I don’t think this is going to change anything. At all. It’s impact on conservation is negligable – children squishing insects does not have any significent impact on their numbers. The social ‘all life is precious’ training will last a couple of years at most, or until they encounter their first pest species and the parents explain what ant poison is for. It’s just some politician’s pet project.

At most, you’ll end up with children who would be horrified at the thought of stepping on a bug, but completly guilt-free about living in a house built on top of what used to be an increasingly rare habitat.

There used to be herons where I live – you could see them occasionally, and they were fond of the koi in the pond next door. Then our local marshland was drained and concreted over to build a housing estate some years ago, and the herons disappeared. Even the fish remain uneaten.

I liked those herons.