Latest news with #PaulWood
Irish Times
12-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Tree Hunting by Paul Wood: a supremely fascinating book that seeks to channel our frequently unarticulated love for trees
Tree Hunting: 1,000 Trees to Find in Britain and Ireland's Towns and Cities Author : Paul Wood ISBN-13 : 978-0241502051 Publisher : Particular Books Guideline Price : £30 I recently observed an exchange of views on one of the social networks, to do with the felling of the tree that grew in the Sycamore Gap in the north of England . The trial of the men accused of destroying this local and national landmark had concluded in convictions , and now there was a buzz of comment: this was a case of sheer vandalism, the convicted men deserved prison, the loss of the tree was a tragedy, the whole episode was a sentimental storm in a teacup. One particular opinion caught my eye: that the felling of this particular tree was in fact no great loss, given that sycamores are ubiquitous in the landscape, and are not even a native species. I felt that this comment surely failed to recognise a fundamental fact: that we can indeed love individual trees, and experience the loss of a familiar tree as a bereavement. As Paul Wood has it in Tree Hunting, 'Our passionate response to trees' destruction shows how deeply we know it is wrong: to lose them feels heart-wrenching – outrageous, even – as though we were losing parts of ourselves.' Wood's supremely fascinating book seeks to channel this frequently unarticulated love, and to offer it a fresh focus. In paying attention to specific trees that grow today across urban Britain and Ireland, he invites us to appreciate more fully what we might otherwise simply pass by. [ Nature therapy: How to get your 'daily dose of trees' Opens in new window ] He has roamed these islands, and made his selection – and the result is a kind of illumination, and an exercise in mindfulness. And of seeing in global terms, in that so many of the trees planted across our landscape – like the fig, the mulberry, the sweet chestnut, and of course the sycamore – do not naturally belong here, have been imported, owe their presence to chance and to the vagaries of fashion, economics, and colonialism. READ MORE Ireland receives much attention in Wood's book, and it is gratifying to see many familiar friends – such as the spectacular Tree of Heaven growing beside the glasshouses in Dublin's National Botanic Gardens – spotlit in its pages. [ The Tree Hunters' Glasnevin focus is gratifying but it barely glances at the calamities created by colonialist adventurers Opens in new window ] But it is the less glamorous trees that particularly claim attention in this book, and that urge our feet to go wandering, and our eyes to look again with pleasure and appreciation.
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Yahoo
Grim discovery at popular tourist spot
A grim discovery has been made at a popular tourist attraction in the Northern Territory two days after an interstate visitor mysteriously disappeared from the idyllic location. The body of a 57-year-old man was recovered earlier on Thursday from Edith Falls, also known as Leliyn, in Nitmiluk National Park, about 290km south of Darwin. The man had last been seen entering a plunge pool at Edith Falls about 3pm on Tuesday. As per the NT News, a witness reported the man who had been swimming with his family struggled in the water at the lower pool, and failed to resurface. In a statement, NT Police said officers 'located and recovered the man's body a short time ago near one of the waterfalls'. 'At this stage, police do not believe the death to be suspicious and was the result of a medical incident,' the statement read The upper and lower pools at Edith Falls, along with the walking track to the upper pool, are expected to remain closed for the remainder of Thursday. 'Yesterday, the floor of the Edith Falls plunge pool was being surveyed and live scanned,' Search and Rescue Section (SRS) officer in charge Paul Wood said on Thursday. 'SRS has four trained divers who commenced an underwater search, keeping in mind visibility below 10m is approximately 0.5m. 'There is a lot of debris, rock, ledges, branches and tree trunks that is being searched.' Senior Sergeant Wood said police suspected the man suffered a medical episode and did not believe a crocodile was involved. More to come
News.com.au
10-07-2025
- News.com.au
Man's body found at popular Northern Territory tourist spot
A grim discovery has been made at a popular tourist attraction in the Northern Territory two days after an interstate visitor mysteriously disappeared from the idyllic location. The body of a 57-year-old man was recovered earlier on Thursday from Edith Falls, also known as Leliyn, in Nitmiluk National Park, about 290km south of Darwin. The man had last been seen entering a plunge pool at Edith Falls about 3pm on Tuesday. As per the NT News, a witness reported the man who had been swimming with his family struggled in the water at the lower pool, and failed to resurface. In a statement, NT Police said officers 'located and recovered the man's body a short time ago near one of the waterfalls'. 'At this stage, police do not believe the death to be suspicious and was the result of a medical incident,' the statement read The upper and lower pools at Edith Falls, along with the walking track to the upper pool, are expected to remain closed for the remainder of Thursday. 'Yesterday, the floor of the Edith Falls plunge pool was being surveyed and live scanned,' Search and Rescue Section (SRS) officer in charge Paul Wood said on Thursday. 'SRS has four trained divers who commenced an underwater search, keeping in mind visibility below 10m is approximately 0.5m. 'There is a lot of debris, rock, ledges, branches and tree trunks that is being searched.' Senior Sergeant Wood said police suspected the man suffered a medical episode and did not believe a crocodile was involved.
