Defra - Rural Definitions

http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/rural/rural-definition.htm

The Rural Definition - Summary

The Rural Definition was introduced in 2004 as a joint project between the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC - formerly the Countryside Agency), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Welsh Assembly. It was delivered by the Rural Evidence Research Centre at Birkbeck College (RERC).

Religion's regressive hold on animal rights issues

How are we to promote the need for improved animal welfare when battling religious views formed centuries ago?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/08/religion-regressive-hold-on-animal-rights

Last week, the chief minister of Malacca, Mohamad Ali Rustam, was quoted in the Guardian as saying that God created monkeys and rats for experiments to benefit humans. Activists had been protesting against his approval of an Indian company's proposal to build an animal research laboratory in his state. They said that Malaysia has no regulations to protect animals in laboratories. His answer was the reference to God's purpose in creating animals.

If it were not for the dire consequences for the animals who will suffer in the laboratory, the chief minister's remark would be hilarious. Here is the head of a Malaysian state justifying the establishment of a scientific enterprise with a comment that flies in the face of everything science tells us. The belief that the animals exist because God created them – and that he created them so we can better meet our needs – is contrary to our scientific understanding of evolution and, of course, to the fossil record, which shows the existence of non-human primates and other animals millions of years before there were any human beings at all.

Sydney Opera House holds concert specifically for canine

Hundreds of dogs and their owners have descended on the Sydney Opera House for a concert specifically for canines.

Organisers say the event, the work of American musician and artist Laurie Anderson, is the first of its kind.

Ms Anderson called it "an inter-species social gathering on a scale never seen before in Australia".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10246438.stm

Most Endangered Species in Britain

Top 10 most endangeered species in britain, according the the independent

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-10-most-endangered-species-in-britain-414113.html