More on bees ...

... and the potential effects of colony collapse disorder from Haaretz, an Israeli publication house.

"Bear in mind that the bee problem has implications not only for fruits and vegetables, but also for beef. Without bees there is no seed for cattle grazing, no alfalfa and no clover," says Shai Spector, head of the Israeli honey producers association. "It's a chain. Costs will skyrocket; chickens and cows will disappear. You can eat bread, but a body cannot be sustained on bread alone. A war will break out over food, with the problems already in place today."

All very worrying, especially at a time of increasing costs in most basic foodstuffs.