As the autumn progresses towards winter there has been very little let up from the relentless rain. Tractors are kept undercover as the slightest excursion across water logged fields leave deep ruts and damage the soil structure.
 
Livestock farmers are already worrying about a shortage of straw for next winter as fields remain untouched, some under water and the majority undrilled. The glut of straw this summer was a bonus but most cattle were housed early and the relentless rain means extra is needed to keep the yards clean and dry.
 
No one year can stand alone in the farming calendar, as each has repercussions upon the next. Farming is all about the weather and timing and very little else.
 
The General Election TV hustings have so far been disappointing and generally a waste of time. ITV clearly attempted to ‘entertain’ rather than allow an intelligent political debate.
 
The BBC did marginally better but with the audience and questions so heavily leaning towards the left, and sound bites evidently the order of the day, little was accomplished.
 
On both occasions the female interviewers were noticeably out of their depth. Surely if the broadcasters persist with these presidential style and poorly staged hustings, the very least they should do is employ experienced political inquisitors who can get to the real facts, not the lightweight trivia we have seen so far.
 
With apologies to my feminist sisters, I believe it is time to call a halt to this politically correct promotion at all cost, of women. So glaringly obvious is it that women with or without talent, are being shoe horned into every available opening on radio, TV and elsewhere.
 
Whatever happened to the belief that true talent will float to the surface? It is a nonsense to promote mediocracy in pursuit of political correctness with its skewed perception of equality.
 
For those of us who have historically been glued to Radio 4, our loyalty is being sorely tested. Not only are our ears increasingly assaulted by shrill female voices discussing anything from wind farms to national security, we are now threatened with a series composed exclusively of comediennes, let loose on the unsuspecting public. I defy anyone to find 90% of them remotely funny. Crass yes, funny absolutely not.
 
I have been reluctant to criticise the SDNPA for erecting the ghastly rusty signs springing up across Sussex. However, since the national press has picked up on the subject costing £500,000, I think it is open season on the National Park Authority once again.
 
What is the point of these signs which look as if they have escaped from the local scrap merchant’s yard or farm machinery grave yard? As for the spokesman for the SDNPA who said, “They create a positive sense of arrival …..” Really?
 
What has the SDNPA actually achieved since its ill-conception in 2010 except spend loads of tax payer’s money on self-promotion, including their gold-plated headquarters in Midhurst, and become a thorn in the side of farmers and landowners?
 
They say the only certainties in life are tax and death, which implies that to be successful one should be either an accountant or an undertaker! While we are all busy paying taxes and planning our eventual departure from this earth, surely the other essential to sustain life is food production.
 
One would assume that farming was one of life’s certainties and that farmers and fertile land would be recognised, valued and rewarded as such.
 
Unfortunately it is increasingly clear that farmers and food production are hugely undervalued. We watch as farmland is targeted for development, flooding, tree planting, on-shore windfarms and substations the size of Wembley stadium, cable corridors and for the public’s recreation.
 
In a year when grain and other food supplies will be in short supply, perhaps farmers and vital and sustainable food production should be taken more seriously.

The World Sleddog Association Dryland World Championships took place in the UK for the very first time last weekend. 150 teams from 15 countries including from Russia, Spain, France, Poland, Latvia and Canada raced around the 3.1 mile course which began in the park, heading up the hill before returning to the finishing line in front of Firle Place, the stunning home of the Gage family in East Sussex.
 
The competitors raced teams of huskies pulling lightweight wheeled ‘sleds’, and some had a single husky running alongside their mountain bike. All were competing for places in this World Championship event.
 
Dryland was something of a misnomer considering the conditions. The competitors returned coated in mud and soaked to the skin, much like their four footed friends who reached the finishing line covered in Firle’s chalky mud.
 
It was quite obvious that these lean and athletic huskies enjoyed every minute. They could not get started quickly enough as they pulled at their traces eager to be on their way.
 
