Brexit, CAP and grouse shooting

Sometimes several streams of argument begin to run together and form a river.   This week there have been signs that we are at standing at the headwaters of a river – let’s hope it doesn’t trickle into the sands. The biggest political game on the block is undoubtedly Brexit – and we all know what…

Environmental Audit Committee report

This report is important and challenging to government.  Brexit may mean Brexit but what does it mean for agriculture and environmental protection? Just as government did not have a plan for Brexit (somewhat understandable because government wasn’t in favour of it), Defra still does not have a plan for Brexit.  The Secretary of State was…

Don’t panic, don’t panic!

The Hawk and Owl Trust is looking for a Crisis Management Strategist!  The successful applicant will have a ball and chain which they can fit to the leg of the current Chair and a gag of an appropriate size. In between putting out fires that were started by the organisation’s Chair they will update their…

Environment, Brexit and the media

You can listen to the one-sided discussion between the NFU and Owen Paterson on the Today programme this morning here (at 0650).  We heard from the industry and from a known strong supporter of the agri-industry model. What was needed was a different perspective or some more pointed questions from John Humphrys. ‘Why should the…

Nature in the media

Did you go back to work yesterday? Or maybe today? One of the aspects of being self-employed is that there is less of a hard line between work and play and so I was working over some of the mid-winter break and did a little bit of ‘work’ on almost every day of the last…