The good news today is that the Environment Agency has put on hold its plans to dispose of 22 lock-keeper's cottages pending further investigation.

What sort of organization announces a plan without first looking at the pros and cons. Answer- a Government one. Since Labour came to power 11 years ago we have had a whole series of
disasters, now too numerous to detail here, but how about going to war in Iraq without proper equipment resulting in needless loss of life, the ID card fiasco - who would now dare to endorse that idea in view of the subsequent loss of computer discs and laptops, etc.

We need both a change in government and a tightening up of controls and standards - and a little bit of integrity wouldn't be a bad thing either.

good luck to the protesters im totaly against any more airport expansion air fares are due to rise 40 p cent good no need to expand any more then

"This new runway cannot and will not be built." Greens, doncha love 'em. Telling us all what will and will not happen.

Not the slightest hint of a mandate, just pure anadulterated authoritarian elitism. These are the type of people who rise the ranks in the E.U. - natural home of the German Greens. No wonder they have a problem with people voting.

Ghastly people.

Oh dear. Looks likes daddy's trust fund is going to take a hit this month!

Not enough of a fine I think, although we do need rail expansion, build by British companies and British people who care about our country!

But we do need to expand Heathrow, we need to keep some national pride, and we can say we have the busiest airport in the world!

It is ashame that some people on this thread see national pride being manifested in the building of yet another runway, to fuel a demand for flights that could so easily be avoided. Why do we persist in flying between cities in this country, when we could develop a more environmentally friendly alternative ? (people always complain about the public transport system in this country...given that Terminal 5 cost £1 billion, I imagine this new runway would cost far more --- that money could be better spent on more climate friendly forms of transport)

I say good on Greenpeace and others that regard the stability of the environment over and above nationalist patriotic and economic sentiments. One day, we'll look back at these pointless economic ventures as having been so futile. In the meantime, enjoy your ignorant bliss

Eating less meat would sooner have a greater impact on the environment than planes. The meat industry is responsible for 20% of the greenhouse gasses affecting the planet, more than all of transport put together.
World hunger could also be solved as 18 times as many people could be fed if the land used to farm animals was used to grow plant derived food. To get serious about the environment and the planets problems, just eat veggies. Is it that simple? yes.

The rise in air fares and the credit crunch would suggest this third runway is unnecessary. Hooray, lets spend more in the UK to make this country a better home so we don't have to get away from it. More festivals - more community events - more creative outlets.

Direct action is never acceptable and destroys the credibility of the argument in a democracy. One man's cause is another's anarchy. Protest, campaign and challenge all you like but in the end accept the will of the majority expressed through Parliament.

The trouble with "Greens" is they have very loud mouths, lots of long winded explanations but bugger all reality. Sure there are many more eco friendly ways of getting people around the planet but do you really want to spend 10 weeks on a slow boat to China? Because that is the reality of what they are talking about. When they can come up with some realistic and sensible proposals that don't mean everyone has to put their lives on hold for months at a time then all well and good. But until then maybe they can just give a bit of consideration to those of us trying to lead our lives as best we can and just butt out and keep there dictatorial attitudes to themselves. Some hope!

Don wrote:
Eating less meat would sooner have a greater impact on the environment than planes. The meat industry is responsible for 20% of the greenhouse gasses affecting the planet, more than all of transport put together. World hunger could also be solved as 18 times as many people could be fed if the land used to farm animals was used to grow plant derived food. To get serious about the environment and the planets problems, just eat veggies. Is it that simple? yes. The rise in air fares and the credit crunch would suggest this third runway is unnecessary. Hooray, lets spend more in the UK to make this country a better home so we don\'t have to get away from it. More festivals - more community events - more creative outlets.

we are carnivors. we were designed by nature to eat meat.

so we will.

farm land is now mainly being used for bio fuels. nothing to do with meat at all.

David N House wrote:
Direct action is never acceptable and destroys the credibility of the argument in a democracy. One man\'s cause is another\'s anarchy. Protest, campaign and challenge all you like but in the end accept the will of the majority expressed through Parliament.

I would like to agree with that, but i cant. I cant because we don't have a democracy. The words "illegal war with Iraq" spring to mind just for starters on that topic! Not to mention EU treaty referendum!

Don wrote:
Eating less meat would sooner have a greater impact on the environment than planes. The meat industry is responsible for 20% of the greenhouse gasses affecting the planet, more than all of transport put together. World hunger could also be solved as 18 times as many people could be fed if the land used to farm animals was used to grow plant derived food. To get serious about the environment and the planets problems, just eat veggies. Is it that simple? yes. The rise in air fares and the credit crunch would suggest this third runway is unnecessary. Hooray, lets spend more in the UK to make this country a better home so we don't have to get away from it. More festivals - more community events - more creative outlets.

You can stick to your realm of the carrot cruncher if you want.

As for me, I'm off to have a big, fat, juicy steak for lunch.

Hugging a tree would have been more beneficial

David N House wrote:
Direct action is never acceptable and destroys the credibility of the argument in a democracy. One man's cause is another's anarchy. Protest, campaign and challenge all you like but in the end accept the will of the majority expressed through Parliament.

As another reader said we do not have a representative democracy. The vast majority of us spend our whole lives in constituencies in which the party elected never changes. Without proportional representation, in some form or another, there will always be millions of people who feel that they have no representation whatsoever in the British Parliament. Amongst that very large number will be some who feel they have no way of getting their views acknowledged other than by taking direct action. Proportional representation could not give us worse government than we have experienced in the last few decades, by governments of both major parties when they have had large majorities.

Faster methods of transport? Yeah, good luck with those 500mph+ trains!

Ric: We're technically omnivores btw, but agree about bio fuels :)