The event was an amazing spectacle and certainly differed from the usual events held in Firle Park. A huge international crowd turned out to watch this exciting sport which, due to the exceptionally wet conditions, has left the park looking as if Firle had hosted a re-enactment of the Battle of the Somme, but proved hugely popular.
 
The relentless rain has been difficult to cope with here in Sussex but compared to the devastating floods affecting parts of Yorkshire, we have been let off very lightly.
 
Driving north last week it was sad to see the flooded fields alongside the motorways. Fortunately my route did not take me near Doncaster where the floods have overwhelmed villages, farms and businesses.
 
The rain which has not stopped for almost two months, has been exceptional. A ‘once in a hundred years’ occurrence? - Not any more.
 
There has been extreme rainfall in 2007, 2012, 2016, 2017 and now in 2019. The floods rarely occur in the same area, but have to date, affected Somerset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and now Yorkshire.
 
Over the years billions of pounds have been spent on flood defences, but by its very nature can never be enough. The eye of the storm is indiscriminate, taking neighbourhoods and communities by surprise.
 
Fortunately for some districts and business hubs, the improved flood defences have been effective, but for those currently having to cope with the life changing floods, the relentless rain is catastrophic.
 
There are many theories on how best to proceed and why floods are increasingly common.
 
Homes and business centres have been built on flood panes and the Environment Agency has not, as in the past, dredge rivers and coastlines. There are far more arable crops, including maize, which unlike grass pasture which acts like a sponge, does not hold back the excess water. Perhaps after all livestock farming is a better choice where the environment is concerned.
 
The original 32 River Boards set up in England and Wales in 1948 were designed to manage land drainage, fisheries and river pollution. The Boards worked closely with the farming community, often with centuries of family knowledge and understanding of how to manage the rivers and land structure in their area.
 
These boards were replaced by 27 River Authorities in 1965, which in turn were replaced by the Environment Agency in 1995, then becoming part of DEFRA, and employing over 11,200 staff within 8 directorates.
 
The EA’s principle concern has been the protection and enhancement of the environment. The practical requirement to maintain and improve land drainage and prevent flooding does not appear to have been a priority. Nor has this organisation worked with the farming community, gaining valuable local knowledge. Nature is important but so are people’s lives and businesses.

The weeks are flying by and it always seems to be Friday. Perhaps it is the shorter day light hours into which we try to pack a full day’s work.
 
We yearn for the return of longer days and shorter nights, important for those of us who work outdoors. I suppose for the unfortunate individuals whose employment is mostly confined to working under cover, illuminated mostly by artificial lighting, it is perhaps less of an issue.
 
The London stock market is coming under pressure to reduce its trading hours. According to Daily Telegraph columnist Matthew Lynn, 8am to 4.30pm is now too much for today’s traders to handle.
 
The Association of Financial Markets in Europe and the Investment Association have written to the London Stock Exchange and other European exchanges asking for the working day to be reduced to 9am to 4pm.
 
Matthew Lynn clearly has a healthy disrespect for certain ‘City’ workers who he says have a problem with hard-drinking, lap-dancing and a laddish culture which he believes is out of place in modern Britain. He considers this has more to do with the kind of people the brokers have traditionally recruited, who he somewhat colourfully brands as, “brainless oiks with the ethics of psychologically damaged sewer rats, in the main”, than the actual hours they are expected to work.
 
Mr Lynn suggests that the London Stock Exchange should be open for business for longer not shorter hours, as London has a key advantage due to its trading day overlapping with both Asia and New York. As he says, the shorter hours might work well for someone in Bishopsgate, but won’t work for anyone based on a different continent, who will be forced to trade into so called “dark pools” – largely unregulated trading systems that allow big funds to trade equities while the official markets are closed.
 
Rather than introducing shorter hours, he suggests the London Stock Exchange should operate from 7am until 7pm, so they can trade with Hong Kong and Shanghai markets, then running in sync with New York towards the end of the day. This would give London an edge over Frankfurt and Paris; perfect timing as we leave the European Union.
 
