- An estimated $100 million of hardwood timber has been pillaged from Madagascar’s protected rainforests since the political coup in March. Most of it is bound for China.
- Transport minister Lord Adonis took a tour of Britain’s railways recently, and this week released his ten ‘stations of shame‘. Alas, Luton comes 8th among Britain’s worst stations.
- There isn’t a single manufacturer of wooden clothes’ pegs in the whole of the US, even though the Shakers invented them.
- Tobias Jones, author of Utopian Dreams, has decided to follow through his explorations in community living and set up his own woodland commune. “We’re taking our leap in the dark because we’ve belatedly realised that the sermon on the mount might actually be a manifesto for life” he writes, “rather than a few nice ideals to take out for a spin on a Sunday morning.” (HT Jonny)
