Today's round-up features a spat over roaming birds, looks at how our environment is shaping our shopping habits and a Nazi stronghold which is set to become a swish hotel.
Village peacocks saved from cull
Peacocks in a South Yorkshire village are to be left alone despite complaints they were pests.
Finningley has allowed the birds roaming freely around the neighbourhood for decades, but some villagers had called for them to be culled, claiming they were creating mess, disturbing the peace and damaging cars.
Finningley Parish Council votes tonight for ‘Option 1: To Do Nothing’about the 22 Peacocks alleged to be causing noise, mess and damage in the village, after ecology study cost £2,000 @BBCSheffield @MyDoncaster pic.twitter.com/khaQvPAeWg
— Andy Kershaw ? (@andyksheffield) October 15, 2019
Twenty two Indian peafowl live in the village, including eight adult males, seven adult females and seven young.
A petition set up in support of the Finningley peacocks received hundreds of names, with residents calling them a tourist attraction.
Following a meeting, Finningley Parish Council chairman Richard Johnson said there was no way the birds would be killed. No action will be taken against the birds and they will continue to roam freely around the village duckpond.
How plastic bags were supposed to save the planet, not throttle it
The family of inventor Sten Gustaf Thulin have told the BBC how his design ‘was supposed to help the planet’ and how he’d be ‘shocked and upset’ to see what’s happened. Sobering.
From flat caps to Stranger Things: How our environment is shaping our shopping habits
Latest sales figures show that while environmental concern has had a huge impact on our buying habits, we’re still influenced by our favourite television series.
Reusable cutlery, straws and water bottles were among the most popular items bought from John Lewis over the past 12 months, showing consumers’ preferences to move away from throwaway plastics.
Our appetite for following trends of our on-screen obsessions was also indicated in the figures. There has been a boom in Peaky Blinders inspired flat caps and an increasing demand for retro styles thanks to Netflix’s Stranger Things.
On this day…
On 18 October, 1922 the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was founded, later renamed the British Broadcasting Corporation. The BBC is the world’s oldest national broadcasting organisation and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees.
Saving Britain’s buildings
Historic England’s latest survey of some of our great, at-risk buildings has raised concerns about all sorts of wonderful structures, from ancient bridges to eye-catching lighthouses.
The Dovercourt Lighthouses and Causeway. ©Historic England
The Dovercourt lighthouses in Harwich are among the affected places: ‘The fabric of the buildings is deteriorating and if work is not carried out, this precious landmark could be lost,’ says Rachael Turner in her report for Country Life.
And finally… Anyone fancy a holiday in a Nazi stronghold?
‘One of the largest Nazi-era bunkers in Germany is to be converted into a luxury hotel with a five-storey roof garden,’ reports The Times.
Flak Tower IV in Hamburg is a vast fortress built in 1942 to shelter 18,000 people from Allied bombing raids — and while it’s been used as a music venue in recent years, it’s little changed. Now, however, a Spanish developer now hopes to turn it into a 136-room novelty hotel, with a rooftop garden when anti-aircraft guns once trained their sights on British and American planes. No wonder opponents of the scheme have labelled it ‘macabre’.
