What Is Wrong With People? Part 768.

[ToraToraTora]

https://news.sky.com/story/sycamore-gap-iconic-tree-at-hadrians-wall-deliberately-felled-12971594

un-effing-believable. There's some wronguns out there.

[Ellipsis]

It is awful.

But, look at two other news items from the last day or so and compare it to one tree being felled by a 16-year-old, and think about the other vandals that are destroying our countryside:

* Sunak hails Rosebank oil approval in face of climate outcry - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66933804

* One in six species at risk of extinction in Great Britain - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66923930

 

[Deskdiary]

JNO &/or TCL are girding their loins to give a deliberately contrarian point of view!

[Togo]

A 16yr old may have been arrested but this was not done by a 16yr old on his/her own. I can't see a 16yr old carry a chainsaw with a 2ft blade for a mile at least, over rough ground, in the dark, and then have the required skill and knowlege to cut down a 300 year old tree. Pity the wicked stards didn't slip and cut themselves down with the chainsaw. What are we becoming? 

[DTCwordfan]

Point 2 taken - but point 1, what crap - having our own oil gives us strategic reserves and we will still need it in 2050 and beyond for our wide-spectrum chemical industry. Rosebank offers us one of the cheapest routes as to CO2 emissions and backs out long distance travel and the use of oil-tankers.

[Ellipsis]

> Point 2 taken

I'll take that 😊

[Togo]

Are we suggesting that it was the jso wack jobs who did it? I wouldn't put it past the stupid gits. 

[david small]

I suspect retribution will befall this cretin as soon as his whereabouts are known.

[fiveleaves]

A 16 year old? With a chainsaw in a remote location. How did he/she get there? Sounds a bit implausible to me.

We are in danger of losing 1 in 6 of our native species in the next few years according to the latest State of Nature report. A rather more serious issue than one sycamore tree

[naomi24]

Fiveleaves, should this be ignored?

[dustypuss]

Hang him from the nearest tree. 

[ToraToraTora]

19:08, pity we can't nominate a stupidest answer.

[fiveleaves]

Why should i be ignored? I have seem the TV footage. That was a pre planned operation by somebody who knew what they were doing. Very surprised if it was a 16 year old.

We are getting upset about one tree, but the biodiversity loss in the UK even in my lifetime is a far, far greater tragedy, and we have a government that is showing no interest whatsoever in reversing that biodiversity loss

[fender62]

probably did it for notoriety, probably went around smashing windows graffiti, why...notoriety and to *** people off.

[naomi24]

Fiveleaves, you're conflating two separate issues.  This is about deliberate and wanton vandalism.

[DTCwordfan]

agree - and what an environmental t--t if that was his motif - though I think it was more the action of someone short of twenty pence in the pound, even at his age.

[Ellipsis]

This is also deliberate and wanton vandalism:

> https://theriverstrust.org/key-issues/state-of-our-rivers

England’s rivers, including 85% of the world’s precious chalk streams, are widely agreed to be a national treasure, yet only 14% are in good ecological health, and every single one fails to meet chemical standards.

Of these failing rivers, agriculture impacts nearly two thirds (2,296 river water bodies); the water sector impacts over a half (2,032 river water bodies); and the urban and transport sector a quarter. Pollution is not the only problem, though, as abstraction and habitat destruction also put the future of rivers in jeopardy.

[naomi24]

Ellipsis, like fiveleaves you're conflating two separate issues.  I fail to understand why you and he seem determined to steer this conversation away from the OP.  This is important too - isnt it?

[Ellipsis]

It's not conflating, it's adding. Deliberate and wanton vandalism is abhorrent, whether it's a 16 year old kid chopping a tree, or a water company dumping sewage into a chalk stream.  It's all horrendous.

[tomus42]

It was a big tree and it's cut quite cleanly near the base. It doesn't seem like something a 16 Yr old vandal could do single handedly.

[Ellipsis]

At night, in the middle of nowhere, during a named storm ... yes, I agree!