Best Of

Interesting argument by the government that farmers want to benefit from good public services but let others pay for them.

At last they're getting their PR sorted out.

Except if you live in the country you would know we have never had good public services and probably never will. Paying high taxes to improve the public services of those living in cities is really not going to be a winning argument.

The interesting thing here is how much they seem to relish a fight with the farmers.

It's as if they believe their own propaganda about them being well-heeled landowning toffs.

See also fox hunting, VAT on private schools etc. It’s a religion for them.

Fox hunting... heh, we were discussing earlier the proclivity of oppositions to fail to reverse things they opposed in opposition once they get into government.

Although of course fox hunting still goes on all the time, its just its be 'accident' now rather than design.

We have a weird view of the natural world. I'd swear that some soft headed townies think that old wild animals end up in a care home or something to live out their days, rather than the real demise (disease, or ripped apart by a predator of some description).

We see the odd consequences of certain cuddly beasts being in favour. Who doesn't love a badger, with its lovely stripes etc. I'll tell you who - hedgehogs and anyone who wonders what became of the hedgehogs they used to see. Cuddly badger will quite happily feast on raw hedgehog, thanks very much.

The natural landscape we see is actually incredibly artificial. We cleared the great boreal forests in the UK before the Romans turned up. Britain would have been mainly covered in trees, an ancient Mirkwood. We've imported animals that weren't here (grey squirrels and rabbits) and got rid of ones that were (wolves, giant elk, beavers).

Ultimately things need balance. I'm not suggesting fox hunting is the only way to go, but is it worse than heading of to the halal slaughterhouse?

On hedgehogs:

We saw our first hedgehog in the garden on my son's birthday this summer (he didn't believe my claim that I had arranged it...). We have been in the house twelve years. My neighbour recently put up a security camera, and he has seen many hedgehogs scurry between his garden and ours.

Sometimes wildlife is more common than we imagine. Especially deer...

Deer are reaching plague proportions near use. Two were in our garden a month back (ok we live by fields, but even so). I looked out of the window and thought it was dog in the garden, then looked again.

Friend of a friend is licenced to hunt on the Longleat estate and sell the meat. Its bloody great.

And vegan, of course.

There’s an absolute shed tonne of venison to be had near us, if we only shot more of it. and yet you can only really buy it in farm and speciality shops. The Government and supermarkets should push it more.

It’s the season for game, to which I’m partial.

Interesting argument by the government that farmers want to benefit from good public services but let others pay for them.

At last they're getting their PR sorted out.

Except if you live in the country you would know we have never had good public services and probably never will. Paying high taxes to improve the public services of those living in cities is really not going to be a winning argument.

The interesting thing here is how much they seem to relish a fight with the farmers.

It's as if they believe their own propaganda about them being well-heeled landowning toffs.

See also fox hunting, VAT on private schools etc. It’s a religion for them.

Fox hunting... heh, we were discussing earlier the proclivity of oppositions to fail to reverse things they opposed in opposition once they get into government.

Although of course fox hunting still goes on all the time, its just its be 'accident' now rather than design.

We have a weird view of the natural world. I'd swear that some soft headed townies think that old wild animals end up in a care home or something to live out their days, rather than the real demise (disease, or ripped apart by a predator of some description).

We see the odd consequences of certain cuddly beasts being in favour. Who doesn't love a badger, with its lovely stripes etc. I'll tell you who - hedgehogs and anyone who wonders what became of the hedgehogs they used to see. Cuddly badger will quite happily feast on raw hedgehog, thanks very much.

The natural landscape we see is actually incredibly artificial. We cleared the great boreal forests in the UK before the Romans turned up. Britain would have been mainly covered in trees, an ancient Mirkwood. We've imported animals that weren't here (grey squirrels and rabbits) and got rid of ones that were (wolves, giant elk, beavers).

Ultimately things need balance. I'm not suggesting fox hunting is the only way to go, but is it worse than heading of to the halal slaughterhouse?

On hedgehogs:

We saw our first hedgehog in the garden on my son's birthday this summer (he didn't believe my claim that I had arranged it...). We have been in the house twelve years. My neighbour recently put up a security camera, and he has seen many hedgehogs scurry between his garden and ours.

Sometimes wildlife is more common than we imagine. Especially deer...

Deer are reaching plague proportions near use. Two were in our garden a month back (ok we live by fields, but even so). I looked out of the window and thought it was dog in the garden, then looked again.

Friend of a friend is licenced to hunt on the Longleat estate and sell the meat. Its bloody great.

And vegan, of course.

There’s an absolute shed tonne of venison to be had near us, if we only shot more of it. and yet you can only really buy it in farm and speciality shops. The Government and supermarkets should push it more.

