Bracken peril for landowners

THE EU is prohibiting the use of Asulam weedkiller, marketed as Asulox, which is used for the eradication of invasive bracken and docks. Bracken spreads year by year and smothers other vegetation. The result is an ideal breeding ground for ticks and the ruining of grazing land.

Bracken is, therefore, bad news. Tick bites can transmit Lyme Disease to humans and louping ill to grouse. At a time when landowners are losing the battle against bracken, which is as difficult to control as Japanese knotweed, this is yet another nonsensical directive from Brussels.

Required reading

From: Janet McCulloch, Grosvenor Crescent, Warmsworth, Doncaster.

I HAVE just finished reading Gypsy Princess by Violet Cannon which I purchased from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop after reading Sheena Hastings’ recent interview with Violet. I thoroughly enjoyed the book which is a straightforward and honest account, just as if she is talking face to face. It should be required reading for all those who come into contact with gypsies in their working lives.

Summer bonus

From: DF Chambers, Sladeburn Drive, Northallerton.

OUR confidence in the promised global warming is renewed as we enjoy the balmy breezes of this Indian Summer and we rejoice with those fortunate owners of wind farms as they calculate their extra subsidies for not producing electricity at this time.

Oh, sorry – I seem to have slipped into Chris Huhne speak.

Mother’s orders

From: John Wilson, New Road Side, Horsforth.

SOME facts of life. Whenever a man feels the need to tell you he is a great leader, he probably isn’t. And when a man tells you he is his own man, he’s probably been told to say that by his mother.