"Make mine a Spicy Poodle Surprise..."

Eww... I heard the other day that the eating of dogs and cats appears to be now effectively permitted in the UK, by order of the Ministry of Justice.

I thought it might be 'fake news' and on investigation I find it's a little more complex than that, though not by much. Civil servants have blocked the good intentions of the Environment Minister who had wanted a ban. But effectively, it seems that Poodle Pie is now legal on the menu — just as long as Fluffy is slaughtered on the premises and the meat isn't transported in a vehicle.

When the Climate Police come to take away your Fluffy and Tiddles, make sure to prod your pies and pasties with extra care a few weeks later.

Stoke fined

A bit of Stoke town has had a makeover, and it's looking rather fine. The city has also just landed £2 million from the government, for similar heritage shopfront restoration. Apparently it'll mostly be spent round Spode in Stoke.

Before and after:

Now, if only they can do something about the traffic...

Badgered

So the badger cull comes to Staffordshire and Cheshire, and parts of Shropshire, in a big way. Looks like about 2,200 minimum are to be taken out of Staffordshire, in addition to small zones in Staffordshire which were apparently culled for the first time in 2018. Farmers' Weekly talks of two new 'zones' in Staffordshire (The Sentinel says "three"), but farmers didn't get the Derbyshire zone they wanted. Without being able to find the actual maps (apparently secret) I'd vaguely guess around 900 in North Staffordshire, if we even have one of Staffordshire's new zones?

Oh well... it'll make for some happy hedgehogs next spring, at least, when they wake from hibernation to find the badgers gone.

Graph: Natural England, 2019.