Monkeying about with Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana)

A 150 year old Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) in Swansea faces the chop for having "hypodermic style" needles... … because, in modern Britain, the needle-like points of its leaves are deemed a danger to health and safety.

One expert likened the effect of the needles to being pricked by a hypodermic syringe.

‘Every effort is made in this day and age to prevent children playing with discarded syringe needles,’ a report stated.

‘Every effort must be made to prevent children coming into contact with these potentially, equally sharp needles.’

But a campaign to save the 50ft tree, also known as a Chilean Pine, has been launched by residents, who insist the prickly foliage is not likely to present the same risk of spreading infectious diseases as a discarded syringe.

The protest is being led by Mike and Carol Crafer, who are threatening

to sell up if the tree – which stands in front of their home – is axed. ‘It’s another case of health and safety gone mad,’ said Mrs Crafer, a 49-yearold mother of two. ‘The tree’s needles are not that dangerous – comparing them to syringes is ridiculous.

‘The tree is part of the local landscape and has been for a century and a half. It rarely sheds its foliage and there are plenty of volunteers here who would be happy to clear up the needles.’

Her husband, a 57-year-old sustainability manager with Thames Water, said: ‘This is a crazy decision to cut the tree down.

‘We have put this to the test by trying to prick ourselves with the needles, but have not been able to – that’s how dangerous they are.’

The Crafers led more than 30 banner-waving residents in a protest against Swansea Council’s decision to cut the tree down,

The council brought in two independent health and safety experts who both advised to give the monkey puzzle the chop, especially since a new school is being opened nearby.

A council spokesman said: ‘Safety experts have said the tree is too much of a risk to children for it to remain.

‘One expert likened the tree foliage to discarded syringe needles and warns they pose a probable risk of serious injury to children. The authority could find itself defending any litigation, should this arise.’

However, Martin Caton, MP for Gower, Swansea, yesterday said the decision ‘stinks’.

He added: ‘ I urge everyone who cares about the quality of their environment to protest against this council plan.’

**So no one has ever died as far as I can tell from the deadly Monkey Puzzle, hell I wonder if anyone has even had more than a mild prick from one of the so called "hypodermic needles" that it produces.

Hell the only pricks that I can see are the ones on Swansea council for pissing away council tax payers money on this sort of rubbish. Oh and the two jobsworth independent health and safety experts who both advised to give the monkey puzzle the chop, especially since a new school is being opened nearby. They most definitely qualify as pricks and should be given the chop, far more so than the tree.

Now excuse me for going off topic here but I am going to ask quite why the good people of Swansea have to campaign to save the tree themselves and quite why their MP, Mr Caton is not getting involved?

Mr Caton after all cleared a cool £125,182 in expenses for 2006/7, he also likes the idea of the uber-state having voted yes for ID cards.

Mind this is not his worst sin as MP, having signed the EDM 982 which praised dictator Fidel Castro to the skies. Sadly he has not done the same for imprisoned journalist Normando Hernández González who has falled fowl of the communist dictatorship in Cuba. My previous post on this repulsive EDM and the useless idiots who signed it.

So it logically follows that if Mr Caton does not care about the human rights of journalists in Cuba, he is hardly going to lose sleep over a Puzzle tree.

A few articles that show that Cuba is nothing more than a soviet style gulag with palm trees: Link:http://www.newstatesman.com/200711080021
Plus: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=6917
Also: http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/912/prmID/174

Tags: CUBA
Oscar Elias Biscet
Combinado del Este prison
Armando Valladares
Lino Fernandez
Isla de Pinos
Elsa Morejon
Fidel Castro
Normando Hernández González

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