What went right this week: the good news that matters

The UK’s supreme court has upheld the legal right to wild camp at a treasured English beauty spot – a judgment that was about much more than simply pitching a tent.

Wednesday’s ruling followed attempts by landowner Alexander Darwall to end the right to wild camp on Dartmoor – the last place in England where it was permitted. The estate owner had argued that camping damaged the countryside. In 2023, the high court agreed, ending the right to camp on Dartmoor. 

To campaigners, the judgment sniffed of protecting vested interests and was swiftly overturned by the court of appeals. This week, the supreme court upheld that ruling.  

But this case was never just about camping. With 92% of England off-limits to the public, the Dartmoor debacle thrust the country’s class system into the spotlight, highlighting how just a handful of wealthy individuals own most of the country. Wednesday’s ruling will likely reignite that conversation. 

“This is a landmark judgment not just for Dartmoor national park but for people who have long campaigned for access rights,” said Dr Kevin Bishop, chief executive of Dartmoor National Park Authority.  

Image: Mvltcelik/iStock

The Kurdish guerrilla group PKK has announced that it is laying down its weapons, ending an armed struggle with Turkey that has lasted four decades and left an estimated 40,000 people dead. 

The announcement by the PKK, which the EU, UK and US consider a terrorist organisation, brings hope for greater stability in Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq, where the militant group is based.

The PKK launched its insurgency in 1984 with the aim of creating a homeland for Kurds, who make up around a fifth of the Turkish population. Its separatist ambitions have since been scaled back, with a greater focus on improved rights for Kurds. 

According to Reuters, Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said the PKK decision could bring “lasting peace and stability” for the region. In a statement, the PKK said that its armed struggle had “brought the Kurdish issue to a point of solving it through democratic politics”.

Image: Kurdishstruggle/Wikipedia

India has made rapid progress in tackling extreme poverty over the last decade, data from the World Bank suggests.

Its latest report on India shows that extreme poverty – defined as living on less than $2.15 (£1.60) per day – fell from 16.2% in 2011 to 2.3% in 2022. Rural extreme poverty, it added, dropped from 18.4% to 2.8%. 

The good news was received with caution from some quarters, however. Dr Soumyabrata Mondal, a research associate at Banaras Hindu University, suggested the picture is more nuanced.    

“Undoubtedly, India has made significant strides in poverty reduction since the early 2000s, leveraging economic growth, welfare schemes, and infrastructure development – [and] the World Bank’s report captures parts of this success,” he wrote for the Diplomat.

“However, reports of sharp declines in extreme poverty percentages, especially amid economic shocks and absent official consumption data, call for cautious interpretation.”

Image: Adi Lica

Scientists have developed an “ultra-rapid” test that can diagnose brain tumours in as little as two hours – a massive improvement on the six weeks that it currently takes to receive a diagnosis. 

The test – developed by scientists at the University of Nottingham, England – has already been used in 50 operations at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), where it had a 100% success rate in diagnosing tumour types, according to a new study.

There are more than 100 types of brain tumour, which require complex genetic tests to diagnose. Clinicians currently send tumour tissue off to centralised facilities to be analysed and can wait around six weeks for the results, which is traumatic for patients and delays treatment. 

“This new method of diagnosing brain tumours is going to be a gamechanger, it really is revolutionary,” said Dr Simon Paine, a consultant neuropathologist at NUH.

“Not only is the test more accurate and quicker, but it is also cheaper than current methods,” added biologist Prof Matt Loose, who helped develop the new test. He hopes it will now be rolled out at hospitals across the UK. 

Image: Thirdman

In a medical first, a child diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that kills half of those affected has been successfully treated with a gene editing therapy. 

The feat paves the way for curing rare genetic diseases by rewriting faulty DNA soon after children carrying it are born.  

The infant, KJ, was born with a metabolic disease known as severe carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 deficiency. After spending the first months of his life in hospital, KJ was treated with a customised Crispr gene editing therapy at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, US.  According to the hospital, KJ is “now growing well and thriving”. Details of his case are published in a new study. 

“While KJ is just one patient, we hope he is the first of many to benefit from a methodology that can be scaled to fit an individual patient’s needs,” said geneticist Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. 

Her colleague Kiran Masunuru added: “The promise of gene therapy that we’ve heard about for decades is coming to fruition, and it’s going to utterly transform the way we approach medicine.”  