Indeed.

And I've just eaten my lunch roll, of cold panfried breast of pheasant* with watercress and mayonnaise.

*From a local farm-type shop. Admittedly. Which does at least reduce the chain.

Pheasant also probably ticks a box, in that it a credible meal for a two person household (albeit we usually have one each). Let’s call them “eco friendly micro-chickens”.

Interesting argument by the government that farmers want to benefit from good public services but let others pay for them.

At last they're getting their PR sorted out.

Except if you live in the country you would know we have never had good public services and probably never will. Paying high taxes to improve the public services of those living in cities is really not going to be a winning argument.

The interesting thing here is how much they seem to relish a fight with the farmers.

It's as if they believe their own propaganda about them being well-heeled landowning toffs.

See also fox hunting, VAT on private schools etc. It’s a religion for them.

Fox hunting... heh, we were discussing earlier the proclivity of oppositions to fail to reverse things they opposed in opposition once they get into government.

Although of course fox hunting still goes on all the time, its just its be 'accident' now rather than design.

We have a weird view of the natural world. I'd swear that some soft headed townies think that old wild animals end up in a care home or something to live out their days, rather than the real demise (disease, or ripped apart by a predator of some description).

We see the odd consequences of certain cuddly beasts being in favour. Who doesn't love a badger, with its lovely stripes etc. I'll tell you who - hedgehogs and anyone who wonders what became of the hedgehogs they used to see. Cuddly badger will quite happily feast on raw hedgehog, thanks very much.

The natural landscape we see is actually incredibly artificial. We cleared the great boreal forests in the UK before the Romans turned up. Britain would have been mainly covered in trees, an ancient Mirkwood. We've imported animals that weren't here (grey squirrels and rabbits) and got rid of ones that were (wolves, giant elk, beavers).

Ultimately things need balance. I'm not suggesting fox hunting is the only way to go, but is it worse than heading of to the halal slaughterhouse?

Badger hunting with hounds would be a great spectator sport.

Badger hunting with bare knuckles would be even more popular. And fairer.

Did Kemi find Starmer’s old lamp and summon his genie? If you had to pick one issue that could help the Tories get back to 30-33% and solidify the core then something rural going into the 2025 elections would be it.

It will be interesting to see what stance the Tories take on a trade deal with the US. The ones they negotiated with Australia and New Zealand have already harmed our farmers but one with the US would absolutely destroy them. If Labour resists a deal with Trump and says part of the reason is to protect UK farmers, how would the Tories oppose that? After all, wasn't one of their arguments for Brexit that we wanted to get out of the protectionist clutches of the EU and open our markets for food and other agricultural products up to the world?

It’s easy in Opposition. “We oppose Labour’s dreadful trade deals and repudiate some of our old ones which we signed when we went a bit eco-nuts, but we are in favour of our own proposed new ones which would include only good things and no compromises”.

Interesting argument by the government that farmers want to benefit from good public services but let others pay for them.

At last they're getting their PR sorted out.

Except if you live in the country you would know we have never had good public services and probably never will. Paying high taxes to improve the public services of those living in cities is really not going to be a winning argument.

The interesting thing here is how much they seem to relish a fight with the farmers.

It's as if they believe their own propaganda about them being well-heeled landowning toffs.

See also fox hunting, VAT on private schools etc. It’s a religion for them.

Fox hunting... heh, we were discussing earlier the proclivity of oppositions to fail to reverse things they opposed in opposition once they get into government.

Although of course fox hunting still goes on all the time, its just its be 'accident' now rather than design.

We have a weird view of the natural world. I'd swear that some soft headed townies think that old wild animals end up in a care home or something to live out their days, rather than the real demise (disease, or ripped apart by a predator of some description).

We see the odd consequences of certain cuddly beasts being in favour. Who doesn't love a badger, with its lovely stripes etc. I'll tell you who - hedgehogs and anyone who wonders what became of the hedgehogs they used to see. Cuddly badger will quite happily feast on raw hedgehog, thanks very much.

The natural landscape we see is actually incredibly artificial. We cleared the great boreal forests in the UK before the Romans turned up. Britain would have been mainly covered in trees, an ancient Mirkwood. We've imported animals that weren't here (grey squirrels and rabbits) and got rid of ones that were (wolves, giant elk, beavers).

Ultimately things need balance. I'm not suggesting fox hunting is the only way to go, but is it worse than heading of to the halal slaughterhouse?

There's plenty of beaver in the UK these days

*innocent face*

Yes, lots of foreign beaver making its way to the UK for a better life.

*also innocent face*

Interesting argument by the government that farmers want to benefit from good public services but let others pay for them.

At last they're getting their PR sorted out.

