The CAP still doesn’t fit

It’s not simple to understand, it’s not a riveting read , but it is very important – it’s the EU Budget announcement! The overall budget goes up but CAP funding goes down.  Fears, which were absolutely justified according to insiders, that the ‘good’ bits of the CAP, Pillar 2, would be hacked into, disproportionately hard,…

Rumour

Rumours abound as to the outcome of the EU budget discussions. I’ve heard that all is lost, and that Pillar 2 funding has been successfully defended – they can’t both be true. We’ll see! I attended the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee meeting hearing evidence on the Natural Environment White Paper yesterday. Sign up…

Thunder

I woke this morning to the sound of thunder.  Whereas Aristotle may have thought that this was the sound of clouds colliding I wonder whether it is the sound of disagreements in the EU over the future funding of CAP.  Or maybe Peter Kendall is still trying to tell Charles Clover how much he enjoyed…

My contribution to Big Society

This photograph makes my BBS square look about as pretty as I can given the fact that it consists of large fields of wheat. On Friday morning I completed my second BBS visit – it’s a bit late but it would have been a bit difficult to come back from the USA early to count…

‘well chuffed’

It’s always good to see good guys (and gals) getting gongs. Last night the Zoological Society of London awarded The Independent’s Mike McCarthy their Silver Medal.  Mike was awarded the RSPB’s Medal a couple of years ago and has a string of journalistic awards too.  The McCarthy household is thinking of getting more shelf space…