waste of money?

[nick mercedes]

"The parliamentary authorities have defended the practice of removing leaves by hand from trees at the Palace of Westminster rather than allowing nature to take its course each autumn.

The Palace's gardening staff have been "pleaching" lime trees outside the main entrance to the parliamentary estate.

Officials said it saved time doing this rather than waiting for the leaves to fall and then raking them up."


BBC News - Parliament defends hand-removal of leaves from its trees

 

[markjay]

Preventive Maintenance, surely can't be a bad thing?

Does sound a bit daft, but who knows, maybe it's the better way of dealing with falling leaves...

 

[balge]

Pleaching is not picking up leaves. Another factually accurate piece from the BBC

 

[nick mercedes]

Pleaching your bush sounds a bit dirty...

 

[grober]

I imagine this is what Arthur Daley would refer to-- as a " tidy little earner"

 

[KennyN]

Just got my tax statement in for last year and for the first time it contained a lovely pie chart showing where my income tax was spent.

I wonder if next year it will have a slice for "pleaching"

Kenny

 

[balge]

Just got my tax statement in for last year and for the first time it contained a lovely pie chart showing where my income tax was spent.

I wonder if next year it will have a slice for "pleaching"

Kenny

Was there a slice to tell you how much you spent working out how big all the slices were?

 

[219]

From the article "The trees of New Palace Yard stand in the shadow of Big Ben ..."

I would have thought that the BBC would have known that Big Ben is a bell , and would have said more properly that the trees stand in the shadow of the Clock Tower .

 

[Harrythedog]

Smart move by HMG. How about building enough houses to stop them "collecting " the homeless, building extra reservoirs to prevent water shortages, building extra carriages to stop train overcrowding etc etc. This preventative stuff might catch on

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Pleaching is not picking up leaves. Another factually accurate piece from the BBC

Totally right. As you say, the BBC were factually accurate, because they didn't say that pleaching was picking up leaves. Some poor article construction may nave given the impression that pleaching was a process to remove leaves before they fell, but nowhere did they say it was picking up leaves. What they failed to make clear however, was that the process of pleaching (the art of training trees into stunning shapes) invariably resulted in leaves being removed (although this was hinted at towards the end of their piece). Not having to sweep them up later is just a byproduct. So the BBC were just misguided in reporting the negative reactions from those who have no idea what they're talking about. It sounds far more sensational to say that our taxes are being wasted on taking leaves off trees rather than waiting for them to fall naturally, rather than saying some of our taxes are being spent on making some trees look impressive.

 

[KennyN]

Was there a slice to tell you how much you spent working out how big all the slices were?

Yes , admin - £271 , which was more than was spent on sports , libraries , museums, environment, housing + utilities , overseas aid and MY donation to the EU budget.

Kenny

 

[markjay]

Where are all the socialists? Surely giving work to the masses is a good thing? Keeping the great unwashed in gainful employment etc? Or would you rather have the Queen spend all her money on foreign holidays?

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Where are all the socialists? Surely giving work to the masses is a good thing? Keeping the great unwashed in gainful employment etc? Or would you rather have the Queen spend all her money on foreign holidays?

As long as the gardeners are British and not Polish

 

[guydewdney]

Socialists drive BMW's so they won't be posting on here.

 

[balge]

Totally right. As you say, the BBC were factually accurate, because they didn't say that pleaching was picking up leaves. Some poor article construction may nave given the impression that pleaching was a process to remove leaves before they fell, but nowhere did they say it was picking up leaves. What they failed to make clear however, was that the process of pleaching (the art of training trees into stunning shapes) invariably resulted in leaves being removed (although this was hinted at towards the end of their piece). Not having to sweep them up later is just a byproduct. So the BBC were just misguided in reporting the negative reactions from those who have no idea what they're talking about. It sounds far more sensational to say that our taxes are being wasted on taking leaves off trees rather than waiting for them to fall naturally, rather than saying some of our taxes are being spent on making some trees look impressive.

It says -

"The leaves are hand-picked every autumn"

and

"One of those (gardeners) was seen removing leaves from the lime trees in New Palace Yard on Friday, using a ladder."

and

"The parliamentary authorities have defended the practice of removing leaves by hand from trees at the Palace of Westminster rather than allowing nature to take its course each autumn."

The gardener actually describes the process, right near the bottom, after their spin, then they finish it with a hasty quote from someone who obviously hadn't read the actual piece to finish off with more spin -this is journalism?

 

[Deleted member 65149]

It says -

"The leaves are hand-picked every autumn"

and

"One of those (gardeners) was seen removing leaves from the lime trees in New Palace Yard on Friday, using a ladder."

and

"The parliamentary authorities have defended the practice of removing leaves by hand from trees at the Palace of Westminster rather than allowing nature to take its course each autumn."

The gardener actually describes the process, right near the bottom, after their spin, then they finish it with a hasty quote from someone who obviously hadn't read the actual piece to finish off with more spin -this is journalism?

I know I'm being picky D) but your original statement inferred that the BBC incorrectly said that pleaching is "picking up leaves". Picking up leaves is not the same as taking leaves off the tree. The "parliamentary authorities" may or may not have said that the point of pleaching was to save the trouble of picking leaves off the ground at a later date, and if so they are amongst those who don't know what they're talking about (unfortunately not that big a surprise!). Of course there's also the possibility that the "parliamentary authorities" were just making fun of the reporter by saying that it was all to save collecting leaves from the ground in the autumn. The BBC reporter may have fallen for the gag and become incensed. Or it may have been the reporter picking () on the gullible readers. Whoever the instigator (through naivety or for fun), the result is that those who are easily led have become enraged, either by a perceived waste of taxes or by the idea that BBC journalism is inaccurate. Let's leaf it at that I don't want to be impleached for having picked up on a detail.

 

[balge]

But pleaching is nothing to do with picking leaves off or up, it's light pruning and 'weaving' twigs and branches together to tidy up the tree or strengthen a hedge.
I would expect better journalism (and gardening) from the Daily Star gardening column - if they have one...

 

[renault12ts]

From the article "The trees of New Palace Yard stand in the shadow of Big Ben ..."

I would have thought that the BBC would have known that Big Ben is a bell , and would have said more properly that the trees stand in the shadow of the Clock Tower .

Erm...you mean Elizabeth Tower?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Where are all the socialists? Surely giving work to the masses is a good thing?

Serious question, do you actually know what socialism is?

Or do you subscribe to the idiots guide of misquoting Animal Farm?

 

[markjay]

Serious question, do you actually know what socialism is?

Or do you subscribe to the idiots guide of misquoting Animal Farm?

I think you know very well my views regarding State ownership of production and services... and the resulting roll of the State as an employer.

I believe you do not subscribe to my views, and if you found my comment above offensive, then I wish to apologise.

It was lighthearted and not intended to cause offence.

My comments in general are meant to encourage debate, which I find far more interesting when engaging with people who disagree with me. At times it may seem that I seek confrontation, but I can honestly say this is not the case.