The Times - UK (2020-08-06)

the times | Thursday August 6 2020 2GM 19

News

New Guinea deserves to be the top des-
tination on botanists’ bucket lists, a
study suggests, with no other island
boasting a richer diversity of plant life.
The world’s largest tropical island,
which lies in the southwestern Pacific
Ocean, has fascinated naturalists for
centuries. Until now, however, there
had been no concerted attempt to cata-
logue its plants. A study published yes-
terday in the journal Nature has listed
more than 13,600 species, making New

Bailiffs could be sent into the homes of
over-75s to seize and sell their posses-
sions if ministers push ahead with pro-
posals to decriminalise non-payment
of the licence fee.
The government has acknowledged
that its plans to replace the criminal
sanction for licence-fee evasion with a
civil penalty could cause additional
anxiety to vulnerable people, as private
bailiffs would have a greater role in
collecting the money.
Age campaigners said the prospect of
debt collectors turning up at pension-
ers’ doors was “distressing and frighten-
ing”. The warning comes as millions of
over-75s begin receiving letters billing
them for the £157.50 charge unless they
can provide evidence that they receive
pension credit and so are exempt.
A resistance campaign is encourag-
ing pensioners of all ages to clog up TV

New Guinea, island of giant bananas, is ultimate plant paradise

Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent Guinea the most floristically diverse is-
land in the world.
The variety partly reflects the island’s
size but is also a result of an extraordi-
nary array of ecosystems, the research-
ers said, from mangroves at sea level to
high grasslands. Its species include the
world’s largest banana, a 15-metre tree
that grows fruit as large as a man’s arm.
New Guinea also has the only known
species of night-flowering orchid, Bul-
bophyllum nocturnum.
The list was compiled by 99 botanists
from 56 institutions in 19 countries.

Nearly 70 per cent of the plants in New

Guinea are endemic, meaning that they

are found nowhere else. This makes it

the only island in the southeast Asian

archipelago with more endemic than

non-endemic species.

Rodrigo Cámara-Leret of the Uni-

versity of Zurich, who led the study,

said: “New Guinea is extraordinary. It is

a paradise island teeming with life. As

the second largest island in the world

after Greenland, it supports a mosaic of

ecosystems and is globally recognised

as a centre of biological diversity. How-

ever, despite this, knowledge on New

Guinea’s flora has remained scattered

for years.”

Many of the species are in danger

from logging and the creation of palm

oil plantations. The research also in-

volved scientists from the Royal Botan-

ic Gardens Kew, the Natural History

Museum and the Royal Botanic Gar-

den Edinburgh. Since 1970, more than

2,800 newly discovered species from

New Guinea have been described. In

the next half a century, as many as

4,000 more could be added.

Rare delights

Bulbophyllum tarantula Found only

on New Guinea, this orchid’s

appendages are like tarantula legs

Bulbophyllum nocturnum The only

orchid in which the flowers open

after dark and close in the morning

Musa ingens A species of banana,

its stems can exceed 15m in height

and 2m in circumference, with fruits

weighing more than 1.5kg

BBC could send in the bailiffs

to seize pensioners’ possessions

Licensing’s systems by cancelling their

direct debits and paying the licence fee

in backdated monthly cheques, which

take longer to process.

Over-75s who do not buy a licence

but continue watching television face

prosecution and potentially jail if they

repeatedly refuse to pay the resulting

fine. In 2018 the average fine was £176,

significantly less than the £1,000 maxi-

mum. Five people were imprisoned.

The government wants to scrap the

criminal sanction for evasion on the

grounds that is “unfair and dispropor-

tionate”. Ministers are expected to

announce their plans later this year.

TV licence evasion is likely to be

treated as either a civil monetary penal-

ty — similar to a parking fine — or a

civil debt, like an unpaid utility bill.

Under both systems debt collection is

outsourced to private bailiffs, with indi-

viduals also required to pay their fees.

“The use of enforcement agents to

enforce the debt... may cause addition-

al anxiety for individuals who may

already be vulnerable,” the govern-

ment’s consultation document states.

