Botanical gardens lost 400 trees during 2022 drought, prompting research into potential loss in coming decades

More than half of the tree species at Kew’s Royal Botanical Gardens are at risk of death because of climate breakdown, a study by the public body has found.

Founded in 1840, Kew Gardens says it houses the largest botanical collection in the world. During the drought of 2022, the botanical gardens in south-west London lost 400 of its trees. Scientists at Kew decided they should map and chronicle the climate risk to the trees to see how many could feasibly be lost to the changing weather in the coming decades.

Exclusive: Create Streets calls for legislation to make it easier to remove kiosks that attract litter and graffiti

The new Labour government should remove “ugly” modern phone kiosks that are blighting high streets and attracting litter and graffiti, a leading thinktank has said.

A report by Create Streets, founded by the government adviser Nicholas Boys Smith, says there is little need for phone boxes any more and that they do not feature much on the streets of Paris or New York.