Sack the Sock - put a sock in it or pull your socks up - frankly we're a bit sick of it. The Archers is shit, discuss it here.

[PseudoBadger]

I have it on good authority that this is the thread that people enjoy more than the programme it's about

Helen is such a bloody ostrich - "so what do you do now"? Everyone in the world knows that the answer is "take a paternity test" but she knows deep down he shagged Jess at the relevant time and can't bear to face up to that.

Did Helen ever tell Rob that Jess had said during the Valentine's day visit that Rob had been "in her bed" the previous week? I think she mentioned the visit, but was that detail ever discussed?

What I can't quite get my head round is why Rob, having already hooked Helen (so sex on tap and a new victim to toy with) and clearly having fallen out of love with Jess, wanted or needed to sleep with Jess.

What was he getting out of it? Just an evil sense of satisfaction at having 2 women devoted to him (one still begging him to be with her after years of emotional abuse)? Is it actually common for EA types to have more than one victim at a time?

Buying organic milk will support the organic producers, and as my BIL is organic I can allow that!

Other than that, keep buying milk! Preferably not from Aldi/Asda/Iceland. This link from the NFU gives some information www.nfuonline.com/back-british-farming/backing-british-dairy/?utm_campaign=bbdf-milk-bottles&utm_source=fb&utm_medium=socialo sorry don't know how to do fancy links.

There is also a Facebook group m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=915584988459919&ref=bookmark with a petition.

JMcJ I think H did tell him that Jess had said she was in her bed - and he was all hurt that she could suspect him of such a thing. If that were me I would tell him to take the test and prove it to her and the world. It is called 'defending yourself'. Also the shop is nothing to do with her??? I think Tom will speak to Tina because H said she did not have time trying to keep the dairy going.

I have been worrying about the price of milk in supermarkets for a while but I cannot see the farmers winning - milk is a staple and people do want it cheap. Also I would have thought its quite regulated and most people would think it is largely the same wherever you buy it. Sorry to be thick but do we import milk from abroad then. That would put me off buying it tbh as it seems like a colossal waste of fuel etc. Also how would I know how to shop to support the farmers. I shop at Morrisons weekly and I did not see FFA, most of their stores must be squarely on private property so could they protest without M's consent?

ha x-post! thanks

interesting juniormint, or rob could have had a vasectomy. though that would make it rather convoluted in terms of why he would then suggest having a baby with helen

personally i htink it is his, but he is just furious that the situation is out of his control atm

Long time lurker here, just popping on to say McQueens dairy in Scotland promises to pay farmers properly and delivers twice weekly. I've been really happy with them, switched when I learned about how poorly the farmers were paid by the big supermarkets. It does cost more but not extortionate.

Yes stillearnin I think it's understandable that people will want cheap milk, and it is a staple. But we need to be paid a reasonable price for producing it!

I think as farmers and business people we should be trying to be as efficient as possible, but the one thing the public seem particularly opposed to is the loss of the smaller family farms, who inevitably have higher costs as they can't benefit from the economies of scale that bigger units can. You pays your money and takes your choice!

juniormint love your idea about Rob finding out he can't have children later down the line. Imagine his rage at having paid out all that maintenance money!

Thanks for the link to Farmers Weekly.. I'm off to check it out now.

Oh - and. OED:

Definition of satire in English:
NOUN

1The use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

So I guess JD's kitchen did fit the bill, but it's not the kind of thing I think of when 'satire' is mentioned.

I'm going to go against the trend here and say I think the mistake with the organic veg order is meant to be nothing more than a simple mistake down to Johnny's dyslexia. His defensive attitude sounded to me as if he was chronically insecure about his ability to note things down accurately, and I think the SWs' aim is also to demonstrate Tina's general uselessness. The main problem is that they haven't quite done their research properly, as 3/8 confusion isn't really a normal feature of dyslexia.

I think it's a mistake to point to dyslexia too. Although its not an obvious sign, if you have problem tracking text your handwriting can be shocking too as what you have written moves in front of your eyes. That is all linked to dyslexia and one of my brothers has it. It's still stretching it though!

Oh dfw I didn't mean farmers shouldn't be paid properly, quite the opposite!

