Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yeah, the problem is that the UK practices environmental conservatism rather than going for rewilding etc. A new town in the Cambridge/Oxford area would be great for the economy; but it would also be an ecological improvement replacing a modern farm desert with all the complexity of an urban environment including suburban gardens. Similarly, ecological conservatism highly values the sheep-infested environments of Northern England which are totally man-made ecological deserts that require extensive subsidies from government to keep the businesses going. Stop the subsidies and let the land revert, the unemployed farmers can find work helping to build new towns.

Incidentally, if you like the appearance of the Lake District, be careful not to read too much George Monbiot; he has completely changed my view of the place.

[The Brain]

Hobbits are set in their ways.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Yes, if you want to understand the English then the LOTR is a key text. Tolkien nailed it better than most sociologists 

[Tamas]

Yeah they need to do environmental impact assessments.

Worth noting this is the data centre on the Iver landfill site - so while it is in the greenbelt it's very much a brownfield development. There's been a few brownfield developments that have been stymied at the environmental impact asseessment stage because there are some very rare species of spiders that basically thrive in post-industrial landscapes

This is the example Starmer gave of spiders blocking the development of a whole new town which is basically true. A train station was built with a plan for a new town around it and nothing has been built and 15,000 homes blocked (largely on brownfield sites) because it's now the home of a rare spider so a protected site

OMFG.

Yeah because spiders are unheard in gardens and homes. Bloody hell, I need to make sure never to let these environmentalists into my garage or they'll have me empty the place so as not to disturb the thriving spider ecosystem in there.