ABC News
10-07-2025
- ABC News
Underwater search for missing tourist continues at Edith Falls, north of Katherine
Specialist police have entered their second day in a recovery mission to find a missing swimmer suspected to have drowned at a popular Northern Territory swimming hole. Northern Territory police said witnesses saw a 57-year-old man struggling in the lower pool of Edith Falls in Nitmiluk National Park while swimming about 3pm on Tuesday, before he slipped below the water. Underwater and overhead drones, police watercraft and a team of divers have continued to search for the man, who is an interstate tourist. Senior Sergeant Paul Wood, who is leading the search and rescue, said the man was visiting the national park with his family on a holiday to the territory. "The family swum approximately 100 metres towards the falls and a 57-year-old male started to struggle," he said. Senior Sergeant Wood said police were treating the search as a recovery mission, but low visibility paired with underwater rocks and debris had presented challenges. He said it was "a matter of being patient" as these kind of operations can take some time, and parts of the lower pool were 25 metres deep. Visitors arriving at the falls are being told by park rangers the pools are shut, but campers are permitted to stay as the search continues. Chris Anwyl, who is travelling across the NT and WA, was at Edith Falls when police began their operation. He said his thoughts were with the man's family, describing the suspected drowning as a sobering "reality check" about personal safety. He had spent most of Tuesday afternoon exploring the pools, not realising anything was wrong until Wednesday morning when he saw the walking paths had been shut. Mr Anwyl said swimming in the upper pool was beautiful that day "and it wasn't too cold that would cause you to lose your breath", however he noticed water in the lower pool was murky. "But there was people in the water, we were going to go back for a swim a bit later on but changed our mind," he said. "I saw a family getting in just after 4pm, and there was a couple of people swimming out further. The incident comes during the peak of the NT's tourism season.
Metro
06-07-2025
- Business
- Metro
Using AI to help plan your finances? Here's what ChatGPT gets wrong
It's the em dash, apparently. That extra-long line you might have noticed in social media posts, blogs and emails – and it could be a giveaway that ChatGPT has entered the chat. This distinctive punctuation mark is apparently a favourite of the world's most popular AI chatbot. Its sudden appearance in everyday writing has sparked suspicions (and a rising feeling of awkwardness among those of us who do genuinely use it!). Maybe all those heartfelt LinkedIn posts about what the death of a family parrot can teach us about leadership aren't quite what they seem… Spotting more serious signs of chatbot influence isn't always so easy, especially when it comes to our finances. New research from Fidelity International suggests that 25% of Gen Z and millennials are using AI to learn about investing. Yet ChatGPT may be getting up to one in three financial questions wrong. That's according to broker analysis site Investing In The Web, which asked 100 personal finance questions such as 'How do I save for my child's education?' and 'What are the pros and cons of investing in gold?'. A panel of experts reviewed the responses and found 65% were accurate. But 29% were incomplete or misleading while 6% were flat-out wrong. And it's not just ChatGPT. Many Google searches show an AI-generated 'overview' at the top of the results page. A study by financial services digital agency Indulge found a quarter of these summaries for common finance queries were inaccurate. Ironically, Indulge used ChatGPT's latest model to fact-check each Google overview. Phase two of the study will involve human experts weighing in. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Paul Wood, the director overseeing this research, is not impressed. 'Anything less than 100 per cent accuracy is, in my view, a failure of the system,' he says. So why is generative AI often wide of the mark? It depends entirely on the prompts it is given and the data it is trained on, both of which can be flawed or outdated. It rarely shows its workings or sources. And, to put it bluntly, ChatGPT is designed to sound polished and plausible. Too often it resembles a smooth-talking chancer trying to blag their way through a job interview. To be fair, humans don't have a spotless record here, either. The Financial Ombudsman received 1,459 complaints about financial advisers last year and upheld 57% of those relating to misselling or suitability of advice, which made up the most complaints. That's a tiny proportion of the hundreds of thousands it receives about the wider financial industry, but still. For most people, professional advice simply isn't accessible. According to a poll by asset-management giant Schroders, three quarters of advisers won't take on clients with less than £50,000 to invest. It's because advisers typically charge a percentage fee and smaller pots aren't worth their while. Meanwhile, banks and pension providers can't offer straightforward guidance about your money because they're not regulated to give advice. So is it any wonder AI is stepping in? The financial sector knows it has to catch up. The Financial Conduct Authority is changing the rules to allow more firms to offer 'targeted support', sometimes via AI. For example, it wants pension funds to be able warn a customer if they are drawing down money from their nest egg too quickly and investors to be told if cheaper funds are available. A senior figure at a major financial firm recently told me about a customer who held their pension and bank account with it. When they tried to cash in their retirement pot, staff spotted regular gambling activity on their statements. Instead of waving it through, the firm urged the customer to seek help. Some financial advisers are automating admin tasks to cut costs and serve more clients, including those with less money. Octopus Money blends AI-generated suggestions – via a proprietary algorithm – with human money-coaches. More Trending Other tools, such as specialised chatbots, can analyse your finances and tell you where you're going right – or wrong. Take Cleo – it offers two tones: 'hype mode' praises your good behaviour while 'roast mode' gives you a playful telling-off and might say 'here are the companies that are bleeding you dry'. Apparently, most of Cleo's seven million users prefer roast mode. Maybe we all know deep down that financial tough love can go a long way. Which brings us back to ChatGPT, infamous for telling you your ideas are brilliant. To avoid its pitfalls, give it as much detail as possible in your prompt. Always ask for sources and remember that its answers may not be current or relevant to the UK. Check privacy settings if you're concerned about data being used to train future models. And most importantly, don't treat its advice as gospel. Specialist financial AI could be a game-changer. But right now? I'm not sure I want the robot equivalent of Del Boy handling my investments – do you? View More » MORE: 'I tried Charlotte Tilbury's new Unreal Blush Stick – and it may just be my new make-up must have' MORE: Silentnight unlocks the secret to sleeping soundly when camping this festival season MORE: Jurassic World Rebirth leaves fans with clenched stomachs after 'genuinely tense' film debuts Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