Except if you live in the country you would know we have never had good public services and probably never will. Paying high taxes to improve the public services of those living in cities is really not going to be a winning argument.

The interesting thing here is how much they seem to relish a fight with the farmers.

It's as if they believe their own propaganda about them being well-heeled landowning toffs.

See also fox hunting, VAT on private schools etc. It’s a religion for them.

Fox hunting... heh, we were discussing earlier the proclivity of oppositions to fail to reverse things they opposed in opposition once they get into government.

Although of course fox hunting still goes on all the time, its just its be 'accident' now rather than design.

We have a weird view of the natural world. I'd swear that some soft headed townies think that old wild animals end up in a care home or something to live out their days, rather than the real demise (disease, or ripped apart by a predator of some description).

We see the odd consequences of certain cuddly beasts being in favour. Who doesn't love a badger, with its lovely stripes etc. I'll tell you who - hedgehogs and anyone who wonders what became of the hedgehogs they used to see. Cuddly badger will quite happily feast on raw hedgehog, thanks very much.

The natural landscape we see is actually incredibly artificial. We cleared the great boreal forests in the UK before the Romans turned up. Britain would have been mainly covered in trees, an ancient Mirkwood. We've imported animals that weren't here (grey squirrels and rabbits) and got rid of ones that were (wolves, giant elk, beavers).

Ultimately things need balance. I'm not suggesting fox hunting is the only way to go, but is it worse than heading of to the halal slaughterhouse?

There's plenty of beaver in the UK these days

*innocent face*

It’s funny how terms like beaver, bum, fanny, ass have such different meanings in US English, and English English.

One US friend couldn’t stop laughing when he saw a local travel agent’s called Beaver Travel.

Good morning

In response to @NickPalmer questioning if the conservatives will cancel the farmers IHT, Kemi is to join Jeremy Clarkson on stage to address and support the farmer's demonstration outside no 10

Also Scottish Labour are announcing they will reinstate the WFP

She may well be appearing but I bet decent money that unless Labour backs down (and it won't) the policy won't be changed by 2032...

If the policy is implemented we will see the actual effects.

If those are negative then the policy will be changed by someone at some point.

Are you sure......governments have a habit of sticking to their guns for both ideological and political reasons. They aren't run like a business...the cliff edge at £50-60k and £100-120k make no sense on a number of fronts if you want to maximise growth / productivity and not clear they maximise tax take either, yet here we are still with them 15 years later. We also have cliff edges in how many hours people can work per week.

If we see the whole farming sector steadily shutting down then that will lead to higher prices and outbreaks of panic buying.

Not a good image for governments.

It ill behoves the Tories to whine about farmers (as opposed to landowners, which is what IHT actually applies to) given how little they've done to promote fiid security and stop the supermarkets grinding the farmers down, as opposed to demanding more cheap food imports from Australia etc.

Putting farmers on a sounder economic footing would have been a better way toi approach the whole issue, including a rebalancing of agricultural land from its currently bloated values. But I have yet to read about Labour dealing with things like supermarket milk wholesale prices.

It's just another thing to be outraged about, see 20mph limits and all things Ed Miliband.

The IFS, Dan Neidle have done the work on this and it's going to affect very few farmers. The tax-free allowance for a couple is £2.65 million and there are only 462 inherited farms worth more than £1 million (out of around 200,000). And it's only the value above the allowance that is affected by IHT.

Much that I like Dan Neidle - I think he's wrong.

Our Uni friend has just inherited part of a farm and it's gone up for sale for £5m - now I don't know how much land there is but as an anecdote it means I question Dan's figures...

Hmm. If we are going for land values alone, then that *part* of a farm must be more than 500 acres alone at current average values. That part of a farm is more than 2x the size of an entire average farm in the UK.

https://www.savills.co.uk/landing-pages/rural-land-values.aspx

Or does it have planning permission for building?

If it's got PP or prospect of PP that would make a difference.

I think the numbers of estates details are from HMRC.

Land prices have rocket by 4-5x since 2000 on published numbers, so perhaps what we actually need is lower farmland prices so that farmland becomes about farming, rather than tax-dodging or speculation or land banking.

That will also help with the remove the "but but but I only get a 0.7% return" thing.

I'm not much of a fan of Will Hutton. However, he has something here.

Wait for the squealing when they address land banking and windfall planning gains on land sold for development.

Interesting argument by the government that farmers want to benefit from good public services but let others pay for them.

At last they're getting their PR sorted out.

Except if you live in the country you would know we have never had good public services and probably never will. Paying high taxes to improve the public services of those living in cities is really not going to be a winning argument.

The interesting thing here is how much they seem to relish a fight with the farmers.