Image: Jonathan Borba

Marine protected areas in the EU must be safeguarded from harmful fishing practices such as bottom trawling, the General Court of the European Union has ruled – a judgment welcomed by ecologists.

On Thursday, the court rejected a legal challenge brought by a German fishing association seeking to annul conservation measures introduced by the European Commission in several German marine protected areas.

The ruling upholds states’ legal duty to ensure that marine protected areas (MPAs) are adequately protected from harmful practices.

“The court’s rejection of the lawsuit against protective measures in the North Sea is a critical victory for marine conservation,” said John Condon, a senior lawyer for ClientEarth, an environmental law charity.

“This ruling sends a clear signal that we have strong conservation laws for protecting MPAs from destructive activities such as bottom trawling. Now it’s a matter of ensuring that they are urgently enforced.”

The ruling comes amid growing outrage at the destruction caused by bottom trawling, which was brought into sharp focus in Sir David Attenborough’s latest documentary Ocean.

Image: Kym Ellis

There’s been a dramatic fall in the number of people killed and seriously injured on London roads where speed limits have been lowered to 20mph. 

That’s according to a new report by Transport for London, which noted a 34% reduction in the number of fatalities and serious injuries on the capital’s roads between 1989 and 2013, following the introduction of 20mph limits. A smaller 15% decline was recorded on roads that had not introduced the lower limit.  

“This compelling new analysis shows clearly that lowering speeds is saving lives,” said London’s walking and cycling commissioner Will Norman. “Every death or serious injury on our roads is one too many. Slower speeds not only protect the most vulnerable, they also help create safer, more welcoming streets, and are a vital part of building a safer London for everyone.” 

Not everyone is convinced. Critics claim the lower limits are a drag on productivity and treat all road users like menaces. But they’ll have to get used to them: TfL plans to introduce 20mph limits across more of the capital. 

Image: Samuel Wölfl

Low emissions zones in Belgium have been linked to a lower usage of antidiabetic drugs. 

Researchers working for the Belgian insurer Mutualités Libres monitored air quality in cities across the European nation, while studying the health data of 420,000 people. Participants lived in low emissions zones in Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent, and 17 control cities with no such zones.

The study found that air quality within the low-emissions areas improved faster than those outside, with the greatest improvements recorded in more deprived areas. Perhaps more surprisingly, researchers also noted a slower increase in the use of antidiabetic drugs in the Brussels zone. 

This chimes with existing research linking air pollution – particularly particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide – with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

“The benefits of these zones far outweigh the inconveniences of their implementation,” Christian Horemans, part of the research team, told The Guardian.  

Image: Peyman Shojaei

A chalk stream immortalised by poets has been granted legal rights by an English council – a move campaigners described as a “landmark decision”.

The River Loddon in Hampshire has inspired bards, notably Alexander Pope and Thomas Warton, who wrote fondly of the “sweet native stream”. 

However, like other English waterways, the Loddon has become polluted, promoting Basingstoke and Deane council to vote in favour of giving it rights – including the right to be pollution-free. Technically, the chalk stream can now sue. 

“This landmark decision should give us all hope – not only affording greater protections and safeguards, but also representing a vital step in showing that healthy nature matters in all decision making,” Debbie Tann MBE, chief executive of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, told Positive News.

“Where Basingstoke has shown foresight and leadership, others in power must step up too. We urge authorities around the country and UK government to do the right thing – listen to the people and grant chalk streams the protection they desperately need and deserve.”

Image: Andrew Smith

Breda in the Netherlands has been declared the world’s fourth national park city following local efforts to bring nature into the urban realm. 

The distinction is granted by the UK-based National Park City Foundation, a movement to make cities “greener, healthier, and wilder”. It reviews evidence of a city’s ecological transformation before offering the designation, which is not officially recognised by national governments.

Breda, which aims to be one of Europe’s most nature-rich cities in Europe by 2030, is the second national park city to be announced this year after Chattanooga in Tennessee, US, was granted the status in April. London and Adelaide received the designation in 2019 and 2021 respectively. 

“Breda’s national park city journey is led by a highly skilled, enthusiastic and committed team,” said Dan Raven-Ellison, founder of the National Park City Foundation. “Together they have a deep understanding of the city, its people and nature, and have ambitious plans to make Breda greener, healthier, wilder and fairer.”

Image: Frans Koning
Main image: Stephen Blake Photography/iStock