# More ... > Beekeeping and the environment >  SBA AGM Vote in the Herald

## gavin

Check it out here:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/h...cides.20543869

There is also a letter here by Clare Darlaston who spoke on Saturday in defense of Eric's motion:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/commen...cides.20543861

Not much on the views of the beekeepers that voted against the motion.  Maybe it is time to write a letter .......

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## Trog

Nice to see a balanced article where the reporter has taken the trouble to seek a reply to the accusations.  Let's hope any others do the same.
Does anyone know the Glasgow beekeeper who wrote the letter?  How long has she kept bees?

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## Black Comb

2 "imagines" prove nothing.

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## gavin

> Nice to see a balanced article where the reporter has taken the trouble to seek a reply to the accusations.  Let's hope any others do the same.
> Does anyone know the Glasgow beekeeper who wrote the letter?  How long has she kept bees?


I've met her a few times at beekeeper meetings in Glasgow.  She sups from the same well as Eric opinions-wise and seems to have sent her letter straight to Moraybeedinosaurs (always nice to give them a mention) which might suggest a degree of behind the scenes collaboration between the campaigning types (see Jimbo's post on the other thread).  Although I suppose it could have been Eric or maybe he just trawls the papers every morning.

Anyone else up for writing to the Herald with an alternative view?

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## Neils

This false equivalence that not supporting a ban amounts to endorsement still annoys me.

Without a supporting framework behind the ban regards to what happens next it remains very difficult to support because the assumption has to be that the path of least resistance is to resume use of what came before and I remain unconvinced that it represents a better choice either for bees or the wider environment as a whole.

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## wee willy

> This false equivalence that not supporting a ban amounts to endorsement still annoys me.
> 
> Without a supporting framework behind the ban regards to what happens next it remains very difficult to support because the assumption has to be that the path of least resistance is to resume use of what came before and I remain unconvinced that it represents a better choice either for bees or the wider environment as a whole.


I agree wholeheartedly 
Neonics kill all invertebrates they come in contact with but to just ban and then watch the fall out is fool hardy . I remember fishing on a nearby river when I heard puffing and panting followed by seeing a chap running with a flag ! He was a marker for a crop spraying light aircraft!. I was next enveloped in a cloud of some noxious substance concocted by the petro-chemical industry. What settled on the water look on a technicolor iridescent sheen !
Please let's not return to those days!
A strategic withdrawal from neonics I has got to be the sane option!
WW 


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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## The Drone Ranger

wouldn't it be easier just to adjust the subsidy paid on treated and untreated plantings ?

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## The Drone Ranger

> Nice to see a balanced article where the reporter has taken the trouble to seek a reply to the accusations.  Let's hope any others do the same.
> Does anyone know the Glasgow beekeeper who wrote the letter?  How long has she kept bees?


Hiya Trog

In fairness they do quote the SBA president on the small size of the voting members compared to the size of the SBA

re-reading that previous sentence it has a slight air of smut which of course was unintended

I often think new bee keepers are the best informed (except for the organic ones they are nuts)

Gone snow blind and stir crazy now

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## gavin

Bear in mind that the voting members for the motion were smaller and I'll be happy! 

Yes, many new beekeepers absorb everything and have a thirst to learn - not all of course. 

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## gavin

> wouldn't it be easier just to adjust the subsidy paid on treated and untreated plantings ?


I presume that you're talking about the improvement in vigour noted by farmers planting neonic seed (unsubstantiated of course), and so them being better for pollinators, and hence a reward warranted for the boost for bees? 

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## The Drone Ranger

> Check it out here:
> 
> http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/h...cides.20543869
> 
> There is also a letter here by Clare Darlaston who spoke on Saturday in defense of Eric's motion:
> 
> http://www.heraldscotland.com/commen...cides.20543861
> 
> Not much on the views of the beekeepers that voted against the motion.  Maybe it is time to write a letter .......


registering with the Herald set 15 extra tracking cookies in firefox browser
funniest comment so far was some lady saying she wont be buying Scottish honey in future
It's pretty unlikely will get any after last years weather I would think  :Smile:

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## The Drone Ranger

> I presume that you're talking about the improvement in vigour noted by farmers planting neonic seed (unsubstantiated of course), and so them being better for pollinators, and hence a reward warranted for the boost for bees? 
> 
> Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk


Other way really give the higher subsidy for untreated seed

I'm not sure that higher seed production / hectare is better or worse for the bees. 
Thats kind of tied to nectar production by the variety grown
Any idea of proportions of wind/ insect pollination in rape ?

