Willow for Flood Defence

On one night in December 2015, more rain fell over Cumbria than ever recorded before, and 600 farms across the county took a battering: livestock drowned, fencing was destroyed and tons of gravel ended up on fields resulting in hefty repair bills.

But while nearby bridges collapsed and the army was called out to help people flooded out of their homes, one farm was fine. The previous year the farmer had been persuaded to take part in an experimental project with a nearby paper mill, which involved planting 28 acres of willow crop, which saved his land.

The paper mill had just invested £108m in a biomass plant. Keen to move away from fossil fuels, they needed a sustainable source of wood chips for fuel. To keep their carbon footprint low, they looked local. A study concluded that will trees would be the best energy crop: quick to grow (6 inches in a week is not unusual) and don't have especially deep roots (a concern for farmers trying to grow other crops nearby).

After the 2015 deluge, there were islands of stones and railway sleepers in his fields but they had all been stopped by the willow. Planted the previous year, the willow wasn't yet ready for harvesting, but had slowed the flow by intercepting rain and impeding the flow of water over ground and soil. While the paper mill's focus was on feeding the biomass plant, willow's role as a flood barrier was a happy byproduct.

Farmers earn good prices per acre per year selling the harvested willow; a real boon in the increasingly marginal business of farming. It costs £1.20 to sheer a sheep but the going price of a fleece is just 20p. Income from growing willow means farmers are less reliant on subsidies.

The owner of the only working slate mine in England with land available but needing a low maintenance crop, also signed up to grow willow. She sees the new crop as performing a community service role, catching debris before it hits the town and slowing the speed of water on the flood plain. It also makes the land more productive and is more ecological, with increased biodiversity brought by the willow, which has the potential to attract 266 insect species, including 173 types of moths and 51 different types of beetle. Insects such as bees and overwintering butterflies also use the willow catkins as an early season nectar source.

Source: Flood defences: how willow proved to be a natural defender by Helen Pidd in The Guardian, 30 Dec. 2018.

Dos and Don'ts of Renting

All sorts of people at all sorts of ages end up renting accommodation (students, singles, divorcing couples, and more), so here is a what you need to remember.

Length of tenancy agreements
Today (Oct. 2018) usually last for six to twelve months. However, new goverment plans could see the introduction of minimum terms of three years, giving renters more security.

Protect your deposit
Deposits are often four to five weeks rent in advance. The landlord is required to place your deposit in one of three government-approved Tenancy Deposit Protection Schemes within 30 days of you paying it. They should give you proof of this. tenancydepositscheme.com

Protect your goods
You are not responsible for buildings insurance, but you should get contents insurance for your possessions.

Write an inventory.
When you move in, agree a checklist with your landlord of everything included in the tenancy, and list any faults and damage to the property, furniture and fittings. Take photos of existing damage to avoid being penalised for existing problems.

Fees
Find out exactly what you are being charged for by letting agents. They can't charge you for registering or showing you a list of properties.

Protect your credit score
As long as you are a good tenant who pays their rent on time, you can make it count towards improving your credit history. CreditLadder will report your rental payments to credit reference agency Experian.

Don't forget the bills
Unless specified otherwise, you are responsible for paying bills, including council tax, TV licence and telephone bills.

Source: Feature in Good Housekeeping, Oct. 2018

8 Reasons Brexit Happened

Who do I blame? Eight reasons we ended up in this Brexit mess. By Ian Jack

Who’s to blame? The problem is where to start.

1. De-industrialisation. Jobs in UK manufacturing shrank from 7m to 5.1m between 1979 and 1986. More were lost in service industries. Of these losses, 94% were north of the line between the Wash and the Bristol Channel. Happening mostly during the Thatcher years, it has been wrongly attributed to government policy rather than the consequence of economic misfortune. Wealth and opportunity moved south. The social ruin was terrible. Skills were lost, traditions ended. Part of what it meant to be British disappeared. Nobody knew or seemed to care what was supposed to happen to places such as Oldham and Paisley.

2. Immigration. Both natives and immigrants need to revises ideas about where they live and the kind of people they are. As things started to settle after the 1950s influx, concerns were re-ignited with the 2004 Blair government decision to open the UK labour market to the eight new EU states (only Sweden and Ireland did so as freely.), later conceded to be a mistake. In the first year 129,000 migrants turned up instead of the expected 5,000 to 13,000. “Nobody asked us!” said those who felt strongly about it (and then, in June 2016, somebody did ask.)

3. Cultural dementia. Historian Professor David Andress argues that France, the US and Britain are all engaged in “particular forms of forgetting, mistaking and misremembering the past”. As a population we are older than we have ever been, but seem to focus on daydreams of the past and along the way stir up old hatreds, give disturbing voice to destructive rage and risk the collapse of our capacity for decisive, effective and just governance. One such daydream is the belief that the nations of the old empire are “queuing up” to sign trade deals with the country that once ruled them.

