DURING the general election, my local MP sent me a questionnaire, asking which issues were of greatest importance to me – which I appreciated.
At no other time in my life has any politician shown the slightest (even performative) interest in finding out what I actually care about. So, though I knew it wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to policy, I responded.
Among my top priorities I listed public services, public transport and support for Ukraine. You’ll perhaps be surprised to learn that VAT on private schools didn’t even make an appearance on my list, though from all the fuss in the media you’d think it was all anyone cares about.
WANT MORE FROM JOHN MCNEE?
- We haven't heard a squeak about forestry. Don't expect that to change.
- This misty-eyed view of forestry is a privileged one
Top of my priorities was climate change, something I think all politicians across all parties should be committed to tackling, yet throughout the election it seemed the majority were reluctant to even mention it.
Meanwhile, in Germany, far from our election circus, news headlines were all about extreme weather events around the globe – droughts, flash floods and tropical storms all coming thick and fast, while general temperatures creep up, beyond the unbearable.
I’d flown there for the KWF (adding to my carbon footprint), which offered a cavalcade of innovations aimed at ensuring forestry remains productive throughout the climate crisis and does more to help combat it.
New methods for planting and strengthening trees so they remain resilient to drought. Machinery and equipment that allows harvesting to continue in all weathers while doing less damage to the ground. New processes to extract even more from the finished product, so absolutely nothing is wasted.
It was heartening be presented with the results of what people with a little imagination, skill and drive can achieve when they identify a problem and set out to solve it. If only our political class could be persuaded to do the same.
This article originally appeared as John McNee's Letter from the editor in Forestry Journal's July 2024 edition.
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