For the Birds

Alongside his famously no-nonsense attitude to human welfare, Mr Churchill's great contemporary Adolf Hitler took a deep and sincere interest in the welfare of ravens and lobsters, and the present master race has adopted a similar benignant perspective. Far-right cadres who think nothing of starving employees out of public service and deporting refugees to Rwanda are giving the rah-rah to a national policy for the accommodation of swifts. The bird's numbers have fallen because of the catastrophic decline in flying insects, so in the absence of any intention to tackle that problem a hollow brick in every home is considered a suitable compromise. Conservatives are no doubt attracted by the argument that the rabble have contributed to the loss of bird populations by living in non-crumbling, energy-efficient woke housing; though naturally the Government is taking the more pragmatic and grown-up view that local authorities shuld be allowed to boycott environmental measures if nothing else.