It's as if they believe their own propaganda about them being well-heeled landowning toffs.

See also fox hunting, VAT on private schools etc. It’s a religion for them.

Fox hunting... heh, we were discussing earlier the proclivity of oppositions to fail to reverse things they opposed in opposition once they get into government.

Although of course fox hunting still goes on all the time, its just its be 'accident' now rather than design.

We have a weird view of the natural world. I'd swear that some soft headed townies think that old wild animals end up in a care home or something to live out their days, rather than the real demise (disease, or ripped apart by a predator of some description).

We see the odd consequences of certain cuddly beasts being in favour. Who doesn't love a badger, with its lovely stripes etc. I'll tell you who - hedgehogs and anyone who wonders what became of the hedgehogs they used to see. Cuddly badger will quite happily feast on raw hedgehog, thanks very much.

The natural landscape we see is actually incredibly artificial. We cleared the great boreal forests in the UK before the Romans turned up. Britain would have been mainly covered in trees, an ancient Mirkwood. We've imported animals that weren't here (grey squirrels and rabbits) and got rid of ones that were (wolves, giant elk, beavers).

Ultimately things need balance. I'm not suggesting fox hunting is the only way to go, but is it worse than heading of to the halal slaughterhouse?

On hedgehogs:

We saw our first hedgehog in the garden on my son's birthday this summer (he didn't believe my claim that I had arranged it...). We have been in the house twelve years. My neighbour recently put up a security camera, and he has seen many hedgehogs scurry between his garden and ours.

Sometimes wildlife is more common than we imagine. Especially deer...

Deer are reaching plague proportions near use. Two were in our garden a month back (ok we live by fields, but even so). I looked out of the window and thought it was dog in the garden, then looked again.

Friend of a friend is licenced to hunt on the Longleat estate and sell the meat. Its bloody great.

And vegan, of course.

There’s an absolute shed tonne of venison to be had near us, if we only shot more of it. and yet you can only really buy it in farm and speciality shops. The Government and supermarkets should push it more.

Indeed.

And I've just eaten my lunch roll, of cold panfried breast of pheasant* with watercress and mayonnaise.

*From a local farm-type shop. Admittedly. Which does at least reduce the chain.

Interesting argument by the government that farmers want to benefit from good public services but let others pay for them.

At last they're getting their PR sorted out.

Except if you live in the country you would know we have never had good public services and probably never will. Paying high taxes to improve the public services of those living in cities is really not going to be a winning argument.

The interesting thing here is how much they seem to relish a fight with the farmers.

It's as if they believe their own propaganda about them being well-heeled landowning toffs.

See also fox hunting, VAT on private schools etc. It’s a religion for them.

Fox hunting... heh, we were discussing earlier the proclivity of oppositions to fail to reverse things they opposed in opposition once they get into government.

Although of course fox hunting still goes on all the time, its just its be 'accident' now rather than design.

We have a weird view of the natural world. I'd swear that some soft headed townies think that old wild animals end up in a care home or something to live out their days, rather than the real demise (disease, or ripped apart by a predator of some description).

We see the odd consequences of certain cuddly beasts being in favour. Who doesn't love a badger, with its lovely stripes etc. I'll tell you who - hedgehogs and anyone who wonders what became of the hedgehogs they used to see. Cuddly badger will quite happily feast on raw hedgehog, thanks very much.

The natural landscape we see is actually incredibly artificial. We cleared the great boreal forests in the UK before the Romans turned up. Britain would have been mainly covered in trees, an ancient Mirkwood. We've imported animals that weren't here (grey squirrels and rabbits) and got rid of ones that were (wolves, giant elk, beavers).

Ultimately things need balance. I'm not suggesting fox hunting is the only way to go, but is it worse than heading of to the halal slaughterhouse?

On hedgehogs:

We saw our first hedgehog in the garden on my son's birthday this summer (he didn't believe my claim that I had arranged it...). We have been in the house twelve years. My neighbour recently put up a security camera, and he has seen many hedgehogs scurry between his garden and ours.

Sometimes wildlife is more common than we imagine. Especially deer...

Deer are reaching plague proportions near use. Two were in our garden a month back (ok we live by fields, but even so). I looked out of the window and thought it was dog in the garden, then looked again.

Friend of a friend is licenced to hunt on the Longleat estate and sell the meat. Its bloody great.

And vegan, of course.

There’s an absolute shed tonne of venison to be had near us, if we only shot more of it. and yet you can only really buy it in farm and speciality shops. The Government and supermarkets should push it more.

I wonder if enough of the population would get what Venison is? Might have to rebrand it Bambi Beef or something.

Vegan Vension Bacon

Makes everything better. Squared.