Is this wholly, entirely, the time to be rebuilding the swamps?

The current fashion is to stop pumping out the Somerset Levels and so return the north of that county to a swamp suitable for persecuted kings to hide in. We’ve also a more general insistence that beavers should be allowed - nay imported and encouraged - to create their very own little swamps just by every house and home in the country.

Hmm:

A mosquito capable of transmitting tropical diseases has been found breeding in homes in east London, with experts warning that the rapidly warming climate will lead to greater “incursions of invasive mosquitoes”.

This is the first time the species has been identified breeding in the UK and the fourth time it has been detected.

Aedes aegypti, which are normally found in tropical and subtropical regions, can transmit dengue, chikungunya and Zika virus in countries where these infections are circulating.

Oh. Right. We would remind that malaria was endemic in Britain until we did drain those swamps. Many did indeed die of said agues.

So perhaps this policy needs to be thought about a little more? Are we absolutely certain, in a warming world, that we want to be recreating the ague ridden swamps? Sorry, to put that into modern language, recreate those precious natural wetlands?

Tim Worstall