback in some areas.

Now experts claim that Britain’s native toad species are at risk from an imported infection that has already eradicated some of the world’s amphibian colonies.

Fortunately, the fungal disease is currently confined to Kent, where it is believed to have been introduced from frogs imported into this country.

However, the fear is that it could spread further and, in theory at least, completely wipe out the British toad population. This is the conclusion of British scientists, according to research published in the journal of the Royal Society last year.

Consequently environmentalists are urging tighter controls on the aquarium trade involving the importation of amphibians, to protect our native toads from this infection.

According to the experts, the chytrid fungus, or Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (BD), infects the skins of amphibians such as frogs, toads, salamanders and newts. Such is its potency that a full one-third of all the losses in amphibian species recorded around the world are thought to be due to the disease. Research also indicates that although the frogs that brought the fungus to Kent have long since disappeared, it is likely that they have left a reservoir of infection in the environment. Now scientists claim that the deadly disease is being repeatedly brought into Britain through the world trade in amphibians.

A scientist at London’s Imperial College warned: “We strongly suspect BD is being introduced into the UK on a daily basis through the amphibian trade. Our borders are wide open to the introduction of this infectious disease.”

Meanwhile experts at the Institute of Zoology in London have developed mathematical models to evaluate various scenarios relating to infection in Britain’s common toad breeding populations. They found that the critical parameter was the length of time the fungus could survive in the environment away from its natural host. Their models suggest that there would be little impact on British toads if the fungus was only able to live outside its host for seven weeks. However, they also concluded that if it was able to survive in water for a year, the impact would be considerable - resulting in severe declines in the numbers of toads, and in some cases extinction in 10 years within infected areas.

Their research, which was first published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society towards the end of last year, makes clear the need to test all amphibians for the disease before they are brought into Britain. Indeed, the wildlife charity Froglife said it was important to make people aware of the danger to native amphibians. A spokesman for the charity is reported as saying: “It is thought that it could have been brought to the UK by exotic pet species, such as the African clawed toad, that have escaped or been deliberately released. It is vital strict controls on the health of imported animals are in place to help limit the spread of this devastating disease.”

Land & People consider the suggestion an eminently sensible one and recommend its adoption as a matter of some urgency.

Our very existence, as a free people within an independent sovereign nation, is under dire threat �“ as is our environment �“ a treasure house of precious fauna and flora.

For the first time in our history we face grave danger emanating from both within and without this realm. In Britain today there is only one organisation resisting the menace of the EU Fourth Reich at our front and the growing Fifth Column at our back.

On the Home Front we are faced by a tidal wave of fresh immigration �“ another six million migrants over the next twenty years the demographics experts tell us! Stating the obvious �“ Britain is one of the most overcrowded countries on the planet. Yet despite the ruinous effects upon society, community and the environment arising directly out of immigration fuelled overpopulation - the Government, the Establishment parties and the so-called “Greens” are determined that we should have even more!

Immigration fuelled overpopulation is the greatest controllable threat to our environment today. Yet “plastic environmentalists” �“ such as those in the Green Party �“ refuse to acknowledge the link between immigration, overpopulation and environmental destruction.

Such people are, in effect, collaborating with the EU puppet regime in Westminster and working against the very cause they claim to champion. To stand back, to look the other way, to ignore what is staring us in the face - is an act as breathtakingly stupid as it is cowardly. Commonsense demands that environmentalists should campaign against immigration �“ not as an act of “racism” - but as a necessity to protect what remains of our environmental heritage.

Immigration = overpopulation = environmental ruin �“ it really is as simple as that!

The time for sitting on the fence and grumbling about the state of our nation is over - it’s an indulgence we can no longer afford if we are to survive! We owe it to our forebears - men and women who gave their all in the defence of our island home - as well as to the generations of brethren English, Scots, Welsh and Irish yet to come.

It’s time to stand up and be counted and what other possible way than by joining the BNP - the British Resistance here .

An iinvestigation conducted by the Taxpayers’ Alliance shows the economic performance of the areas Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) work in has failed to improve and in some cases even slowed down, despite spending over £15 billion on the scheme.

“RDAs have failed in their core mission to narrow the gap between the economic performance of England’s regions,” said Ben Farrugia, policy analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

On employment, for instance, growth in jobs and the number of people in work slowed since RDAs were set up in 1999. Between 1995 and 2000 the number of jobs in England increased by 9.5 per cent, while between 2000 and 2005 it increased by three per cent.

You can download a PDF of the full report here

But economics correspondent Daniel Barnes, editor of myfinances.co.uk said the findings had to be treated with caution.

“RDAs are massive and unaccountable spending machines, leaking money top, right and centre,” he told politics.co.uk.

Regional Newspapers across the country are reporting on the cost of their RDA’s. Two examples of such reports are linked below :

Western Morning News - South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA)

Brighton Argus - South Eastern England Development Agency (SEEDA)

Today’s news that British poultry producers are facing ever increasing premiums on the price of South American grown GM-free soya feed �“ due to the disturbing fact that overseas soya producers are increasingly switching to gm-soya - prompts us to reprint a story that Land & People posted two years ago this very month.

We reported then:

According to a report in the New York Times, an unapproved variety of genetically engineered grass has been discovered growing in the wild in what scientists say could be the first instance in the United States in which a biotechnology plant has established itself outside a farm or GM test zone.

Mother Nature has a habit of striking back!

A worrying tale by anyone’s standards! However, as more and more acreage in South America is turned over to the production of GM-soya for its oil (the vegetable residue being processed into chicken feed), we are left wondering just how do producers ensure that their GM-free crops remain free of GM contamination?

In this little article from Yorkshire we see a Tory MP complaining, rightly, about the EU intention to force all UK drivers to switch on their light’s during day-time!

The MP bemoans the fact that even though the government agrees with him, it is powerless to oppose the will of the EU directive!  A pity therefore that he belongs to a Party that refuses to consider, ever, leaving the EU!

Even so we are obliged to Greg Knight MP for explaining so succinctly just how redundant he and his 645 fellow MP’s really are!

‘We don’t need to see the lights’

Published Date: 07 August 2008
By Staff Copy

LEGISLATION that will force all drivers to switch their lights on during daylight hours has been attacked by MP Greg Knight. The local representative is furious that the European Union will issue a directive stating that all vehicles built from 2011 must have the daylight lamps fitted as standard. He fears that the move will increase fuel consumption and emissions by ab out five per cent. Mr Knight, who is chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicle Group, said: “In an age when we are all being told we must reduce our emissions this move, which increases them, just does not make sense. “There is no UK benefit and the whole episode is a sorry state of affairs. “The British government actually agrees with me and has opposed these proposals but such is the extent of the power we have now ceded to the EU, that our own government is powerless to stop these misguided moves. “It may be that daytime running lights are a sensible idea for a Scandinavian winter but we do not need them here in the UK and they will increase fuel consumption across every European country, for every new car, in every season. “This one size must fit all European attitude to law-making is pathetic and quite unnecessary. “Why should motorists in the UK, France and Spain have to use lights �“ even during the summer?” The MP has, however, welcomed ‘a partial victory’ for campaigners against the measure, meaning that existing cars will have to use their headlights all day.