We’ve been doing our best to save the honeybees – but now there’s a sting in the tail
I’m surrounded by towering glazed walls, concrete pillars and galvanised girders, the intrusive throb of helicopters and rising wail of police sirens.
It’s morning on a City of London rooftop. But that rooftop itself is a little oasis: a tennis court-sized patch of meadow complete with clover, buttercups and five beehives.
But only one is buzzing.
The remaining four are empty as the keeper, Dale Gibson of Bermondsey Street Bees, realised such numbers of honeybees were doing more harm than good.
“London is Europe’s most densely populated city for honeybees, possibly the world,” he said.
“We’ve been hijacked by the Save the Bees motto, which has been interpreted as meaning honeybees.
“Well, guess what? The honeybee is in great fettle.
“The UN hive data for honeybees globally shows they’re at an all-time high.
“What we need to do is see the impact these honeybees, with their proliferation, especially in places like London, is having on other pollinators and in particular other wild bees.”
Why the buzz around honeybees has changed
As today is World Bee Day, it’s a chance to ask how we got here when, just a few years ago, the buzz around bees was deafening – a theme of peril for honeybees that stretched from newspaper headlines to cultural norms, with Hollywood’s animated Bee Movie and plot lines in Doctor Who.
Professor Phil Stevenson works at the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens and has studied the bee craze.
“It’s probably because the narrative around saving bees came at the same time as issues around colony collapse disorder in the US, when whole hives died out,” he said.
“The problem is the density of hives.
“Our work suggested about seven hives per square kilometre was about as much as London could tolerate.
“In some locations in London there are more than 50 hives per square kilometre and in one particular location there are 400 hives in a square kilometre, and they all need feeding.”
The science may have moved on, but in the wider public, the love for honeybees is remarkably sticky.
This may seem a random observation, but when I was talking to a Sky News engineer while making this report, he showed me his phone: the case covered by a Save the Bees sticker with a honeycomb motif.
Hogging all the pollination
Pollination is the act of taking pollen between the male and female parts of different flowers, allowing seeds to form.
It is essential to the reproduction of our floral ecosystem, and much of our food relies on it, too.
But oil crops like rapeseed and soy, and fruits like strawberries and apples, are highly dependent on the labour of a whole range of insects – not just bees.
There are hundreds of other pollinating bee species and hundreds more wasps, flies, beetles, butterflies and moths which all need pollen and nectar.
Phil Stevenson has a favourite – the furry footed bee – and we also spot a chafer beetle with a glorious golden sheen enjoying a pollen binge.
A healthy ecosystem needs abundance and variety of pollinator species.
“There is absolutely concrete evidence you can see a halo around honeybee hives, not just in cities but also in wild landscapes, where you have a significant reduction in nectar and pollen and therefore a significant reduction in wild bees and solitary bees,” he said.
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Honeybees’ sting in the tail
So, this isn’t just an urban or London problem.
Dr Lucy Witter is an entomologist and farm wildlife advisor working with the Cheshire Wildlife Trust.
“One of my biggest bugbears is people getting honeybees to help pollinators generally,” she said.
“It’s the equivalent of saying ‘we need to save wild birds, so let’s get some chickens’.
“Honeybees are a domesticated species”.
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Dr Witter is not anti-honeybees if there is a guaranteed abundance of food, but, in many cases, they reduce the food available to native wild pollinators.
She also thinks their amazing PR detracts awareness from all those other critical pollinating insects – and as they are such efficient gatherers of pollen, they are worse at helping plants to reproduce.
“Honeybees don’t drop much pollen whereas solitary bees, like the red mason bee, are such messy eaters they end up covered in pollen and this falls off on other plants doing the pollination job,” she added.
So, as our well-intentioned passion for honeybees has ended up with a sting in the tail, what should we do?
Everyone we have spoken to agrees: provide habitat.
Whether it’s planting pollinator friendly plots or just letting flowering weeds flourish, give food and shelter to insects.
Phil Stevenson said: “What we really need to be doing is much more about the landscape itself, increasing the floral resources where wild bee species can nest and have refuge.”
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Singer Linda Nolan, who rose to fame alongside her sisters in The Nolans, has died after several years of battling cancer.
The Irish star, 65, and her sisters Coleen, Maureen, Bernie, Denise and Anne, had a run of hits in the late 1970s and ’80s – including the disco classic I’m In The Mood For Dancing.
Paying tribute on The Nolans‘ X account, her sisters described her as “a pop icon and beacon of hope”, who “faced incurable cancer with courage, grace and determination, inspiring millions”.
Linda died peacefully in hospital this morning, “embraced with love and comfort” with her siblings by her side, her agent Dermot McNamara said in a statement.
“As a member of The Nolans, one of the most successful girl groups of all time, Linda achieved global success; becoming the first Irish act to sell over a million records worldwide, touring the world and selling over 30 million records,” he said.
“Her distinctive voice and magnetic stage presence brought joy to fans around the world, securing her place as an icon of British and Irish entertainment.”
