Easy 10
Brain dead MUG SHEEP
I could hardly believe my pies at this evenings report.
Some woman, whilst out walking in the woods, spotted a fairly shapeless, whitish fungus growing on a dead tree trunk. As she was something of a fungal fan, she got quite excited by this, and called in a fungus expert to identify it. The fungus expert got even MORE excited by it, and declared that this particular fungus is extremely rare, and had only been recorded in Britain twice in the last 40 years.
This fungus apparently only grows on dead tree trunks. The local council owns the woods, and have now been instructed by the conservation board NOT to remove any dead tree trunks, as the fungus fans are hoping that more of it will grow. This would be a Good Thing, because this fungus is an endangered species.
I watched this report with growing disquiet. Had I tuned in not knowing it was South Today, I honestly think I'd have dismissed it as some kind of The Day Today type spoof. But no - this was real, and yes, they care about fungus on dead trees. I find that genuinely quite disturbing. It also occurred to me that had this woman found some kind of fungal growth on a scraggy dead tree in or around Falmer, we probably wouldn't have had a cat in hells chance of getting that 'YES.' It would somehow have been argued that more people glean pleasure from rare fungus than they do football.
I think we've had a lucky escape that the fundemental fungal issue never came up at the enquiry.
Some woman, whilst out walking in the woods, spotted a fairly shapeless, whitish fungus growing on a dead tree trunk. As she was something of a fungal fan, she got quite excited by this, and called in a fungus expert to identify it. The fungus expert got even MORE excited by it, and declared that this particular fungus is extremely rare, and had only been recorded in Britain twice in the last 40 years.
This fungus apparently only grows on dead tree trunks. The local council owns the woods, and have now been instructed by the conservation board NOT to remove any dead tree trunks, as the fungus fans are hoping that more of it will grow. This would be a Good Thing, because this fungus is an endangered species.
I watched this report with growing disquiet. Had I tuned in not knowing it was South Today, I honestly think I'd have dismissed it as some kind of The Day Today type spoof. But no - this was real, and yes, they care about fungus on dead trees. I find that genuinely quite disturbing. It also occurred to me that had this woman found some kind of fungal growth on a scraggy dead tree in or around Falmer, we probably wouldn't have had a cat in hells chance of getting that 'YES.' It would somehow have been argued that more people glean pleasure from rare fungus than they do football.
I think we've had a lucky escape that the fundemental fungal issue never came up at the enquiry.
