Trees can mean an awful lot to us. They are deep-rooted, for want of a better phrase, in our culture and mythology. And the outpouring of grief and anger over the destruction of that single sycamore has been widespread, from environmentalists and nature charities to politicians and celebrities.
Yes, indeed. It was a monumentally awful thing to do. And with the culprit still at large and the motive unknown.
There is a bitter irony to the fact that on the same day the tree was cut down, the National Trust unveiled its own grim news: a report on the state of nature in Britain.
Not half as bitter as the report that when someone went and planted a new sapling, they promptly dug it up, eh. Rob?
We live in what purports to be a progressive, civilised and “nature-loving” nation that is one of the wealthiest on the planet and yet we have a government that has just proudly and systematically backtracked on its commitments to meet climate imperatives and torn up its environmental policies and promises.
What does that have to do with someone's lone act of vandalism? Until they are caught, we'll never know if this was politically motivated, will we?
How can we expect people to form the kind of connections with this living world that might stop a tree-cutter’s saw or force a change in habits if they cannot be in it? How can we ask people to protect something they have no sense of belonging in, or to?
But you see, for Rob, of course it must be a political act caused by 'the Tories'. Because for Rob, everything is...