To quote Jonathan Ross "wun for your wives hes a waypest and a wobber"

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## Jon

There was a report somewhere, Australia maybe, which found that having bee colonies around the OSR increased the yield by 15%

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## The Drone Ranger

> There was a report somewhere, Australia maybe, which found that having bee colonies around the OSR increased the yield by 15%


I think that I heard that figure as well
Would that mean the rest of the pollination is wind though or other insects ?

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## Trog

Err, Droney, I wasn't being sarcastic.  It WAS nice to see a balanced article where the reporter has taken the trouble to put both sides of the argument!

Ho hum.  Time to put the hens to bed and read the bees their bedtime story  :Smile:

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## EmsE

> Nice to see a balanced article where the reporter has taken the trouble to seek a reply to the accusations.  Let's hope any others do the same.
> Does anyone know the Glasgow beekeeper who wrote the letter?  How long has she kept bees?


Yes 

She's not a new beekeeper and this doesn't surprise me, although it does disappoint.

I'm baffled by the fact that the vote surmounts to supporting neonics. I'm sure the vote wasn't do you want the ban or do you want to support the neonics, or am I missing something. :Confused:

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## The Drone Ranger

> Err, Droney, I wasn't being sarcastic.  It WAS nice to see a balanced article where the reporter has taken the trouble to put both sides of the argument!
> 
> Ho hum.  Time to put the hens to bed and read the bees their bedtime story



All hens already in house due to 9" of snow.

Sorry I'm a bit slow  :Smile: 

I'm starting a campaign to promote the benefits of star or evening primrose oil.

"Why plant rape when borage is nicer" is the campaign slogan

When the immovable force meets the irresistible object its time to hide

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## gavin

> Other way really give the higher subsidy for untreated seed


I was being flippant.  And making a point I suppose - neonics (in small doses) could be good for bees via the effect they have on the plant.

Wind vs insect?  Neither, mostly.  The rubbing of flowers in the breeze, the diurnal and weather-induced opening and closing of the flowers.  Separate the pollen and seed producing plants, as happened in the once-popular variety Synergy, and not too much of that happens, so wind and insects it is.  In a May like this March the plants didn't do well at all.  I once wrote a whole report on this sort of stuff, now buried in Defra's vaults somewhere.




> To quote Jonathan Ross "wun for your wives hes a waypest and a wobber"


You are seriously challenging Jon's position as the most entertaining poster on here!

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## Jon

That Dwone Wanger is no competition at all!

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## drumgerry

Hate to tell you Jon but "yer wanger" pronounced as in "banger" means something completely different round here! Think male and appendage and do so quickly lest it gross you out too much!

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## Jon

Cannot possibly comment on Scottish enunciation.
We all speak like the queen where I come from
Sing Home, Home on the Wange to get those bad thoughts out of your head!

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## The Drone Ranger

> Cannot possibly comment on Scottish enunciation.
> We all speak like the queen where I come from
> Sing Home, Home on the Wange to get those bad thoughts out of your head!


 :EEK!:  Surprised 
I sort of figured you with a Father Ted ( fek Gurlz driiiinkk!!) kind of accent Jon
How wrong could I bee

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## Jon

That's Father Jack my good man.
Sadly passed over in the recent Papal Conclave.
Thought he would be a shoo in.

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## gavin

Someone should have had a word with the Illuminati.

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## Jon

So the vote was rigged? The general public distracted by the smoke while hundreds of so called cardinals poured forth from every orifice of the Sistine Chapel. Anyone written to the Herald yet?

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## gavin

They probably tried very hard to get the right man in but he failed the interview.

Never the wrong moment for a little Father Ted (and Jack).

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## Dark Bee

For my sins, I once knew a real life "Jack" - he was a Christian Brother and not a secular priest. The resemblance to the TV character is extraordinary and I have often wondered if the script writer or producer did not also know him.
Ecumenism was not his strong point either and God help those who were not of the "True Faith" :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  He did however when in a drunken stupor once, insist that I wrote an essay on the reformation; bad mistake !!!!!

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