Countrycidal Capitalism

Country pubs and shops are closing at a terrifying rate. Such are the results of the utterly anti-conservative “free” market.

Once, there was a political movement which organised farm labourers, smallholders, crofters and others. It obtained rural amenities such as schools, medical facilities, Post Offices, and so on. From within it, the Attlee Government created of the Green Belt and the National Parks, and people opposed the destruction of the national rail and bus networks.

That movement saw real agriculture as the mainstay of strong communities, environmental responsibility and animal welfare, and as a clear example of the importance of central and local government action in safeguarding and delivering social, cultural, political and environmental goods against the ravages of the “free” market. And it fought for affordable housing in the countryside, as well as for planning laws and procedures that took account of rural needs.

But now, all we have is a mercifully unenforced (because unenforceable) ban on foxhunting in order to coax thoroughly shameful MPs into voting for an immoral and illegal war, together with an “Opposition” which believes that to have been, and to be, the number one priority, or even any priority, in rural areas.

I yield to no one in wanting to repeal the hunting ban. But I despise with all my being those who see the countryside as just somewhere to go at the weekends in order to hunt. It is because of them that country pubs and shops are closing at a terrifying rate. Such are the results of the utterly anti-conservative “free” market to which they are militantly committed.