RuSource

Summary
It’s too early to identify full impacts and some have been positive - residential lettings and tourism particularly but only in some areas. Higher costs and falls in spending are exacerbating challenges rather than producing new ones. There have been business closures, redundancies, difficulties accessing finance including late payments by big firms to small. Agriculture is suffering impacts of increasing costs and the wet harvest and construction businesses particularly are finding work tough to get.

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Summary
Woodland cover has increased from 5% to 9% of England since 1900 and new planting with broadleaved species is increasing. Under-management can harm biodiversity but owners are discouraged by lack of financial support, perceived over-regulation and the increased value of land for food production. Woodland can sequester carbon more rapidly than peat land and there are future opportunities for producing wood fuel and fibre, green space and leisure.

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Summary
Although ICT and broadband are available to rural businesses they have been slow to adopt it in an innovative way. Web 2.0 technologies are a range of communication and social networking tools which could be used to achieve significant benefits as they can operate independent of location, open new niche or global markets, improve knowledge transfer or adopt an innovative marketing approach. The paper provides a concise update about tools like blogs, wikis, social networking and podcasting.

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Summary
Biofuels have fallen in and out of favour. Long-term there appears to be a small but significant role that biofuels could play in the development of less carbon-intensive transportation. They could supply about, 26% of total transport fuel demand by 2050 but the realisation of this depends on smart public policy that overcomes the very real problems.

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…for his sons, seven years old and five years old. but he was upset to see them fighting over who should get the first bowl.

So Dad decided to teach a lesson. ” If Jesus were here, He would say, “Let my brother have the first bowl. I can wait.”"

The seven-year-old then took the high road, saying to his brother, “I’ll let you be Jesus!”

Summary
The population index of 116 breeding bird species in the United Kingdom has remained broadly stable since 1970. The indicator for farmland birds is about 55% of its 1970 value but has remained fairly stable since the early 1990s. That for woodland birds is about 20% lower than in the early 1970s. The most severe decline took place in the late 1980s/early 1990s, with the indicator broadly stable in recent years. The indicator of breeding seabird species is 30% higher than in 1970. That for wintering wetland birds rose by nearly 80% between 1975/76 and 2001/02, but there are signs of a decline in more recent years

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Summary
For agriculture to be successful more intensive production will be needed which will have to be managed within environmental constraints some of which are objective and some of which reflect public preferences. Success will depend on skills in resource use including competing in world markets. The dominance of special interest pressure groups and lack of expertise in government will bring problems in achieving success.

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Summary
Sometimes, the rural economy seems to be flourishing in spite of the framework that has been provided by the Government, rather than because of it. Tackling the factors that inhibit the growth of businesses in rural areas could make a substantial difference to the performance of England’s economy as a whole. These factors tend to be small scale and specific to a location. Defra should focus on achieving economic growth across rural areas as a whole, rather than concentrating solely on areas with the lowest level of performance. It means means translating the “big picture approach” into policy solutions that have the flexibility to deal with small-scale challenges.

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The computer’s swallowed grandma
Yes’ honestly’ its true
She pressed ‘control’ and ‘enter’
And disappeared from view.

It’s devoured her completely
The thought just makes me squirm
Maybe she’s caught a ‘virus’
Or been eaten by a ‘worm’.

I’ve searched through the recycle bin
And files of every kind
I’ve even used the internet
But nothing did I find.

In desperation I asked “Google”
My searches to refine
The reply from them was negative
Not a thing was found ‘online’.

So, if inside your ‘In Box’
My Grandma you should see
Please ‘Scan’, ‘Copy’ and ‘Paste’ her
In an e-mail back to me

Summary
Trenchant views about upland farming posted and answered in a Commission for Rural Communities blog.

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