Bees are an essential cog in the cycle of natural life – some would say THE essential cog, as their role as cross-pollinators is crucial to many of the food plants we take for granted.

Approximately a third of farm output around the world depends on pollination by animals, most of it by bees.

There has been much argument over whether or not Albert Einstein once said that if bees disappeared from the earth, mankind would only last about four years.

Whether or not the attribution is correct or the figure of four years entirely accurate, the point is well made: we need bees.

So Bradford’s beekeepers are right to be concerned about the Government’s failure to act on the potential threat that certain pesticides contain to the welfare of bees.

Ministers have been accused of “extraordinary complacency” in failing to support European Commission moves to restrict the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, after research suggested they could be causing serious damage to bee colonies.

Their argument seems to be that the research is not conclusive, therefore there is no need to do anything yet.

The parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee, however, says there’s now enough evidence to warrant taking precautionary action by banning the use of these pesticides in gardens, parks, golf courses and on certain crops.

Given the fact that bee colonies are already declining at an alarming rate, it surely doesn’t take an Einstein to work out that it’s better to be safe than sorry....