I live on the outskirts of quite a large town in South East England, which was part of the old ‘stockbroker belt’ - famed in the last millennium for its pinstripe-suited, bowler-hatted gents commuting into the City of London carrying the obligatory briefcase along with a black, full-sized, furled-up, wooden handled umbrella and a copy of the Financial Times. I’m close enough to the town centre to walk in, so can closely observe how far the place has fallen, with a disgraceful amount of overgrowth along alleyways, several areas where people seem to gather to chew and then eject gum, a myriad of discarded takeaway cartons, empty drinks cans and bottles along with enough broken glass to keep A&E busy for the day, were people to fall foul of it. It’s getting worse as each year goes by. I walk a lot in the countryside too and although I’m blessed to live amongst what’s left of the Green Belt, sadly that’s being eaten away by new housing estates, so ancient woodlands have become a draw for me. These always appear to be untouched by litter louts – perhaps because those who use them are nature lovers too. 

Watching ‘Tonight’ ( https://www.itv.com/watch/tonight/1a2803/1a2803a9401) it’s occurred to me that the reason these woodlands seem to be untouched is because I’m walking in the unspoilt bits. After all, it would be stupid to choose to spend the day in woodland that’s been permanently devastated by litter and illegal dumping, wouldn’t it? I’d really had no idea – despite all my grumblings about some people’s lack of respect for our environment – just how much of an environmental disaster illegally dumped waste creates. And when it comes to ancient woodland, it’s one that can’t be undone. I’m only halfway through watching the programme as it’s making me so cross, but one thing that’s already become clear is that the various authorities need to stop passing the buck and start working together to catch and severely punish those who are responsible and prevent them from ever doing it again. I won’t share what I mean by ‘severely’, as it may well shock you as much as this programme’s shocked me...