“Eggflation” - there’s a new word to go in our vocabulary! And smuggling eggs across the border from Mexico into the USA is an idea straight out of an old comedy film. Because of an outbreak of avian flu there is a shortage of eggs in at least some parts of the USA. At border crossings “egg interceptions” have increased by 150%! Who knew that eggs were Likely to become contraband items?
From watching American films and TV series you get the impression that eggs are an important part of the American breakfast. A bit like the “full English” breakfast, I suppose. I have no idea how true this is. Wherever the truth of that matter, the price of eggs has seemingly gone crazy, with prices close to $10 a dozen in parts of California, whereas in Mexico they still cost only $2 a dozen!
Now, the USA might not want Mexican (people) immigrants to come across the border but it appears that loads of people (200,000 cars a day) drive across the border in the other direction to buy groceries because they are cheaper down-Mexico-way. “It’s very common for people to shop for their groceries on the Mexican side and bring them across,” said Joaquin Luken, executive director of the Smart Border Coalition, a group that helps facilitate cross-border mobility. “So a lot of them bring dry produce materials that they buy on the Mexican side.”
Some things can’t be brought across the border: raw chicken, unprocessed avian products and live birds. And eggs. Even used egg cartons might introduce diseases into the United States. And so eggs are being confiscated at the border crossings. Big fines are being imposed!
What a strange world we live in!
Here in the UK Rachel Reeves has upset conservationist animal-loving Chris Packham. As part of her plan to get more houses built, the chancellor is reported to have said that she wanted businesses to “focus on getting things built, and stop worrying about the bats and the newts”. Oh dear! Very poor wording!
Chris Packham says bats are being scapegoated as getting in the way of economic growth. “I am always someone who likes to deal with the facts so I would really like to know over the course of a year how many planning applications are completely refused because of bats, as a percentage of all those across the country. I am going to hazard a guess that it would be a fraction of 1%.”, he sad. “They picked bats because most people never get to see them and engage with them because they are nocturnal. They wouldn’t pick on hedgehogs or red squirrels, for example.”
Well, yes! People have a sentimental attitude to hedgehogs and squirrels. Children’s stories have a big influence - Mrs Tiggywinkle and friends. Bats, on the other hand, are usually associated with vampires and other such nocturnal nasties. The ones that flit around in our garden on warm summer evenings look pretty harmless though.
Anyway, some of this goes back to an EU directive from 1992. This legislation protects threatened animals across Europe including dormice, great crested newts, otters, water voles and stag beetles. Their habitat must not be disturbed without mitigation, and as bats like to sleep in rafters, you have to mindful of that when making extensions to houses. And newts and such live in ponds which might be disturbed by new estates being built nearby. But Rachel Reeves is proposing a “radical shake-up” which would “cut costly red tape that fails to deliver for local communities, such as hundreds of pages of guidance on protecting bat habitats”, arguing “it should not be the case that to convert a garage or outbuilding you need to wade through hundreds of pages of guidance on bats”.
Oh dear! This is a country where people get very sentimental about animals - even bats. You need to be careful how you word things so that you don’t provoke an opposition argument. Its all rather batty!
Around here they’re actually building quite a lot of houses. Yesterday, on my way to collect a grandchild from school, I caught the 356 bus that took me through the village of Diggle. On a couple of previously empty fields close to the new location of the local comprehensive school a whole new estate is being constructed. What a surprise! As usual it has a fancy name: Broadstone Manor - 70 new houses in all. They’re going to have underfloor heating from an air source heat pump. So no chimneys!
And probably no shops either! When I was about five years old my family moved into a brand new council house on a brand new estate between Birkdale and Ainsdale in Southport. Smack in the middle of the estate was a row of shops, also newly built, with accommodation above them, within walking distance from anywhere on the estate. Nowadays I get the impression that walking to the shops is not taken into a count. Everyone has a car, of course, and everyone shops online or does a big supermarket shop every other week. But surely even the trendiest people need a corner shop, at least, you can walk to when you run out of milk or want a morning paper!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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