Last week George (Gideon) Osborne had to do something different because it was clear that his economic policies weren’t working (he did the wrong thing, but he did have to do something) whereas there is no sign that Defra is going to do anything different even though their policies aren’t working either. The differences between…
Tag: CAP
Not so blithe now
I entered three poems for the Rialto/RSPB poetry competition but, not surprisingly, none of them won a prize. I’ve always liked Shelley, red Shelley, for his lyricism but also for being a campaigner and an angry one at that. If he were back with us he might (or might not) write this: Not so…
Bring in the bunting…
In amidst all that buzzard-bothering nonsense of the last couple of weeks an important restatement of the absolutely obvious was made: farmland birds have declined steeply and there is no obvious redemption in sight. The most recent science on the subject was a report produced from national bird monitoring schemes across Europe, including the UK,…
What the public wants
According to a survey by ICMResearch for CPRE more than four out of five of the public believe that farmers have a responsibility to look after the landscape and wildlife for future generations – so most people are wrong! I don’t think that farmers have that responsibility but I am grateful to those who behave…
Where was the bulldog spirit on 19 December Mrs Spelman?
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We used to talk about joined up government, but I haven’t heard the phrase used so often these days. Maybe that’s just as well when the Defra Secretary of State regards biodiversity as the spice of life and the Chancellor regards it as the kiss of death for the economy. But we would have to…