Caroline Spelman has made a video for us, encouraging us all to read the Government’s shiny new Natural Environment White Paper. It’s only a couple of minutes long and it looks as if our intrepid Secretary of State endured a rather blustery day on the North York Moors on the day it was filmed.
It’s almost three months to the day since Mrs Spelman helped us to launch our Stepping Up for Nature campaign. Has Mrs Spelman stepped up? Well, the NEWP suggests that she is keen to do so, but her real challenge will be to encourage her Cabinet colleagues, especially Eric Pickles at CLG, to deliver on Defra’s ambitions. Or, at the very least, to make sure that Defra’s efforts to safeguard wildlife and the environment aren’t derailed by other departments.
Thanks to Mrs Spelman for recording this message for us, and for risking a bad hair day on our behalf! I know how it feels – every day is a bad hair day for me...
PS Here's a little piece that I did for Farming Today.
Think Caroline Spelman means well but can she influence others and you would not believe the low opinion lots of farmers have of DEFRA officials who have a terrible record of relations with farmers.Sad to say lots of them have no experience of farming so how can they tell farmers what to do.Those that do know something about farming can be really obnoxious individuals but somewhere out there there must be a few friendly ones,to those I say well done but you will be lucky if your superiors do not give you orders that embarrass you.