The government has also admitted

that fines could be substantially higher

after decriminalisation. A previous re-

view for ministers found that a fixed

penalty of £500 would be required to

ensure no increase in evasion rates.

In its submission to the consultation,

the BBC warned that civil enforcement

would allow items to be seized and “sold

by a bailiff”. It added: “Action taken by

bailiffs is by its very nature intrusive...

TV Licensing does not use them to

recover arrears.”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director

of Age UK, which has campaigned to

protect free licences, said: “We are

aware that any decriminalisation of the

TV licence enforcement process would

in all likelihood lead to greater use of

bailiffs to reclaim the money due and

that’s one of the reasons why we are

wary of any such policy shift.

“It is hard to think of anything more

distressing and frightening for an older

person than to have a bailiff turn up at

their front door, demanding entry.”

Oliver Dowden, the culture secre-

tary, acknowledged the pitfalls of de-

criminalisation to the culture select

committee in April, saying the govern-

ment would hold a second consultation

on what should replace the criminal

sanction.

The BBC opposes decriminalisation,

which would slash its annual income by

an estimated £300 million a year. A

BBC spokesman said: “As a universal

service we need an enforcement system

with appropriate sanctions otherwise it

is unfair to those who do pay. A detailed

government-commissioned review has

already found the current system is the

fairest and most effective.”

Letters, page 26

Matthew Moore Media Correspondent

Pay up to see

Disney’s latest

film at home

Matthew Moore

Disney has cancelled plans to release

Mulan in cinemas and will instead use

the film to make extra money from sub-

scribers to its streaming service.

The live-action story of the legend-

ary Chinese female warrior Hua Mu-

lan, a remake of the 1998 animation,

was due to be released in March but was

delayed as coronavirus led to the clo-

sure of cinemas across the world.

The company will make the film

available to rent for subscribers to Dis-

ney Plus, for a premium fee. British

members already pay £5.99 a month for

the on-demand service, which is mar-

keted as carrying “no extra costs”.

Bob Chapek, Disney’s chief execu-

tive, said that Mulan would be released

for $29.99 in the United States next

month and for a similar price in a num-

ber of countries in western Europe, like-

ly to include the UK. He defended the

pricing, saying it was “fairly expensive to

produce the quality we’re known for”.

C

urators could

soon find

themselves

competing

with

computers for

professional survival

following the

development of an

algorithm that can find

the subtlest links

between works of art

(Tom Knowles writes).

Researchers have

created a tool that can

sift through millions of

paintings and sculptures

to look for connecting

themes and motifs.

Mark Hamilton, the

lead researcher, was in

the Rijksmuseum,

Amsterdam, when he

saw a clear match in the

poses and colours of

The Martyrdom of Saint

Serapion, by Francisco

de Zurbarán, and The

Threatened Swan by Jan

Asselijn. He said that the

artists had never met

but that the works

shared “a rich,

latent structure”.

Mr Hamilton

worked with his

team at the

Massachusetts

Institute of

Technology (MIT)

and, in collaboration

with Microsoft, created

the tool, called MosAIc.

It is in use at the

Metropolitan Museum of

Art, New York, and the

Rijksmuseum.

In one example, it

linked a sketch of a blue

crane by the Dutch artist

Robert Jacob Gordon

with a 16th-century

Persian vase shaped like

a bird, and a drawing of

the Egyptian god Seth

from 521BC.

“These fields are rich

with information that

has never been

processed and can be

a source for great

inspiration,” Mr

Hamilton said.

However, Rosalind

McKever, a curator

at the Victoria &

Albert Museum,

said: “If you

want to know

why the

connection

exists, or what

it means, you

need an art

historian or

curator.”

AI curator

can join the

dots between

works of art

starting image closest glassware closest egyptian The MIT algorithm found

similarities between

Gordon’s blue crane, a

Persian vase and the

Egyptian god Seth; and

linked the 19th-century

dress and vase below

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