The Archers: Tally-Ho for the Hunt Ball! Will Justin return from Scotland with the Gay Gordons? Will Adam feel a right Charlie? Discussion #81

[DadDadDad]

Thanks, R4, for the title (again!).

I'm your temporary host while PseudoBadger is on her sabbatical / prison term / secret mission.

Old hands and complete newbies all welcome.

Spoilers (eg Radio Times descriptions of future programmes) not welcome.

When will Matt reappear? Before / during / after the wedding?

The floor is yours...

I know what Helen's connection to the food production is, just that the SL has ignored this side of her life. Until now.

I suppose it's one of those things where it's hard to keep mentioning it ever so casually. Rather in the way that so many conversations name the speakers: Oh, hello Roy/Kirstie, etc.

Who on earth calls a horse Bagel?

And what's a "monege"?

And why is Alasdair spilling his troubles to a strange builder?

Is Phillip going to be a new longstanding character?

Or is he a wrong'un who is going to take advantage of al?

Alastair does seem to need a mate, doesn't he? Men don't seem to have friends in Ambridge...

I do hate it when Shula gets horsy stuff wrong. I am still cross about harness gate. And her needing to be rescued by Rob.

Bernard Is a menage the sort of rectangle thing at a riding school you trot round and round in ? hazy recollection from brief pony enthusiasm hampered by allergy and general uselessness Though Shula said it like she was being mangled or had turned into Hyacinth Bouquet

I know what a ménage is- I was being arsey about the way Shula said it . You would have thought a professional actress could sound as if she had at some point in her life, seen a horse. If only from a train........

She made it sound like a French Impressionist......

I wondered what a monege was! Was that supposed to be ménage?

It's a manége, isn't it? Which brings Shula's pronunciation closer to the correct one.

No- ménage. Well, that's what I've said for pushing 50 years! Hang on, I'll check.....

Blimey- humble pie for breakfast here! It is manège! Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs. Can't bring myself to apologise to Shula though..

I knew it was manège. I saw some BBC4 Lucy Worsley programme on the history of horse dancing some time back.

I have been saying ménage several times a week for my whole life. It'slike someone I know who thought it was dilemna not dilemma til he was 45...

Manège, like a merry-go-round/ roundabout.

I knew it was manège me too but Shula's pronunciation was wrong.

I'm enjoying this conversation Cromwell , I try not to be on line too long so don't go any other sites really.

If globalisation 'trade' , were so successful why are there so many starving people in the world? The Kenyans grow green beans for our supermarkets to the detriment of their water supply, the Israelis also grow parsnips, for Waitrose. it's bloody stupid.

The seeds are being patented by the enormous companies so the farmers can't grow their crops in the way that they have for millennia. It's better to eat what can be grown in your country than starve isn't it?

I've just caught up, it's getting good. I loved the scene at Lower Loxley with Noli annoying 'county set' Lily . Also how she knows exactly which buttons to press to get up the nose of her mum! Going to the Hunt Ball in short, low cut mock snakeskin dress indeed !!!

Also Susan engineering a pay rise I wonder how much Tom'll stump up? My guess would be 5p an hour!

Noli has no manners.

I've just read some stuff over the years, ppeat, and developed some fairly basic knowledge about economics through my work, and it's led me to hold certain views about sustainable food production, and shun organic produce. Trade is good and countries where governments are able and willing to seek the best for their people want it - try buying a variety of foods in Cuba or North Korea to see what happens when it doesn't take place. But I don't know the solution to global inequalities, and nor, I suspect, do you. Collectivised farms, central planning and self-sufficiency have been tried in the past and led to starvation. Developing different seed strains to improve yields has helped solve food crises in India and Bangladesh in past decades, but had less good outcomes in South America, where land ownership is structured differently. So it's complicated, innit? If it were easy (Buy organic! be self-sufficient! eat only local and seasonal) then everyone would be well-fed wouldn't they?

Cromwell - you make some good points. Global capitalism (trade) should in theory tend to increase the wealth in the world (higher productivity) but tends also increases inequality, as its nature is to allow winners and losers. So the judgement is the extent to which we (through our governments) put limits on capitalism, to trade-off being wealthy (on average) versus a reduction in inequality.

Well as we all know there are few countries where equality is the norm (including GB) Iam an advocate of benign capitalism with plenty of fair regulations. The race to the bottom is killing our world . Globalisation is not on the whole benign. Good for fair traders I say. Organic production saves the poorest agricultural workers (and the others ) from being made very ill; a lot of the fungicides are evident in many cancers too. The suicide rate for non organic farmers is still high.

I have read plenty too and there are few people who really know what's gong on. The big chemical companies certainly keep negative publicity very quiet. They couldn't keep the dangers of the bee killing chemicals quiet though.

For your own health and for the future health of the world you should eat organic and or carefully raised/ non treated produce ,best in the farmers' markets for the freshness. The difference in taste is incredible.

Vango I like Noli she's a typical teenager and Kate's daughter !

I'm not inclined to believe Noli should be held to a higher standard of politeness than any other Ambridge teenager. It was Lily who started with the racist slurring. Noli's response was comparatively mild.