The growing problem with our love of trees

In saying the above I wouldn't like you to think that I am influenced by the fact that a big tree overhangs my hovel, dropping various bits of tree-related detritus throughout the year causing an endless job of sweeping up, taking my light, sucking up all the water so nothing else will grow, and so on.

But I thought I would put an alternative viewpoint amid the current fashion for stories about nasty councils chopping down trees despite protests from local residents. Emotive terms are invoked, like "tree massacre."

What you don't normally hear is from the arborologists. That's what I thought they were called, but apparently the correct term is an arborist.

Saying you want to plant lots of trees is something people say these days to get green brownie points. It makes them sound all environmental.

Labour went into the last general election with a pledge to plant two billion trees by 2040, which would work out at more than a quarter of a million trees every day.

Quite apart from the effort that would require from the tree planting people, it did not make clear what would happen next.

Because you can't just plant trees, pat yourself on the back, and then leave them to grow – or at least you shouldn't. They are living things which get wild and stroppy and, sometimes, dangerous. Trees are naughty and need to be kept on the straight and narrow through judicious intervention.

There are traditional techniques like pollarding and coppicing to manage them.

The number of trees in the UK is the most it has been for over 100 years, and woodland levels are said to be on a par with medieval times. I've a vague recollection of being told that the UK today has as much forest as it did in the 12th century.

Years ago I visited the Culloden battlefield in Scotland, one of the most historic sites in the UK, and was appalled to find that it had been planted with trees by the Forestry Commission, no doubt to meet some planting target. They have since been cleared.

Now don't think I'm anti-tree. I like them, but planting them has long term consequences which have to be considered and faced, and if they are in a public setting the responsible thing to do is manage them and take advice from professionals.

Failing to do so can lead to inconvenience and even tragedy. August 2 will mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Marjorie Adams, a child who was killed by a lime tree which fell on her in the Quarry, Shrewsbury.

When Percy Thrower became the town's parks superintendent he realised that many of the lime trees had outlived their natural lives and were rotten, and in the face of many objections they were cut down after the Second World War for safety reasons.

Percy knew his onions. When it comes to trees, the views of the tree experts should take precedence over the opinions of self-styled environmentalists.

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Talking of experts, inflation remains stubbornly higher than those at the Bank of England predicted it would be by now, and as a consequence the interest rates have gone up, and by more than those in the money markets were predicting.

A few years ago economic experts said there was no such thing as Michael Gove. Okay, they didn't. But if they had, they would be wrong. As always.

The only guarantee of being right is not to predict the future, only predict the past.

Meanwhile, we await the memoirs of Liz Truss, if she chooses to write any, perhaps called "The Glory Days." Not the glory years, for obvious reasons.

She's still around, giving speeches, and taking a pop at the media this week.

She says following politicians around shouting things at them is not really journalism. I'm with Liz on that one. As you will know if you read my spoutings, that is one of my pet hates, the shouting of "questions" across the street at politicians which are not actually questions, but statements.

I do wonder if the media pack does it on an agreed rota, because you never seem to hear more than one of them shout out at a time.