Beekeeper on trial - treatments

[dpearce4]

The inspectors are funded by the EU...

Yes at present but I'm sure they are thinking about how to cut costs now for when funding stops in the next couple of years after brexit.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The inspectors are funded by the EU...

Not directly - the UK (and each devolved parliament) get a chunk of money to spend on the good of the bees - it's up to them how they spend it.

 

[madasafish]

Not directly - the UK (and each devolved parliament) get a chunk of money to spend on the good of the bees - it's up to them how they spend it.

SO no doubt beekeepers will have to pay a levy once we leave...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Or they'll just chop the NBU - it's not a department that makes money for HMG - it just spends it!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

The thought of standards slipping and all sorts getting into honey is just too sad to bear.
How many beekeepers young and old have striven all their beekeeping days to be fair to the bees and to their customers/friends/relatives?
And how many stupid dishonest people will there be to take advantage?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Unfortunately the rot is already setting in - now that the NBU are making ends meet by doing agency work for the VMD - no blame on the Bee Inspectors for this - put the blame firmly at the door of Senion Civil Servants (been there and seen years of goodwill go down the pan overnight) I can see a gradual movement underground with a lot of beekeepers unwilling to have the sword of damocles hung over them at all times and fed up of the crowing of some who love to tell others what to do and do as they're told.
Especially with the thread of SHB and Asian hornets the last thing we need is a breakdown of the common bond that has been established between beekeeper and inspector.

 

[lakelander]

Or they'll just chop the NBU - it's not a department that makes money for HMG - it just spends it!!

someone might think the NBU could be earning money by requiring beekeepers to be licenced

 

[pargyle]

someone might think the NBU could be earning money by requiring beekeepers to be licenced

I should think that's already been thought of ... and probably planned. The only thing stopping them (I should think) is that the cost of collecting the fee would probably outweigh the revenue returned - certainly it would if the system and administration was set up by Civil Servants who seem to have an uncanny knack of over complicating and over administering anything they get their hands on. Not to mention the difficulty of actually identifying where all the beekeepers/hives are ...let's face it ... bees are wild creatures - if a swarm occupies an empty box you have left in the garden are you then a 'beekeeper' and is it a 'colony' which you are responsible for ???

Voluntary (or even compulsory) registration is probably the thin edge of the wedge in terms of a future to collect a licence fee but ... colonies die ... you may have five colonies one year and lose the lot over winter ... are you still a beekeeper with no bees ? Who is going to come round and check ?

Whole can of worms I fear - I'm not averse to registration and I'm on beebase but I know lots of beekeepers who won't toe the line if it happens.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I know lots of beekeepers who won't toe the line if it happens.

I do too...and who is going to corral all these folk?

 

[dpearce4]

I should think that's already been thought of ... and probably planned. The only thing stopping them (I should think) is that the cost of collecting the fee would probably outweigh the revenue returned - certainly it would if the system and administration was set up by Civil Servants who seem to have an uncanny knack of over complicating and over administering anything they get their hands on. Not to mention the difficulty of actually identifying where all the beekeepers/hives are ...let's face it ... bees are wild creatures - if a swarm occupies an empty box you have left in the garden are you then a 'beekeeper' and is it a 'colony' which you are responsible for ???

Voluntary (or even compulsory) registration is probably the thin edge of the wedge in terms of a future to collect a licence fee but ... colonies die ... you may have five colonies one year and lose the lot over winter ... are you still a beekeeper with no bees ? Who is going to come round and check ?

Whole can of worms I fear - I'm not averse to registration and I'm on beebase but I know lots of beekeepers who won't toe the line if it happens.

The also know how to let large multinationals like Capita F**k up the systems and then charge massive amounts of money to run the system that is totally unworkable.

 

[user 6228]

Establish that all bees are feral and not native.
establish that prescence equals ownership
use this to require landowners to have a Honeybee permit for 1 to 10 colonies on their land for £100
10 to 500 for £200
Publicise this as "protecting the honeybee"

We end up with honeybees being actively exterminated in the wild as it becomes a matter of economics to destroy honeybees in chimneys, cavities and in trees on estates.

 

[For want of a better word]

The also know how to let large multinationals like Capita F**k up the systems and then charge massive amounts of money to run the system that is totally unworkable.

Like our road and rail network!

Nos da

 

[pargyle]

Establish that all bees are feral and not native.
establish that prescence equals ownership
use this to require landowners to have a Honeybee permit for 1 to 10 colonies on their land for £100
10 to 500 for £200
Publicise this as "protecting the honeybee"

We end up with honeybees being actively exterminated in the wild as it becomes a matter of economics to destroy honeybees in chimneys, cavities and in trees on estates.

Precisely what happens when the government/civil service get involved in anything ... nett result usually the exact opposite of the original objective ...

There's a law in there somewhere ... The Law of Irretrievable Returns ? Unless someone has a better name ???

 

[lakelander]

The also know how to let large multinationals like Capita F**k up the systems and then charge massive amounts of money to run the system that is totally unworkable.

that's a relief I was worried there for a moment

 

[lakelander]

Establish that all bees are feral and not native.
establish that prescence equals ownership
use this to require landowners to have a Honeybee permit for 1 to 10 colonies on their land for £100
10 to 500 for £200
Publicise this as "protecting the honeybee"

We end up with honeybees being actively exterminated in the wild as it becomes a matter of economics to destroy honeybees in chimneys, cavities and in trees on estates.

dohh now I am worried again

 

[madasafish]

Precisely what happens when the government/civil service get involved in anything ... nett result usually the exact opposite of the original objective ...

There's a law in there somewhere ... The Law of Irretrievable Returns ? Unless someone has a better name ???

The Law of Intended Consequences

or
How to keep a Minster's Department Growing.

 

[pargyle]

The Law of Intended Consequences

or
How to keep a Minster's Department Growing.

Yep ... that fits ...

 

[dpearce4]

Like our road and rail network!

Nos da

Dont get me started on that. I have lived and tried to commute using southern rail for the last 5years.

When it is quicker to cycle from Chichester to brighton on a normal day than go by train then something is wrong, and I don't even take the drugs that wiggins had the privilege of, things are just bonkers, but it would keep me fit.

Pointless using the car as the roads are so congested as no one is using the trains down here any more.

 

[Hivemaker.]

When it is quicker to cycle from Chichester to brighton on a normal day than go by train then something is wrong, and I don't even take the drugs that wiggins had the privilege of, things are just bonkers, but it would keep me fit.

Pointless using the car as the roads are so congested as no one is using the trains down here any more.

Sounds like a horrible place...your welcome to it.

 

[dpearce4]

Sounds like a horrible place...your welcome to it.

Cheers

Crap transport but lovely area.