James Alexander

Victoria, Louis, Robin; INSEAD, Egg, Zopa; LEK, The Foundation, Future Agenda: RSPB, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, #Voicefortheplanet, Agricarbon

[Craig Bennett @CraigBennett3]

Such fantastic news!

Congratulations and thanks @MaryCreagh_ and @SteveReedMP
at @DefraGovUK

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

@CraigBennett3 @SteveReedMP @DefraGovUK @RGS_IBG Fabulous. Well done @SteveReedMP. Please help the chancellor understand that this is a big growth opportunity for the U.K. too. We have world leading capability in this arena that can also boost our export services in helping make faster nature positive progress around the world

[Craig Bennett @CraigBennett3]

Absolutely.

And the longer England carries on without wild #beaver releases, the longer we deny ourselves these enormous climate, ecological, and economic benefits...

Time for Ministers to make that decision please!

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

@TicketsPompey looking for 2 or 4 tickers

[Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole]

“UK to appoint nature envoy for first time”

This is great news - and it means that the UK really needs to act to protect more land for nature pronto, to have credibility in international nature negotiations!

⁦@DavidLammy⁩ ⁦@SteveReedMP⁩ https://t.co/kzHF02EquE

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

I won’t comment politically - but surely this is the best ad for ‘change’ ever.

[Savan Qadir @savanQadir]

Gosh this is brutal 🔥

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

@CraigBennett3 @suffolkwildlife Great job @CraigBennett3 on your closing rallying cry - and thank you to all @WildlifeTrusts for co-ordinating us all, keeping us safe and enabling a joyous (and serious) celebration of nature

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

@patrick_barkham @ChrisGPackham The truth. Climate is bad. And nature will get us before climate. We need to act on both immediately - and not as an aside in our short-term Ostrich head in the sand like behaviour. Demand action now this is an a-political issue and needs to be acted on as such

[Chris Packham @ChrisGPackham]

If you love life and want a healthy planet to live on please come . . . apparently it’s not even going to rain (don’t hold me to that - it did last time) and thanks to @patrick_barkham @guardian for this . . . https://t.co/ctVCJLG9WP Details here https://t.co/nYWIAyJQ4g

[Chris Packham @ChrisGPackham]

Nature doesn't have a voice , but we do .
Nature can't act , but we must .

#RestoreNatureNow this Saturday – be there !

[Restore Nature Now @RNNMarch]

📢In just 2 weeks time, tens of thousands of people will march to Parliament to demand that whoever leads the next government, they do more to #RestoreNatureNow

The dire need is clear - pollution, species extinction and habitat decimation threatens not just wildlife, but our own future.

Funding and protection must be given to nature, polluters must pay for damage caused and emissions must be cut. Effective climate action must be taken. The solutions exist. No more broken promises. Urgent action must be taken. 🛟🌎

Will you be there? Can you spread the word?
**Saturday 22nd June - Park Lane, London**
https://t.co/yolUlnciyf

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

Fabulous and fast analysis of Labours new nature policies by @guyshrubsole (thank you). This is very welcome news. We should encourage and support even bolder moves - as it will be good for us individually, as a society, for our economy and for our nation #RestoreNatureNow

[Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole]

I've been sent the full list of Labour's new nature policies - see screengrabs below. Some of these are profiled in the Guardian's piece here: https://t.co/exN2G1jKnf

Here's my take on them below. Thread 1/

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

The hard truth. This is rural Suffolk - in an incredibly old & beautiful spot surrounded by commercial arable farming. The result=decimation of insect populations. Imagine what that means for anything ‘higher up’ in food chain? Same’s true nationwide. Canary in the mineshaft.

[Julian Roughton @JulianRoughton]

Back in UK for a spell. I’ve had brief sightings of 2 butterflies (small white & speckled wood) in 3 days. The garden is managed for wildlife and grass isn’t cut until mid-July. Something is very wrong.

[Craig Bennett @CraigBennett3]

"Without #nature there is no economy, no health, no society" @UKLabour
@SteveReedMP Shadow @DefraGovUK tells the @_FutureCountry conference at Sion Park

A very welcome recognition that #nature underpins everything

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

@JulianRoughton Stunning. Thanks for sharing Julian. These are always a tonic for what / why we must restore urgently

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

@JennyA_Rawson @suffolkwildlife @hanslope @stuttonsparrows @EstherRosewarne @coastalwarden @EnviroTeresa @GrahamDenny9 @SoSSwifts @wakelyns @JohnSan20566809 @SuffolkTrees @JennyA_Rawson Excited for your new adventure. Jenny your contribution and impact over the last few years has been incredible - thank you.

