County Life Today: What do the election results mean for the British countryside?

(Image credit: Mariusz Talarek / Getty Images)

published 13 December 2019

What do the election results mean for the countryside?

The Tories plan to make the UK carbon neutral by 2050, banning gas boilers from all new homes, promoting electric cars and supporting energy-efficiency and decarbonisation schemes, including one for social housing.

Bridgend, Islay, Inner Hebrides, Scotland, UK. 2nd October 2019. A flock of geese at Loch Gorm on Islay, with the neighboring Hebridean island 'Paps of Jura' providing a dramatic backdrop. Islay hosts 60 per cent of the world’s barnacle geese and one quarter of the world’s threatened Greenland white-fronted geese.

Legal targets would be introduced to improve air quality, about £640 million would be invested in a Nature for Climate Fund, peatlands would be restored and up to 75,000 more trees a year would be planted by the end of the next Parliament, with new National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty created alongside a Great Northumberland Forest.

A Conservative government would also launch a deposit-return scheme to boost recycling and ban plastic exports to non-OECD countries.

Full story (Country Life)

What's happened to property over the last decade?

Clover Cottage - Perry Bishop — Tw dreamily-pretty four-bedroom thatched house Clover Cottage is in the village of Longcot, roughly half-way between Oxford and Swindon, with easy access to both, on the market for only £400,000.

The 2010s have been a bad decade for housing market growth. While property prices have seemingly risen by 34%, when inflation is taken account of, they really fell by 0.3%.

In contrast, the noughties were a booming decade, with prices rising by 67.1%.

Let's hope the roaring 20s pick up where the 90s left off!

Full story (The Times – subscription required)

Why is Friday the 13th a portent of dread?

Triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) is a niche-enough fear on its own, but when it becomes paraskevidekatriaphobia (from the Ancient Greek Πᾰρᾰσκευή, meaning Friday) it really takes the ticket.

It's believed to have come from the 13 individuals present at the Last Supper before Good Friday, but to us that seems to be a bit of a reach. Others think it comes from the fact that 13 is an unlucky number and Friday is, apparently, an unlucky day, something which also confuses those of us who break up for the weekend on this auspicious weekday.

Luckily Greta Thunberg put all of our fears to bed with the punchy hashtag, #fridaysforfuture.

Quote of the day

'The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.'

– L. P. Hartley, The Go-Between (1953)

A new use for our favourite cuppa: Hangover cure

tea — Step aside cucumber – there's a new kid on the eyemask block.

No, you don't drink it. Apparently, cooled teabags work wonders for dark circles if you leave them on your eyes as if they were cucumber slices. If you plan to drink the night away over Christmas but have to wake up early to a house full of relatives, this may be one to remember.

Other dips include avoiding salty party foods to prevent dehydration – an oldie, but a goodie.

Full story (Guardian)

Dogs at polling stations

Not the result you hoped for? If it brings you a little joy, have a look at our range of dogs from all backgrounds and parties exercising their democratic right yesterday.

Click here for the gallery

How we feel this morning

'The birds are tweeting at 4 in the morning...come on! It's the news.'

And finally...

Neil, we admire your style.

A voter leaves with their dog Lilly, after casting their vote at a polling station in Church in Brighton as Britain holds a general election on December 12, 2019.

Dogs at polling stations: The 2019 'Christmas Election' special

There's no getting away from it: elections are depressing. Thankfully, the dog-owning voters of Britain are on-hand to make it

A Polling Station sign hanging in a shrub in South Stoke, Oxfordshire — With less than a week to go before the election, what are the parties' plans for the countryside?

A countryside dweller's guide to the 2019 General Election: Who will do what, and where, and when?

With the general election fast-approaching, discover what each of the main parties plans for the countryside, farming and the environment.

Ally is a writer, editor and social media superstar who has worked for the Royal Horticultural Society and British Rowing, but she kicked off her career at Country Life after graduating from University College London with a degree in Classics. In recent years she's split her time between Winchester and London, all while raising a cocker spaniel called Wilf. For questions, recommendations or to pass on dog training tips, find her at alexandralilyfraser@gmail.com.