Hooray for Prince Charles

[Rhiannon]

He's regularly writing letters of disgust to the Lord Chancellor about our new compensation culture and political correctness. Vote Charles!!

thanks, Marina, Enid. I don't want to slag off the farmers re: subsidies because I know many of them can barely make ends meet. But the system which helps support many of them just wasn't available to communities centred around mining, steel etc so we're not all treated the same, a point which has probably never dawned on PCharles (I do like the Duchy Originals refreshing fizzy Lemon drink though!). I heard recently that half of all families in Worksop, Notts are affected by hard drugs, a legacy of what happened to the pit towns. there's just nothing there any more for people - no jobs, no hope. I just hope that doesn't happen to the rural areas too, because no one is thinking far enough ahead. I try & do my bit by buying British products..that should be one of the messages govt should try & get across about supporting rural (and other) communities. sorry. bit of a rant.

No, you're absolutely right, sobernow, and that's not what I meant at all. I think it is good that times have changed enough for people to take to the streets to express their concern for ways of life under threat. Dh's family in Devon have gone from six cousins farming (dairy and sheep, like Tigger) to one, in the past 20 years. I just feel sad for the mining communities in the 80s that there was not, to my recollection, such intensive and supportive media coverage of how their community life as a whole was threatened. I recall the coverage as concentrating in quite a hostile way on the political aspects of the strike and on the personalities of the mining leaders, rather than on the hardship in the pit communities.

The sad thing is, that we the farmers, are still producing food in the hope that one day the Great British Public MIGHT actually appreciate what is on their plates. We are soooo fed up with being pushed about and treated like second class citizens that, if the time comes when their is nothing but imported food (full of vaccines, antibiotics, growth hormones and the list goes on)on the table people might start to think, that maybe we have a valid point! Good on HRH Prince Charles at least someone supports us.

Tigger2, I'm with you 100%. I'm veggie but I'd rather people bought British (pref. organic) meat than foreign meat that has fewer regulations on welfare etc. than here. I don't see too much media coverage in farmer's favour tbh - most of what I saw during F&M seemed to be blaming the farmers for what was happening. If the farms disappear then so wil our countryside. We live in a mainly arable area, although most farmers we know keep livestock because they love animals. Even they are having to diversify - one is breeding mealworms for the birdfood market, another has opened a cattery and kennel, and all do b&b.

The way that the miners were treated was awful, I was 12 at the time and it's only been later that I've understood what was happening. And it wasn't just the mines, was it, but steel, the docks... just terrible. The press was so Tory at the time, now it seems to be so behind Labour it's a joke. Is there any such thingas an unbiased press?

BTW, how do we know what Prince Charles felt about the miners? Maybe he did write to Thatcher aboutit but she decided not to leak it.

I expect she didn't even read it Ionesmum
Tigger, you will be pleased to hear that I have just staggered home from Borough Road Market in London with two carrier bags full of chicken from Essex, pork and bacon from Rutland and wonderful looking mutton from Herdwicks in Cumbria. Why didn't I have any Scottish beef? Because I ran out of cash
If there is anyone in London who hasn't been to Borough Market yet, it is an excellent place to get direct-sold British meat.

Marina

My mum is in London and her friends rave about Borough market, I will encourage her to go.

I see that Prince Charles is now hosting a conference about the teaching of history and literature in schools, with speakers such as Simon Schama, Tom Stoppard and Joanna Trollope. Apparently he's concerned about the utilitarian way our children are taught. I suspect Tone is seriously p**d off by this.

Anyone read 'To Play The King' ?

read it and watched it on tv. I remeber Michael Kitchen playing the heir to the throne and thought at the tiem that he as doing a good impression of Charles. I do feel that he is concerned about the future of this country, his ideas may not be everyones but he does promote national produce, cares about the way things are taught in schools, and The Princes Trust is a fantastic charity, very undersung for the amount of work that it does to help people. Sorry, I sound like a non party non political broadcast of behalf of dear old pc!

Are you sure you're not PC's mum, with a nickname like Lilibet?

Damn! sussed!