Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that favours the domestic apple tree
The future supply of traditional English mistletoe is under threat, conservationists have warned.
Mistletoe thrives in established apple orchards but such habitats have seen a big decline over the past 60 years.
The National Trust is urging people to buy home-grown mistletoe in the run-up to Christmas in a bid to ensure revellers can go on kissing under it.
Trust ecologist Peter Brash said it would be a “sad loss” if mistletoe disappeared from its traditional areas.
At least 60% of old orchards in the “cider country” of Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire have disappeared since the 1950s.
The decline has been even more dramatic in Devon and Kent, where the figure is as much as 90%.
Mr Brash said: “Mistletoe is part of our Christmas heritage and has a special place in a wonderful winter landscape.
“It would be a sad loss if mistletoe disappeared altogether from its heartland. We could end up relying on imports of mistletoe from mainland Europe for those festive kisses.”
The trust also wants people to ask where the mistletoe they are buying is sourced from.
Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that favours the domestic apple tree, but can also be found on lime, poplar and hawthorn trees across the UK.
The market town of Tenbury Wells in Worcestershire holds an annual mistletoe festival with a procession led by druids.
One of the druids, Suzanne Thomas, said of the plant: “It’s magic. It’s just amazing stuff. It’s got this lovely energy about it.”
Mistletoe expert Jonathan Briggs said the plant benefited from a managed environment.
“Unchecked, it will swamp its host tree and ultimately cause it to die,” he said.
“Regular, managed cropping will ensure that the host tree remains productive while ensuring that a healthy population of mistletoe will persist.”
Agriculture minister Jim Paice said there was more to mistletoe than its “traditional amorous role”.
“Buying mistletoe helps traditional British cider apple orchards thrive by removing mistletoe from apple trees,” he said.
“By buying mistletoe at Christmas, you’re continuing a tradition that helps apple trees to flourish.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
All teenagers arriving at or leaving Wetherby YOI were subjected to strip searches
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Teenagers are routinely strip-searched at a young offenders’ institution in West Yorkshire despite calls for the practice to stop, a report has said.
Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick said it was “disappointing” that strip searches were used at Wetherby Young Offenders’ Institution.
A previous recommendation that the practice should be stopped had not been put in place, inspectors said.
The Prison Service said the searches were “essential” to maintain security.
“Full searching is an important security measure against the smuggling of dangerous items into Wetherby,” a Prison Service spokesman said.
“It is, therefore, an essential element to safeguarding the public, our staff and young people in our care.
“Staff are aware of the vulnerability and potential child protection issues of our young people and full searching is conducted very sensitively.”
However, the prison inspectors’ report said strip searches were being carried out without any risk-assessment.
The practice had continued at Wetherby despite the introduction of Body Orifice Security Scanner (Boss) chairs, the inspectors said.
“Routine strip-searching took place in reception for young people arriving and departing despite the introduction of a Boss chair and wand detector in reception.”
The institution, which houses more than 300 boys and young men aged 15-18, also failed to stop mandatory drug testing and “all young people still had to undergo strip-searching as a matter of routine”, the inspectors said.
In future, strip-searches should only be used where it “is necessary to prevent the risk of harm to the young person and others”, they said.
The report, based on a follow-up inspection in August, also found “the use of force was not limited to situations where there was an immediate threat to safety”.
There were 285 incidents where force was used between January and July this year, with 70% of these relating to “low level fights and assaults”.
But in 15% of incidents, the force was used simply “to gain compliance with establishment rules”.
The inspectors said: “The use of force should only be used as a last resort and where there is immediate risk to safety, and not merely to obtain compliance.”
Despite the concerns, Wetherby had improved on an “already solid performance”, the inspectors found.
“When we last visited, Wetherby was undergoing extensive and disruptive building work but was, nevertheless, performing reasonably well in all key areas,” Mr Hardwick said.
“This inspection found that Wetherby had sustained, or improved on, this solid performance and, with the building work completed, was a more settled establishment.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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Unidentified attackers have set fire to a kindergarten in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, apparently after its owners refused to pay extortion money.
A message was sprayed on the walls of the kindergarten urging the owners to pay up.
