Category Archives: Ranger Rants

Blogger who falsely accused council officers of corruption ordered to pay £25K damages.

As a council officer and as a writer on the internet, I’ve been following the story of Jacqui Thompson and Carmarthenshire council for a while now.

Jacqui Thompson is vice-chair of the Community Council in the Carmarthenshire village of Llanwrda. She also maintains a blog critical of Carmarthenshire council and its officers. She found brief internet fame in 2011 when she was arrested after Carmarthenshire council objected to her filming one of its meetings on her mobile phone, causing a Twitterstorm of protest under the hashtag #daftarrest. And yesterday she was ordered to pay £25,000 in libel damages to a council’s chief executive over what Britain’s most senior libel judge described as an “unlawful campaign of harassment, defamation and intimidation”.

Burry Port Harbour, Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire has some nice bits

This is a sad business, but it has some wider implications for both council officers and bloggers.  Continue reading →

16 March, 2013Permalink 3 Comments

Should we pay £375,000 to poke buzzards out of their nests?

Something’s gone badly wrong at the Greenest Government Ever™. To say I’ve been profoundly disappointed at the environmental performance of the Coalition – in comparison to its glowing promises – is only the start of it. But at least, up until now, it has only been the traditional environmentalist’s bogeyman the Chancellor of the Exchequer who has been the boo-hiss villain happy to deride current protection of wildlife and landscapes as a “ridiculous cost” on business.

Buzzard (c) Lisa Lawley

Now the foes of our native biodiversity are expanding their reach. They are optimistic enough to be openly at work through DEFRA – traditionally the department that is responsible for nature reserves, protected landscapes, biodiversity, and protected species as well as farming, food and fishing. A modest DEFRA proposal for a research project on birds of prey has caused an extraordinary backlash of criticism from a wide range of respected voices throughout the conservation field. Having read it, I can understand why. The project is not large, but the implications are. And as far as I can see there are two possible explanations, neither of which give me any comfort. Either those who proposed this idea have an alarmingly poor understanding of the role and relative importance of native species versus introduced ones; or they don’t, but are confident enough to believe that any resistance to the proposal can be safely disregarded. Continue reading →

29 May, 2012Permalink 2 Comments

Thoughts from an angry park ranger

Sometimes people online confuse The Ranger with a US Park Ranger – although he’s very far from it. In real life there’s no such confusion: he really doesn’t look or sound like such a person. But it’s amazing how similar the experiences of his American counterparts can be, and yet how different.

Shelton Johnson, a park ranger in Yosemite

Shelton Johnson, a park ranger in Yosemite (not the author of the article, as far as we know!)

Have a look at the thoughts of an anonymous ranger who posted on craigslist. S/he strikes some very familiar chords with this ranger, even though s/he’s a very long way from the environment that British countryside managers work in. They don’t often have to deal with

…tweekers and gun toting survivalists who hate the government or want to use the wilderness as a place to stash sh*t for the Armageddon

…but more than a few UK rangers will recognise this cry from the heart:

Being a park ranger used to mean a lot of PR, giving directions, occasional search and rescue, first aid, and a periodic encounter with some idiot who drank too much. But now it means responding to the same calls any department handles in an urban area… domestics, more of what we classify as “disorderly conduct” offenses, and generally more people being rude and obnoxious…

Read the article to see some of the strange things this poor officer has to deal with. We hope their next season is more peaceful – it sounds as though they need the rest!

Via Bufords Essays. First published here in 2006: now revised with updated links.

22 May, 2012Permalink 2 Comments

A challenge worth rising to

The Red Tape Challenge! Wow, this has got to be good! The government is asking us all to get together and sweep away all the burdensome red tape that “hurts business, doing real damage to our economy”. What a great idea. Isn’t it? Well, isn’t it? Actually, no, it isn’t. And I’m going to tell you why not.