DFW - thank you for the detailed analysis of computerised herringbone parlours - we have a v. old six-abreast parlour, so this is just pure parlour porn for me .

Araminta ... I buy organic but does that help the farmer get a better return; or would it depend more on the brand? Sounds like we need fair trade dairy as much as we need fair trade coffee and bananas.

Unfortunately buying organic doesn't necessarily mean the organic farmer is paid well. We are with an exclusively organic co-operative (the largest in the country), and thankfully our premiums have remained high, as well they should as the organic supermarket/consumer price has held up well.

However, other organic dairies - especially ones that supply both organic and conventional, have been cutting their prices paid to their organic producers in line with their conventional price cuts - a move which is highly cynical, because, as I said, the organic prices for customers are holding up well.

Not sure what you as consumers can do about that, but just wanted to highlight it as an issue.

JessieMc I would say it's totally believable that an EA XP would continue to sleep with his ex partner whilst getting a new one on the go. It happened just like that in my case.

But as for Helen never mentioning what Jess had said about Rob being in her bed - it seems crazy. Helen seems very intimate with Rob, I would envision her telling him just so she could actually hear him deny it, and she'd hang onto that.

Waltzing that is useful to know. I would love to feel I have more power as a consumer (and in terms of milk I buy from a local delivery company similar to the Mike tucker setup) but I also know I'm privilged enough to be able to make choices not solely based on price, all of which concerns can be exploited by supermarkets et

BOOP point I reckon that Roy is depressed and can't be bothered to sound happy to meet Tom BYOS like he can't be bothered to tidy up his house.

Non BOOP point ;You'd thing that Vickoi might have something to say about that though.

I'm another fortunate enough to have a delivery three times a week from the local dairy. The van gets through whatever the weather and I'm happy to pay for that reliability. They deliver a variety of other 'staples' too.
We consume an astonishing amount of milk and I don't have the hassle of recycling lots of plastic bottles.
Ironically the recycling has only just now been collected for the first time since before Christmas but the milk delivery never missed a beat.

Ref. milk prices; In France they used to pay more for good produce (they still do sometimes, I hate the buy cheap culture that is forced on us by the supermarkets )

We go without things to eat good, humanely produced organic food. IMO and E what you put in your body matters a great deal.

stillearnin yes I got that you understood about the farmers, I meant people wanting it cheap without understanding how it gets to the supermarket shelf.

waltzing I feel your pain, when we got married DH was milking 80 cows in a 10 abreast, it took six hours a day! Now we are milking 220 in a 15/30 swing over, and planning the next parlour in a few years time if we get up near the 300 mark.

We used to be organic too, but left a couple of years ago. There wasn't much of a premium when we left - maybe 5 ppl? I think its nearer 10 ppl now which is where it should be. And we were with the main organic co op, wouldn't have wanted to be with any of the others.

I also meant to say, that Ruth's point about the robots lasting longer didn't really stack up, especially if they go down the second hand route. These things have a finite life and, like computers or phones, will continually be improved. No parlour will last 50 years!

The finite nature of computerised systems reminds me to mention that I have been looking into rural broadband provision and I find there's an area of Warwickshire with particularly slow broadband.
This is an issue I'd like TA to address. No character is ever banging his or her head on a keyboard because the BB is at crawl speed.

"We go without things to eat good, humanely produced organic food. IMO and E what you put in your body matters a great deal"

agreed, but many people are going without just to be able to afford the basics and ethical concerns just can't be a consideration for them, much as they might like to. this of course doesn't mean that i don't think farmers shouldn't be properly paid (quite the opposite), but under our current system i'm lucky enough to be able to make a choice about going without something so that i can eat good and ethically produced and supplied food

Cutted just to get back to H & R, although they're clearly in an intimate relationship, they don't sound intimate at all. H is clearly treading on eggshells, desperate to do the 'right' thing all the time. Eg fixing his drink the other night: '2 fingers of scotch, a dash of water, just the way you like it.'

She sounds desperate and placatory and their convos sound to me more like polite work colleagues chit-chatting than lovers. So I'm not at all surprised she's not mentioning the huge elephant in the room, as it were.

Yes you're right Halsall. I guess I was thinking that nine months ago Helen wasn't feeling quite so compromised and would have opened up to Rob.