The fire happened overnight, so no children were injured, the nursery has been closed down indefinitely.
Ciudad Juarez is the most violent city in Mexico, with an average of eight murders a day.
The nursery’s owners had been approached by unidentified men who demanded an undisclosed sum in exchange for “protection”, which was not paid, police told local media.
Some teachers in the city have reported being threatened with attacks unless they hand over half their Christmas bonuses.
Also on Sunday night, armed men attacked two drug rehabilitation centres in the city killing four of the patients.
Attacks on drug rehabilitation centres in Mexico are increasingly common.
Police say the facilities are often used to recruit young men to work in the drugs trade, making them a target for rival drug gangs.
Nine people were killed in an attack on a drug clinic in June in Durango state and 13 were shot dead in October in Tijuana, another city on the US-Mexico border.
The northern states along the border are at the centre of a violent battle between rival drug cartels for control over the lucrative drug smuggling routes to the United States.
More than 30,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence over the past four years, since President Felipe Calderon declared war on the country’s drug cartels.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
South Korean marines patrol Yeonpyeong island, which was shelled by the North last month
The US, South Korea and Japan are to hold talks in Washington shortly on ways to deal with North Korea.
China’s president earlier warned US President Barack Obama that tensions on the Korean peninsula could get out of control if not properly handled.
It comes two weeks after North Korea’s deadly attack on a South Korean island in answer to military drills by Seoul.
The International Criminal Court says it will investigate whether the act constituted war crimes by the North.
In a statement, the Court said it would examine the shelling of Yeonpyeong island on 23 November, in which two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed.
The situation on the peninsula remains highly uncertain. On Monday, South Korea pushed ahead with a new series of major live-fire exercises despite warnings from the North.
The drills are spread off South Korea’s east, west and southern coastlines; the most contentious area, along the disputed western sea border, has been largely excluded.
South Korea’s new defence minister has said he would use air strikes against the North if it attacked civilians again.
Regional powers are stepping up diplomatic efforts to avoid any further conflict.
North Korea: Timeline 2010
26 March: South Korean warship, Cheonan, sinks, killing 46 sailors
20 May: Panel says a North Korean torpedo sank the ship; Pyongyang denies involvement
July-September: South Korea and US hold military exercises; US places more sanctions on Pyongyang
29 September: North holds rare party congress seen as part of father-to-son succession move
29 October: Troops from North and South Korea exchange fire across the land border
12 November: North Korea shows US scientist new – undeclared – uranium enrichment facility
23 November: North shells island of Yeonpyeong, killing at least four South Koreans
27 Nov-1 Dec: South Korea and US hold joint military drills
6-12 Dec: South Korea stages live-fire military exercises
Little comfort for displaced islanders Division and tension in South Korea Q&A: Inter-Korean crisis
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is to meet her South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Washington shortly.
China – the North’s most important ally – has not been invited, but the three are expected to discuss Beijing’s proposal for emergency regional talks on the crisis.
In a telephone call earlier, Mr Obama urged Chinese President Hu Jintao to work with the US to send “a clear message” to North Korea that its provocations against the South were “unacceptable”.
The BBC’s defence and security correspondent Nick Childs says the mere fact of the phone call between the presidents underlines how seriously both Beijing and Washington take the latest tensions.
He says the read-out from the conversation also illustrates the different perspectives: Beijing calling for restraint on all sides and refusing to blame Pyongyang for the recent flare-up; Washington clearly looking to Beijing to lean on North Korea.
There is clearly some frustration among US officials over China’s stance, coupled with questions over just how much influence the Chinese have over the North Korean leadership, our correspondent says.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the firing exercises by warships and artillery units on land were being held in 29 locations, including one of five islands near the disputed Yellow Sea border with the North.
The Northern Limit Line, the maritime border declared by UN forces at the end of the Korean War in 1953, is not recognised by Pyongyang.
Japan and the US are also holding large scale military exercises, their biggest ever.
The exercises, called “Keen Sword”, involve 44,000 personnel, 400 aircraft and 60 warships.
The drills were planned before the North Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong island.
They are being held to mark the 50th anniversary of the Japanese-US alliance and last until 10 December.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
