Charles Clover’s £398

I like Charles Clover but I don’t (by any means) always agree with him. His column in today’s Sunday Times is entitled ‘Greedy farmers a-milking it, no turtle doves and no partridges either‘ and describes Peter Kendall as ‘the cocky ambassador of agri-business‘.  Wow! Even I am more polite about PK than that! Charles Clover,…

More on that 15%

Although the NFU says that it has written to every MP on the subject of CAP reform they don’t put that letter (or those letters) on their website as far as I can see. What they do say on their website is that they are ‘increasingly infuriated‘ with the government position.  Only the farming industry…

An open letter to the new Defra Ministers

To George Eustice and Dan Rogerson. Dear Ministers Congratulations on your new ministerial appointments.  You have an unpredictable time, but no more than 568 days (less holidays, the run up to the General Election, time off sick and being moved on or sacked) to make a difference.  Given the uncertainties of Ministerial tenure you can’t…

Shuffling two packs

The Government changes In Defra, out go Richard Benyon and David Heath and in come George Eustice (Con, Camborne and Redruth) and Dan Rogerson (LibDem, North Cornwall). I always feel sorry for those who are required to move on because their Prime Minister needs to adjust the left/right balance, the male/female balance, the north/south balance…

Wuthering Moors 36 – FoI/EIR to NE on Appropriate Assessments for Walshaw Moor

Dear Natural England This is a request under the EI Regs and/or Freedom of Information Act.  It is a simple request for copies of three documents.  It is not a difficult request to fulfill.  Please send me the information within 10 working days of this request, ie by 20 September 2013. This request refers to…

Wuthering Moors 34 – the Defra response to the EU Commission

Further to this morning’s post, here is the information levered out of Defra on their response to the EU Commission regarding the RSPB complaint to the EU over the Walshaw Moor affair and its implications. WMEL below refers to the Walshaw Moor Estate Limited. I will post my early thoughts on this, here, at 1500…

Bird Fair 2013 – Day 2

Had a great day at the Bird Fair yesterday – didn’t go to a talk, hardly looked at a stand, but talked to lots and lots of people. It was easy to get in and the weather was wet, then hot, then windy – I left before the plague of locusts arrived. The main topics…