Red tape

Firstly, the good news – it’s actually not a bad idea to have a review of legislation. Like any legal system, we have a load of repetitive, poorly-drafted, ambiguous laws and regulations. That’s just the way laws work. And reviewing and changing them is not sexy, quick or exciting so it tends not to ever get done. Governments find it easier just to make nice new shiny laws and hope that everyone just forgets the old ones – and often we do. Continue reading →

14 May, 2011Permalink 3 Comments

Local provenance food at Waitrose

Wahoo! The Isle of Wight has finally joined the middle class, and a branch of Waitrose has opened in East Cowes, of all places. A few years ago our only Volvo dealership closed down and, frankly, most people still won’t venture across the water as far as Ikea, even if you can actually see it from the ferry. So Waitrose setting up shop is something that will get the yummy mummies chattering happily for sure.

Apple © monkeyc.net

The Ranger was pleased to see the new shop was touted as “the most ‘green’ supermarket in Britain“. Amongst other innovations, it appears that “the store will be supporting three local suppliers — Goddards Brewery, The Garlic Farm and The Tomato Stall“. Only three? Sounds a bit feeble. But surely Waitrose is the epitome of all that is worthy and green? Isn’t it? The Ranger went along to find out. Continue reading →

15 December, 2010Permalink 6 Comments

Destroy all trim trails!

The trim trail. A circuit of exercise equipment spread throughout a park or path, for visitors to undertake regulated exercise upon. Derived from the military assault-course training technique, the trim trail was very much in vogue in the 1970s and 80s. Whilst they’re not quite the in-thing any more, there are still plenty of them around. The Ranger has an unreasonable, irrational hatred of this stalwart of municipal open space. My colleagues are probably sick of hearing me ranting against them – and of politely failing to hear my querulous demands to rip the things out of my parks. I mean, how bad can they be? Well, here are my four objections to trim trails.

Trim trail

 

One. Trim trials take up a lot of space, and are intrusive. Whilst it is possible to have the whole course over a short distance, invariably that’s not the way they are used in public places. Perhaps it’s because like that it looks too much like its progenitor, the assault course. Whatever. A typical trim trial looks unattractive in the landscape and distributes that unattractiveness widely. Particularly galling are trim trail set-ups which go alongside a well-used country track or path – it means that those who use the path for other reasons are forced to look at the thing. Not fair.

Continue reading →

21 August, 2009Permalink 3 Comments

The Telegraph confuses rare flowers with buttonholes

Oh deary deary. I’ve tried to hold off, really, I have. I’ve been stifling back a really moany post about newspapers’ punctuation and italicisation of scientific names. Really, it’s for my own good. It wouldn’t show me at my best. But while all my attention is on the errant capitals another one sneaks up in the Telegraph today – and this time it’s a corker.

Carnations story, The Telegraph

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent: The summer mix of sunshine and rain has helped some of Britain’s rarest wild flowers make an unexpected return to the countryside, claims charity. Perfect weather conditions for plants in recent months have seen a number of the UK’s native species, including carnations and ferns, brought back from the brink of extinction.

Continue reading →

5 August, 2009Permalink Leave a comment

Do I need a driving licence to get a countryside job?

It’s possibly one of the most common question that people looking for a job ask The Ranger – both online and in real life. Lots of us fancy a career in countryside work – and it’s a good job we do, as we sure don’t do it for the money. For general advice on this topic, see Naturenet’s popular page, ‘Get a job working in the countryside industry: Naturenet shows you how‘.

Stephen Brown ADI, Driving instructor

But invariably, hopefuls will ask one particular question: do I need a driving licence? Continue reading →

8 September, 2008Permalink 1 Comment

Fancy a job?

There’s a great new job going. The Ranger’s more than happy with the job he’s got, but he’s mindful that the most popular page on Naturenet is “Get a job working in the countryside industry: Naturenet shows you how.” So if you’re job hunting, don’t miss out on this one, advertised today by the South East Employers:

Job advert

Here’s the low-down:

Progress through Partnership (PtP) Partnership and Communications Coordinator Salary:

27 May, 2008Permalink 1 Comment