There are many different forms of flexible working including shifts or job share, the same as they do in many other professions where employers and employees create a workable system. There is no need to shorten the day for the whole exchange.
 
There are once again suggestions that the working week should be reduced to four days. Only politicians could come up with such an impractical idea which would be bad for the UK, bad for business and decidedly very bad for the health of whole population, for obvious reasons.
 
I suppose if one is committed to bringing the country to a grinding halt, it would be worth considering. However, anyone living in the real world with a proper job, rather than the privileged and rarefied atmosphere of Westminster would understand how impractical and destructive this would be.
 
As the population is being ‘blackmailed’ into going digital, electricity dependent and battery operated, I think we should ask, “what happens when the power fails”? As one day it certainly will.
 
When the power fails and battery operated cars, buses, ambulances, police cars, bin and delivery trucks can no longer be recharged, and our homes so reliant or electrical power, including signals from our mobiles fail, who and what will pick up the piece?
 
It is no doubt a case of when not if the UK central power system is knocked out, either by accident or more likely by enemy forces. Perhaps it is time to ask which department is making contingency plans for such an outcome or are they just going with the flow, following the so called ‘environmentalists’ demands, some of whom have questionable motives.

They say ‘it is the taking part not the winning that matters’. I suspect that is not exactly what the England team felt when the Springbok walked off with the trophy on Saturday. The best team on the day did win, but our English lions should hold their heads up high with pride. They made it to the final and have been superb throughout the tournament keeping the nation’s spirits up, and they have been a real credit to their country.
 
The next ‘test’ will be the General Election on December 12. Forget just taking part, this is a contest which is vital to win for the future of the whole of the UK. It must be won fair and square by the party which will deliver Brexit with immediate effect.
 
Anyone considering voting in a government led by those who are offering a bonanza of riches to ‘the poor’, by confiscating from the middle classes, should be very wary.
 
The result would be an exodus of Britain’s wealth-creators, plunging the UK into a downward projectile, which would take the country years, if ever to recover.
 
As Tom Bower, Jeremy Corbyn’s biographer, wrote in his book Dangerous Hero, released earlier this year, “This man would not care, for he wants to replace equality of opportunity with equality of poverty. In so doing, echoing his hero Hugo Chavez, the extreme Left president who brought Venezuela to its knees”.
 
Reading the daily press it is increasingly hard to distinguish fact from fiction. At the very least some stories have one reaching for the calendar to check if we have skipped some months and it is 1st April.
 
One such story caught my eye in which the headline ran: Now RAF has to offer pilots VEGAN boots. Top brass have been ordered to amend military policy on dress after a landmark request from a helicopter technician objecting to wearing leather safety boots!
 
Following the test case, any RAF personnel who refuse standard service issue clothing will be provided with vegan boots, shoes, berets, trousers, jumpers and socks. The Army and Royal navy could be forced to follow suit.
 
You really could not make this stuff up. Surely anyone enrolling into any of the defence services are aware, and if not they should be, that whether an engineer, a pilot, soldier or sailor, they are responsible for protecting their Queen and country, and that includes killing our enemies.
 
Surely if they have signed up to slaying human beings, they should be able to cope with wearing clothes which are made from sheep’s wool, or leather a by-product from cattle.
 
I wonder how many of these snowflakes would refuse to use a parachute which may have been made using silk worms, or would they prefer to plunge to their death when ejecting from a fighter jet, or jumping from a troop transporter?
 
Research published in the journal, European Psychiatry, last week argued that narcissists tend to be happier and live longer than the rest of us. We all have a certain amount of narcissism in us, it goes without saying, a by-product of feeling loved, hopefully having been instilled in us by loving parents.
 
Serial narcissists used to be rare, but increasingly as the report finds, narcissism has become the new norm as we demand instant service and gratification. This is fuelled by friends, family and the authorities colluding to ensure few are inconvenienced by having to fend for themselves.
 
Perhaps it is unsurprising that serial narcissists live longer which explains the reason why so often at funerals as we say good bye to genuine dear friends, we say “Why is it always the truly good people who die young?”