Breaking Waves: Ocean News

When framing the shortlist for the 2023 bird of the year, we opted for familiar Aussie birds that hold a special place in our hearts The Australian bird of the year poll launches today, 25 September 2023 Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Those of us who work at Birdlife Australia get asked a lot of questions about birds. Usually, it’s to ID a mystery backyard bird. (Nine times out of 10 it’s a butcherbird!) Occasionally, we get thrown a much curlier question such as “Is a cassowary a bird?”, “Do birds have penises?” or “What’s your favourite bird?”. The answers are: “yes”, “females don’t, but neither do males of most species – they have a cloaca, which is a topic for another day”. And the last question is almost impossible to answer. How can you possibly choose? Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Sean Dooley is national public affairs manager for BirdLife Australia You can vote in the bird of the year poll from 6am Monday 25 September to 11.59pm Thursday 5 October Continue reading...

Militant pensioner says a majority want a traditional feature but project leaders call row an attack on democracy Ilkley is an affluent, leafy town, one point of Yorkshire’s “Golden Triangle” where average house prices top £560,000. Last year it was named the best place to live in the UK, and its tree-lined streets hark back to the days when it was a spa town where wealthy Victorians took the waters, Charles Darwin among them. Now the peace and quiet of this favourite municipality of the middle-classes is being rocked by a row between the, often older, traditionalists in the town and a charitable body of volunteers who were hoping to give it just a flick of a modern makeover. The fight centres on the proposed design of a fountain, to be built at the heart of the town at the junction of its two wide shopping avenues. Continue reading...

Former Cop26 chair says emissions cuts must be made elsewhere and ministers must show how they plan to achieve this Alok Sharma, the former Tory cabinet minister who chaired the landmark Cop26 UN summit in Glasgow, has warned Rishi Sunak that he will now have to find other ways to cut emissions if the UK is to meet its international climate obligations, following last week’s dramatic U-turns on green policy. In his first comments since Sunak’s announcement on Wednesday, Sharma told the Observer that “rolling back on certain policies will mean we need to find emissions reductions elsewhere, if we are to meet our legally binding near term carbon budgets and our internationally committed 2030 emissions reduction target”. Continue reading...

John Caudwell, who gave party £500,000 before 2019 election, did not rule out supporting Labour Billionaire John Caudwell, the biggest donor to the Conservative party before the last election, has said he will not back Rishi Sunak after the “madness” of his U-turn on green policies. Caudwell said he was now thinking about switching to Labour instead. Continue reading...