BY NICK PEARCE

The video below is a must watch. It encapsulates the growing feeling across many parts of the countryside that the ‘progressivism’ pushed by the animal rights lobby has reached a dangerous point.

The farming community is now being continually undermined and threatened by woke campaigners who, knowingly or unknowingly, are empowering animal rights extremists who can make their lives hell. The realities of the task of feeding the British population are now grinding against the pithy soundbites that woke espousers of veganism and other fads fill social media with on a daily basis. Do they know what harm they are doing?

A passionate Welsh hill farmer read with dismay Lewis Hamilton urging his 21 million followers to “stop eating meat”. The brilliant Formula 1 champion – now vegan advocate – had shared a BBC article headlined ‘Confessions of a slaughterhouse worker’ to his fans.

In the video response, Farmer Gareth Wyn Jones urges celebrities like Hamilton to get real and explains why he believes Hamilton to be wrong.

Feel his pain, eloquently put.

Mr Wyn Jones’ plea condenses the stress of many frustrated farmers across Britain right now. Farmers are making a noble effort to run good practice – often self-sustaining – enterprises in very difficult conditions. The last thing they need is some Monaco-dwelling celebrity millionaire undermining their great work.

Just 1.16 percent of the population in the UK is vegan – the arguments for this minority practice can hardly be such winning ones. To give this some perspective, double that percentage of the UK population is thought to self-harm.

Mr Wyn Jones articulates what many farmers feel. On the back of his pleas a national discussion now ought to be taking place – to examine the polarisation caused by progressive arguments and their effect on the countryside and farming community, who feel pressured and threatened daily, at a time when farming already has some of the highest career suicide numbers and farmers are suffering economically in a myriad of ways. It would be great if some of these celebs came down to the farms of the likes of Mr Wyn Jones and got to understand what their lives are actually like and what effect their words are having on the farming community.

The eloquent Mr Wyn Jones – who this magazine did not approach to request publication of this publicly-available video – can be followed on Twitter here. Another recent video of his is also well worth a watch. There is always another side to what may seem trendy and progressive – help educate people so they see the whole picture.