As well as her TV and musical career, Linda helped to raise more than £20 million for numerous charities, including Breast Cancer Now, Irish Cancer Society, Samaritans and others.
“Her selflessness and tireless commitment to making a difference in the lives of others will forever be a cornerstone of her legacy,” Mr McNamara said.
Five of the Nolans in 1983 (L-R): Linda, Anne, Bernie, Coleen and Maureen. Pic: PA
Linda’s death came after she was admitted to hospital with pneumonia over the weekend. She began receiving end-of-life care after slipping into a coma on Tuesday.
Details of a celebration of the star’s “remarkable life” will be shared in due course.
Linda was born to Tommy and Maureen Nolan in Dublin on 23 February 1959, the sixth of eight children.
Her parents were both singers and keen to turn their young family into a musical troupe. Linda made her stage debut aged just four.
Those early years put the siblings on track for a career in show business which lasted for decades. As well as I’m In The Mood For Dancing, The Nolans had hits with Gotta Pull Myself Together, Attention To Me and Don’t Make Waves, and they also had their own TV specials.
At their height, they toured with Frank Sinatra and were reported to have outsold The Beatles in Japan.
Linda left the group in 1983, but later reformed with her sisters for several comeback performances. She also became known for musical theatre, most notably performing the role of Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers for three years from 2000.
L-R: Bernie, Denise, Linda (top), Anne and Maureen Nolan pictured in 1975, before youngest sister Coleen joined the group
Four siblings struck by cancer
Linda was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, and underwent a mastectomy two days before her 47th birthday.
After being given the all-clear in 2011, in 2017 she was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer. Three years later, Linda and Anne together revealed they were being treated for cancer once again.
The sisters were diagnosed with different forms of the disease just days apart after they returned home from filming a series of their show, The Nolans Go Cruising. Linda had cancer of the liver, while Anne had breast cancer.
The star, pictured last year, had battled cancer for several years. Pic: Shutterstock
They went on to write Stronger Together, an account of their journey that included frank details of their treatments and the side effects.
But in 2023, Linda revealed the cancer had spread to her brain and she was beginning treatment as part of a new drug trial.
The Nolans lost their second-youngest sister, Bernie, to cancer in 2013, aged 52.
Loose Women star Coleen Nolan also revealed she was diagnosed with skin cancer last year, and said she was using a chemotherapy cream to remove it.
Linda’s husband of 26 years, Brian Hudson, died in 2007 after being diagnosed with skin cancer.
Anne Nolan is now cancer-free.
Tributes to star ‘who was always a joy’
TV star and singer Cheryl Baker and comedian Tommy Cannon are among those who have paid tribute.
“I’m heartbroken to hear about the passing of Linda Nolan,” Cannon wrote on X. “I had the pleasure of working with her on so many occasions, and she was always a joy – full of warmth and love. My thoughts and love are with the Nolan girls and the whole family.”
“The most incredible voice, the wickedest sense of humour, such a massive talent,” Baker wrote. “You’re with Brian now, Lin.”
Loose Women also sent its love to her family. Linda appeared as a guest panellist on the ITV chat show over the years, alongside her sister Coleen.
The Blackpool Grand Theatre described her as “a true Blackpool icon”.
A 20-year-old trainee gas engineer who won £7.5m says he was back working on blocked drains the day after claiming his cash.
James Clarkson, 20, from Carlisle, Cumbria, found out he’d hit the £7,533,329 National Lottery jackpot on 4 January – but said he has no plans to quit his job.
“I was out in the cold fixing blocked drains the day after I found out I had won,” he said.
“It was a bit grim but that’s reality.
“I’m not going to stop working, I’m too young,” he added, admitting he knew it might sound “mad” to some.
“I want to qualify as a heating engineer and then go from there.
“I need to have a purpose in life, plus dad wouldn’t let me not work anyway. He says there are plenty of millionaires out there that still work and you need a reason to get up each day.”
Mr Clarkson celebrating with his family. Pic: PA
Mr Clarkson added he still planned to have “some nice holidays” in between working, and revealed one of his first purchases was an all-inclusive luxury break to Cape Verde, along with a few designer items including a Gucci bag for his girlfriend and two new jackets for himself.
He said he also planned to splash out on a new car, possibly an Audi – but for now, he’s got his work van.
“If you drive a cold work van all day, going from job to job, you’d understand,” he said.
“The comfort, the steering, the heated seats. I realise how jammy that sounds, not many people my age can afford the car insurance let alone a car like that to drive.”
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As a huge Manchester City fan, he said he was also looking to buy a season ticket at the Etihad Stadium, as well as taking care of his extended family – starting with paying off his parents’ mortgage.
The new multi-millionaire holds up bespoke Manchester City kit celebrating his win. Pic: PA
He said: “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, it’s what I want to do. I told them last night and they seemed really overwhelmed.
“We are close and they have always been there for me. This win isn’t just for me, I want to make sure we all benefit.”
Mr Clarkson played on the National Lottery app, choosing his winning numbers – 16, 19, 22, 24, 27 and 35 – at random.
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