[Suffolk Wildlife Trust North East Reserves @SWT_NE_Reserves]

Return journey from this mornings breeding bird survey at Carlton Marshes was delayed by a crossing slow worm..Wildlife before that needed mug of tea ☕️ @suffolkwildlife @BTO_Suffolk @BBCCountryfile @HeritageFundUK @ARC_Bytes

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

A picture saves a thousand words. Staggering that our Government have let our National Parks decline to this state. Poor in flowers, plants, buds, birds and mammals. Neither nature nor people flourish in a ‘desert’

[Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole]

@JLewisStempel Floral diversity on Dartmoor, courtesy of sheep, governed by Countryside Stewardship-mandated grazing schemes:

[James Alexander @jamesgreenthing]

Let’s make this an election won or lost on the strength of nature and green policies - it certainly will be in my part of Suffolk

[Craig Bennett @CraigBennett3]

Just putting this here again...

#GeneralElection2024

https://t.co/7busvT18M7

[Andrew Fox @Mr_Andrew_Fox]

The IDF are conducting another assault in the North of Gaza, around Jabalia (see @2023gazawar’s excellent map, below). Critics are asking why the IDF are repeatedly going into areas they have already cleared and claiming this is a flaw in operational design. These critics have totally misunderstood what Israel is trying to do. Here’s what I think:

The answer is simple: the IDF have absolutely no intention of using the clear / hold / build counterinsurgency tactics the West tried in Afghanistan. Why would they? Those tactics were a disaster in Afghanistan.

The flaw in Western analysis is always the same: “we wouldn’t do it that way”. See Russia in Ukraine for another example of another country catching out Western analysts (me included).

If you look at what’s possible, what the best version of “success” looks like, and what Israel are doing… I put it to you that in Gaza we are seeing a masterpiece of operational design.

Ignore the “destroy Hamas” political rhetoric. The IDF are not *trying* to clear Gaza.

So what are they doing? What’s possible? Any kind of political solution? Definitely not. No-one on the international stage has expressed any interest in helping with governance in Gaza. According to polling, 2% of Gazans support an Israeli-backed administration. The majority want Hamas back. Israel’s solution? Let them have Hamas.

But the version of Hamas they’ll get is one heavily degraded militarily, but most importantly, with vast swathes of their tunnels and civilian-embedded infrastructure destroyed.

“Never again is now” isn’t just an empty slogan. Israeli operational design isn’t built around destroying Hamas, or regime change, or political change in Gaza. Those things aren’t possible. The operation is built around making sure 7th October can never happen again. Absent the possibility of any enduring political solution, that’s what success for them looks like for Israel.

Israel have methodically razed what civilian-embedded Hamas infrastructure they could find in Gaza City, Khan Younis, and now Rafah.

They have secured the Netzarim corridor (middle of the map) to control freedom of movement from South to North. It looks like they are trying to do the same thing along the Philadelphi corridor and Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, to cut off the inflow of weapons and supplies to Hamas (see the blue, bottom right corner of the map as the IDF break in to Rafah).

Facial recognition software in controlled areas allows the IDF to stop known Hamas commanders moving around. This also allows the IDF to strike as and when concentrations of Hamas are identified, to degrade their manpower, then withdraw again (see the Shifa hospital operation and the current Jabalia operation).

At the same time they have destroyed buildings to create a 1km buffer zone around the Gaza border. This will prevent any repeat of 7 October. Nobody in Gaza is getting anywhere near the border.

The operational end state here is significant infrastructure destroyed, Hamas fighting capability degraded, and the border secure; with the IDF retaining the capability to strike into Gaza at will. All whilst shifting hundreds of thousands of civilians out of harm’s way and minimising innocent casualties (Hamas’ human shield tactics aside).

The downsides: the destruction of Hamas-infested civil infrastructure has caused enormous damage. Urban warfare always comes with civilian casualties. The Egyptians look very twitchy about Israeli control of the Southern border. This isn’t a long-term political solution. The destruction has, of course, drawn huge international condemnation. Failure to communicate the plan has damaged Israel’s international standing, and they have been crushed in the global information war for the narrative. But: none of these are show-stoppers yet, strategically speaking.

Debate the morality in the comments. But, militarily, this is quite brilliant operational design within the bounds of what was realistically possible.