Discuss The Archers #108: Has Ed & Emma’s ship sailed? Will Alice stick her oar into Kate's love life? Can Shula walk on water? Come and discuss whatever floats your boat in The Archers.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads and @DadDadDad for being our resident statistician and keeping the ball rolling when Pseudo stepped back a bit.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed. We don't all agree on all points and most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like to be Susan's best friend or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please. We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3439443-keep-it-to-yourself-the-archers-spoilers-thread-4, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to @QuaterMiss for the title of this thread. For reasons of space had to cut out the bit speculating about Oliver and Tracy pairing off. Surely not!

Off now to give blood, something nobody in Ambridge ever does. See you all later.

That was an exceptionally dull episode.

I did think the rewilding project would win though. It was not at all obviously set up by the fact that everyone kept saying it was a stupid scheme that had no hope of winning.

MargueritaBlue
Have I mentioned recently that I can't stand Pip?

Which bit of Ambridge are they going to re-wild? The village green?

They don't own any land.

In the bit of the rubbish pitch that we heard , they hadn’t worked that out yet!

I told Jenny to fuck off and then realised my four-year-old was in the room. As Lexi says, she has done this twice before, she's not a teenage mum - and even if she were, Jenny would still have been insufferable.

I am still trying to work out how re-wilding land that they said they would rent (where? who from?) is "a sustainable farming project", which was what Peggy said the trust was for.

They are unlikely to make enough money, from the few animals they are able to keep on it and the few tourists they manage to attract, to pay the rent each year, so this scheme has a very limited life indeed.

How much land can you rent for half a million quid minus a salary or two?

How much land can you rent for half a million quid minus a salary or two?

You could rent quite a lot. The complexity of Scots Agriculture Tenancy law isn't relevant and English Agricultural Tenancy law has devised a "farm business tenancy" which is less unwieldy than the Scottish system but it is still complex and you still have to consider "fixed equipment" (buildings, fences, drainage systems etc needed to make the land work) Entering into a new agricultural lease with 3 tenants only 1 of whom has any real agricultural experience isn't something a landlord will do lightly.

Not that any of that will be a consideration.

Is there even any land to rent in Ambridge? I would have thought it was all owned and farmed on by the Archers et al.

Breaking news! I’ve just seen an advert for KFC on the Deliveroo App..voiced by Bryan!! I knew they were on hard times but bloody hell!

AskingQuestions - those points are easy to explain: the whole conservation prize storyline is nonsense and always has been - bear that simple principle in mind and you can happily resolve all your questions!

That ‘announcement’ could win a Damp Squib award. Staggeringly underwhelming.

The Fairbrother being involved is surely major in terms of the future power structures in the village - but the BBC couldn’t pay him to be there to react?

But three is a very awkward number. I wonder if one of either Pip or Rex will be dropped from Team Moneybags soon. Or if we’ll have months/years of skullduggery and betrayal between them. On second thoughts - all three are too dull to create any real drama.

I’d love to know how long ago they planned this particular future for the youngest Ambridge Brainbox.

I’ve just come back from a village meeting about a big pig farm & anaerobic digestive system. I kept looking at the different speakers wondering who was Adam. There was a definite Hannah, she came over very well. The Neil, manager of the unit, also seemed reasonable but a fair bit younger than Neil Carter.

Wasn't there local land for sale that Tom and/or Natasha were considering?

Silly result for competition. Its only purpose to fuel further plot lines of angst between Pip and her parents.

Isn’t showing Lexie all the stuff being laid on for the baby she’s giving away a bit tactless?

Made me wonder what sort of special nursery stuff she had been able to afford when she had her girls.

I don't suppose any thought has been given to what happens to Lexi after the baby has been born?

Is she going to breast feed it?

No thought seems to have been given as to childcare either - or is Lexi going to stay on to be the nanny to her own baby?

Ian is taking a year off, I thought?

Ian’s taking a year off.

Yip! It’s Pip! Who is now boring on about pissing her parents off

I'm sure she has no need to worry, it's a matter of time before they come round to deciding this is yet more evidence of her utter brilliance. They'll probably end up handing over Lakey Hill for the project.

Wasn't there local land for sale that Tom and/or Natasha were considering?

Oh, maybe, but it's so long ago that I only have a vague memory that may not even be a real memory.

I wouldn't have thought Lexi will be breastfeeding, she'd bond with the baby and not want to give it up. She might pump for a few days though, so the baby gets colostrum.

The land for rewilding will be like the extra bedrooms which magically appear in the expanding cottages. But surely it will need to be a substantial parcel to have animals roaming wild on it - that’s not something that can happen on little piecemeal pockets? I suppose it was inevitable that rewilding would win as none of the existing landowners would realistically move towards it so this is a way of the SW shoehorning in a fashionable new farming tendency. Too many unanswered questions for me, but it must surely now lead to a rift between the Golden Child and her parents. Another example of the nuts and bolts of plot development being too visible for my liking.

I used to work n funding, and the whole thing sucks big balls.

For a start, is everything properly costed or have Feebs, Pip and Rex formed a company, or will Peggy just do a transfer into Pip's bank account; are the funds paid in one lump sum, or in tranches; How long is the project meant to last for, or will it just meander on until the funding dries up; what is their accountability, interim reports, final reports, pictures on their Facebook page; and that is before I get started on public engagement, knowledge transfer, and the timescales for setting up the whole thing. Stupid. Utterly stupid.

Jenny's fawning would have been hard to bear under any circumstances but did anyone else find her fulsome greetings, enthusiasm and concern, horribly distasteful, not only for the obvious reasons, but also because she wouldn't give a jot about Lexi's welfare ordinarily, never mind meeting her at the station? And, to be fair to Jenny, why should she? It's all about the baby of course it is. But I couldn't help but feel repulsed somehow by the entire exchange. They are only interested in her because of what they can get from her, or what she can give them. And yes, Lexi is a willing (if shy) participant, but all the same ... . [I'm aware I'm not expressing this very well!]. It made me think of immigrants arriving at railway stations knowing no one.