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The GOP strategy on taxes and climate: reject evidence and expert opinion, lie, and wage culture wars

The parallels between the Republican Party positions on taxes and climate change are striking. Both are morally appalling and reject the available evidence and expert opinion.

The Initiative on Global Markets’ panel of economic experts was recently asked about the Republican tax plan. Among the experts who took a position either way, there was a 96% consensus that the plan would not substantially grow the economy more than the status quo, and a 100% consensus that it would substantially increase the national debt.

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Goods such as pasta, crisps and rice will be cut to 10p and sold for a further month at East of England Co-op

A major retailer has become the first to start selling food that is past its “best before” date in a drive to reduce food waste.

From this week, the East of England Co-op – the biggest independent retailer in East Anglia – will sell tinned goods and dried food such as pasta, crisps and rice for a nominal 10p once they reach their best-before date. The offer will not apply to fresh and perishable foods, however, which carry a “use by” date indicating when a product is safe to eat.

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Skywatchers have enjoyed spectacular views of the Moon appearing larger and brighter in the sky.

America's most famous rodentologist joins RN Drive to talk rats in metro areas.

Proposals include new fountains and bottle-refill stations across the capital in parks and public squares

London’s mayor Sadiq Khan wants to roll out a new network of water fountains and bottle-refill stations across the capital to help reduce the use of single-use packaging, such as plastic water bottles, the Guardian has learned.

The mayor also wants to experiment with getting businesses to make their tap water available to the public, building on a scheme launched two years ago in Bristol.

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Comins Coch, Ceredigion A collection of old large-scale maps reveals how much the village has changed over the years – and how much remains unchanged

The package leaning against the front door was unexpected, and tightly wrapped against the pervasive drizzle. As the card inside explained, a friend clearing out an office had come across a set of long-unused maps and wondered if I had any use for them.

Tired and frayed at the edges, these were Ordnance Survey maps of the village and the surrounding land at the impressive scale of 1:2500 (25 inches to the mile). The level of detail is astonishing, picking out the shape of gardens, how terraced houses were divided, and the precise location of springs and wells. Even better, the bundle contained two different editions, surveyed in 1885 and 1938, revealing subtle changes as the village slowly developed.

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AEMO turns to demand management and its emergency reserve due to problems in gas supply in Victoria last week, and the absence of a major coal unit. This came as conservatives continue to belittle the Tesla big battery and say they hope for a widespread blackout over summer.

Power needed to recharge one Tesla Semi in 30 minutes would power up to 3,200 typical UK homes for one hour.

In the case of life support, blockchain technology could make life better for everyone – improving safety for the sick while saving costs for electricity providers.

The good news is that China has launched the world’s first all-electric cargo ship. The bad news is that it is being used to haul coal.

A total of 120MW of rooftop solar was installed in November, knocking off five year old record set when demand was fuelled by premium tariffs.

The first 50MW of Genex Power’s Kidston solar and “giant water battery” project has started sending electricity to the grid. Here's what that looks like.

Essential Energy decides not introduce power price rises for its more than 800,000 rural customers, after winning a two-year battle to be allowed to do just that.

Tom Kerrs from the Royal Observatory explains the phenomenon that causes the moon to look larger and brighter.

We look for nesting sites of the little tern; meet a former FIFO miner turned chicken farmer; open the gate to social farming; and pen up sheep with 86-year-old stock agent Linton Bradley.

Gitanjali Rao's device uses carbon nanotubes to detect the presence of lead in water.

Genex Power Limited is pleased to announce that, following successful transformer energisation of the Kidston Solar Stage 1 Project, Genex has now generated its first revenue from KS1.

5 December 1967 CM Gadd was apparently the first person to realise how migrating birds are attracted to municipal sewage farms

CHESHIRE AND LANCASHIRE: I was sad to hear recently of the death of a Cheshire naturalist whose name is probably quite unknown to the great number of ornithologists who have profited from his energy and fieldcraft. I refer to the late CM Gadd who was apparently the first man to realise what a rich variety of migrating waders and other birds are attracted to municipal sewage-farms. It is from observations at these somewhat unpleasant places that much of our knowledge of overland migration has been derived. Gadd first visited the well-known Altrincham sewage-farm in 1916, found that it was attractive to birds and informed TA Coward. That famous ornithologist lived only four miles away from the farm but had never visited it, although subsequently, until his death in 1933, he went there repeatedly, as have innumerable bird-watchers after him.

Related: Food and shelter at the sewage farm: Country diary 100 years ago

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’Tis the season for online shopping – which means a month of shipping. Here's how to reduce your delivery footprint. David M. Herold, Sustainable Logistics Researcher, Griffith University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

Chairman of the Countryside Commission who tried to bridge the gap between modern farming and conservation

Derek Barber, Lord Barber of Tewkesbury, who has died aged 99, spent much of his long career in public life trying to bridge the gap between modern farming and the conservation of wildlife and landscape. He was chairman of the Countryside Commission from 1981 to 1991 and few people can claim to have left such an imprint on British rural life.

His leadership was marked by numerous initiatives – Groundwork (now a national movement to encourage communities to improve their local environments), the National Forest (a new forested area in the Midlands), the reinvigoration of rights of way and the independent national parks – that have become established parts of the environmental scene in England and Wales.

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