BY BERT BURNETT Dear Editor, Talk about hypocrisy! Chris Packham, with the blessing of the RSPB are challenging general licences to control crows and calling on a ban to stop killing foxes. The RSPB initially boycotted the Understanding Predation project and tried to scupper the Working for Waders initiative but now that MONEY is available for these projects there they are with begging bowls at … Continue reading The Hypocrites’ Begging Bowl
BY JIM WEBSTER Whilst my time in agriculture has been a time of impressive change, I suspect that the industry has been moving so quickly that every generation born since 1900 will be able to say that. I started my life working alongside men who’d been in farm work in the 1920s and 1930s. They were horsemen but I just missed that era. But being … Continue reading Moving to Mechanisation
BY EFFIE DEANS During an election campaign, the last thing the SNP wants to talk about is independence. The core SNP vote is obsessed with this and it is the primary motivation for these voters to choose the SNP. These people will overlook the SNP’s performance in Government. Indeed, they don’t appear to care if the SNP rules well or poorly. If only the SNP … Continue reading The Deteriorating SNP Argument
BY JIM WEBSTER Are they worth it and if you’re not a farmer have you ever even heard of them? I was lucky in that when they were coming in, I was out of dairy and was buying calves and selling store cattle. So I managed without the extra expense. I did finish a handful of cattle, but I sold them direct to the consumer. … Continue reading Farm Assurance Schemes
BY JIM WEBSTER I’ve worked with sheep, but I’d never call myself a shepherd. I’ve not got that level of expertise. But one of the things about shepherds is that they tend not to be centre stage. Historically they were always looked down on. Even more than the rest of us involved in agriculture, they were shunned. (Even now ‘peasant’ is an insult in the … Continue reading Unfashionable Shepherds
THE CITY GRUMP General reaction to the last minute Brexit deal has been along the lines of “Bless my soul. They all said Boris would fail but, lo and behold, he has pulled it off”. No more ECJ rulings, no more customs union and free trade here we come. Unfurl the Union Jack, we have taken back control. Not so fast. By now, courtesy of … Continue reading Smoke & Mirrors Mask the Brexit Deal
BY EFFIE DEANS Britain has left the EU with a deal. We will continue to trade freely with the EU. There will be no tariffs or quotas. But we will not have to follow EU laws or regulations. We will not be part of the Single Market and we will not be part of the Customs Union. We will be able to trade freely with … Continue reading Rejoining the EU Now Impossible
THE CITY GRUMP Some years ago* I sat down to a Christmas lunch at London’s most excellent Bleeding Heart Restaurant with work colleagues and, as is traditional, we kicked off proceedings with a mass cracker pulling. Out popped the usual paper hats and splendidly silly mottos, which as ever is a great way to get all of us into the festive mood. I particularly liked … Continue reading The Christmas Story – Brussels Style
BY EFFIE DEANS The problem with Scottish Conservatism is structural rather than personal. Ruth Davidson is better suited to leadership than either Douglas Ross or Jackson Carlaw. But this is because she is a first rate politician. It is not because her ideas are any different from theirs. They all more or less agree about everything and the everything they agree upon is mistaken. That … Continue reading End Conservative Declinism
BY DANIEL KAWCZYNSKI Here in the United Kingdom, we are rightly proud of our world-leading approach to animal welfare and food safety. Not only does this offer peace of mind to millions of us here in Britain, but they are a real selling point for British produce around the world. As we prepare to leave the European Union, Parliament is taking back control of our … Continue reading UK Food Standards Sacrosanct
BY JIM WEBSTER From talking to fellow farmers and others over the last few months, there has been ‘considerable dislocation’ in the market. The nearer you are to ‘commodity’ food production the more stable things have been. Whereas if you’ve specialised to produce for niche markets or even sell direct to the catering trade or at farmers’ markets, everything went very messy very quickly in … Continue reading Food Prices & Bumps in the Road
BY JIM WEBSTER As you can imagine, a slaughterhouse will get an awful lot of paperwork, and a lot of it has to be properly disposed of because it’s government documents. So a manager I know installed a shredding machine to dispose of it securely. Last time I talked to him he saved this paper for bedding up the pen in the lairage that they … Continue reading Farming & Politics Don’t Mix
BY DANIEL KAWCZYNSKI MP One of the most important arguments that emerged during the 2016 referendum campaign was that a vote to leave the European Union was not a vote to leave Europe. Whilst the United Kingdom is stepping out of the ever-expanding regulatory empire of Brussels, we are not turning our back on our responsibilities to our friends on the continent. The fortunes of Britain … Continue reading Britain’s Great V4 Opportunity
BY DANIEL KAWCZYNSKI MP Britain has always been a nation that punched above its weight in global affairs. Whilst we may no longer possess a world-spanning Empire, the UK is still home to institutions which make a difference around the world. The BBC World Service offers comfort and information to citizens of oppressive governments. Our Armed Forces support friendly nations and deter would-be aggressors. And … Continue reading UK Armed Forces & Aid
BY EFFIE DEANS There is almost no political correctness in Poland. Few statues were vandalised by Black Lives Matter activists in Warsaw, because there are very few black people living there. A few hundred thousand people from neighbouring countries like Ukraine live in Poland, but the largest ethnic/racial minority originally from Vietnam is less than twelve thousand. If you wander around Warsaw, you will find … Continue reading A Great Ally
BY EFFIE DEANS The strategic problem with Scottish politics is that there are now three small armies against one large army. The overall numbers are roughly equal, but the SNP can defeat Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives in detail because the opposition is divided. This problem can be overcome in a number of ways. If either of the Pro UK armies were able to … Continue reading Grievance Versus Division
BY JAMIE FOSTER Having entered the transition stage of the Article 50 process Boris Johnson will now negotiate Britain’s future relationship with the EU. This stage will come to an end on the 31st December this year at which point the UK will officially leave the EU and its regulations. It is Boris Johnson’s aim to have secured a trade deal with the EU by … Continue reading Article 50 Illegality a Sideshow
BY EFFIE DEANS I was sleeping when we left the EU. It is a matter of complete indifference to me if a fifty pence coin turns up in my change marking the event. If something about being European trends on Twitter I feel slightly amused that some people might think that such things matter. Symbolism doesn’t matter. Reality matters. It’s already clear that nothing bad … Continue reading The Dwindling Sect of Rejoin
CSM EDITORIAL So the soon-to-be-retired inebriate Jean-Claude Juncker has now declared the Brexit process “a waste of time, and a waste of energy.” That’s awfully rich. This after three years of entrenched EU intransigence and obstructionism, insisting on a punitive withdrawal agreement intended to make the UK an example lest any other state consider throwing off the yoke of subjugation. After three years of pervasive … Continue reading In the Name of God, Go!
BY JAMIE FOSTER The Brexit Party’s warnings to Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings last night about not reheating the May withdrawal deal are nothing new. As if the Conservatives don’t know that May’s deal is a dead duck. The more important warning from the Brexit Party relates to money. £39Bn may not seem like that much money in the round of years of trade – … Continue reading Essentially Bust