4. The Dam Busters. Difficult to explain but England has a curious fascination for an Anglocentric version of WW2, which has grown even as the event has receded, perpetuating old notions of difference and moral superiority. This leads us to …

5. English exceptionalism. Sitting at the top table of nations, punching above our weight, a freedom-loving people ever ready to fight faceless bureaucracies and red tape seem to be predominantly English ideas

6. The playing fields of Eton. Their damaging contribution to contemporary British politics includes David Cameron, Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg: a too-confident incompetent, an opportunist and a cartoon version of the ruling class.

7. The newspapers. While some blame poor education for the Brexit vote, and the electoral influence of newspapers may shrinking now, with their circulations, they are far more rabid (eg the Mail, the Sun and the Telegraph) in England than in Scotland, and inform far more of the public debate.

8. Complacency. During the 2014 Scottish referendum campaign, some voters opted for independence because they felt that in areas like Sunderland, people want to leave Europe. Independence could allow Scotland to stay in the EU. Few were as farsighted.

Source: The Guardian, 3 March 2018

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/mar/03/brexit-immigration-jobs-eton-europe

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Diet for Eczema and Psoriasis

Psoriasis and eczema diet

Devised by sufferer Hanna Sillitoe, she cut out caffeine, alcohol, sugar, dairy and wheat. Here is why.

Caffeine stimulates the nervous system to produce cortisol, a hormone which helps the body respond to stress and preparing us for a ‘fight or flight’ response. Cortisol also:

• Has the potential to trigger skin conditions such as acne.
• Depresses the immune system, making it much more difficult for our skin to fight off bacteria.
• Encourages the body to pump out insulin. This can insulin trigger over-production of new skin cells, Increase the body’s inflammation levels (exacerbating existing skin conditions and causing skin to appear redder and more swollen).

Alcohol is a natural diuretic, so the more you drink, the more dehydrated you become. Drinking too much deprives the skin of vital vitamins and nutrients (e.g. Vitamin A is essential for cell renewal). Check labels, because alcohol is often a major ingredient in skin-care products.

Sugary carbohydrates cause insulin levels to spike and potentially causing stress, redness and visible swelling on the skin’s surface. Autoimmune illnesses such as psoriasis are activated by an over-responsive immune system. Worst culprits include sugar, sweets, ice cream, white pasta, ketchup, pre-packaged snacks and fizzy drinks. Digested sugar permanently attaches to the proteins in our skin through a process known as glycation. Over time, this destroys collagen and elastin, the proteins that keeping skin firm and supple.

Dairy is hard to digest, even in those without a diagnosed allergy and can cause inflammation.

So try to eat as many anti-inflammatory foods as possible so focus on eating more fruit and vegetables.

Wheat is high on the glycaemic index, and can also cause skin problems, not only for those with a diagnosed allergy.

High GI foods raise blood sugar, in turn triggering insulin. Elevated insulin levels are linked to increased sebum production that can clog pores and lead to acne breakouts; more worryingly they promote chronic inflammation throughout the body.

Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, aubergine and peppers) contain alkaloids which are believed to provoke gut irritation (known as leaky gut) and so are not advisable for anyone with autoimmune skin conditions such as psoriasis.

Everyone is different, so as always, it’s important to establish whether these foods are posing a real problem for you

Hannah Sillitoe blog with recipes https://mygoodnessrecipes.com/

Source: Daily Mail article 3 November 2017
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5032877/Psoriasis-eczema-sufferer-s-diet-cure-helps-thousands.html

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Essential Nutrients for Vegan Eating

Making the switch to a more plant-based diet? You need to make sure you get the following essential nutrients.

Iron: wholegrains, quinoa, nuts, seeds, beans, chickpeas, lentils, leafy green vegetables, dried apricots and egg yolk.

Vitamin B12: a supplement of B12 or B12-fortified non-dairy milk alternatives.

Calcium: non-dairy milk or yoghurt alternative with added calcium; tofu made with calcium sulphate (check the label); chickpeas, beans, kale, broccoli and almonds.

Iodine: multivitamin and mineral supplement containing 150 micrograms of iodine.

Best plant proteins

Chickpeas: contain about 9g in half a can, plus significant amounts of iron, magnesium and a type of fibre that feeds the 'good' microbes in the gut.

Chia and hemp seeds: unlike other seeds, they contain all eight essential amino acids, making them 'complete' proteins. They are also excellent sources of alpha-linolenic acid, a type of omega-3 fat.

Tofu and tempeh: made from soya bean curd, both are complete proteins and are rich in isoflavones, which have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

Quinoa and buckwheat: contain one and a half times more protein than pasta or rice and are good sources of iron and zinc, both important for the immune system.

Edamame beans: these are young soya beans and excellent sources of protein and fibre, as well as phytochemicals that help lower blood cholesterol levels.

Source: Feature in Good Housekeeping, September 2018 and February 2019.