Last week, on Wednesday, we all got a message at The Lodge telling us to go home early.
So hundreds of us left at 445pm instead of the official end of day at 515pm.
After we had gone, a World War 2 bomb was safely removed by bomb disposal experts. They were pretty sure, 95%, that it would not have exploded but, hey, 5% is 5%!
When the news of a suspect device circulated, speculation mounted about whether the Provisional NFU were active in the area.
Sooty, I think theres a simple answer that you've touched on yourself in the past - NFU don't actually represent all farmers - and what real farmers do doesn't always match the rhetoric of their political representatives. I remember ebing involved with a (forestry - but still many of the same landowners) grant scheme which we were told very loudly would never work & would never be accepted - it 'sold out' - more applicatiopns than money available - almost at once, including to many of the people who siad it would never work. Behind the promotion of even more intensive farming by NFU are many farmers wondering how they are going to make ends meet - I hope that some will be able to move towards less intensive, wildlife friendly farming - and that is why HLS is so vital as it is key funding that will allow the co-operation between farming and the environment to develop. Please, please Mr Osborne realise that this is par tof all our futures and not just a marginal issue noone cares about.