I really have tried to find some silver linings amongst the daily news grinding across the airwaves or in the pages of newspapers, these past months. I rarely plan the negativity and criticism which looking back over the past year, have repeatedly jumped out from my columns.
It is increasingly clear that in today’s world, if we want to find joy, security, and comfort, we should look no further than beyond our families, close friends, work colleagues, and acquaintances. We should be directing all our energies, focus and efforts towards ensuring we can protect them as far as is possible.
We need to be motivated to see a positive future somewhere amongst the noise, chaos, shambles and aggression directed currently towards all that is good, British, wholesome, and yes, traditional and patriotic about our wonderful country.
There is a feeling of doom and gloom; it matters not whom one talks to. Fellow farmers, our wonderful dustmen, shop keepers, builders, mothers, care workers and city slickers, they all tell the same story. They are deeply concerned for their futures and that of their children and grandchildren.
So, where do we find the happy, cheerful stories? I think we look closer to home amongst our communities which as so often happens during times of trouble and uncertainly, pull together, watch each other’s backs, and perhaps quietly prepare for the worst.
Our summer has been full of challenges but also full of joy. Sunny days, and family descending upon Ote Hall from distant shores with the sound of children enjoying the open spaces and being able to run and play, swim, ride and become reacquainted with the beauty of our family home.
Days have extended into balmy evenings sitting and chatting whilst enjoying the glorious sun sets, day after day. All reassuring and precious moments whilst outside our immediate boundaries the world is increasingly dangerous, unpredictable, and very unstable.
And so, as the summer gently moves into autumn, we must be grateful for the special times we have had these past months, including birthdays, christenings, weddings, gatherings of friends but also saying goodbye to those who have slipped away as their time came, always too soon. Such memories are full of purpose, love and great affection, all imprinted upon our hearts.
And so to farming, that has been our greatest challenge, but we must look forward with optimism and hope that the following twelve months maybe a bit kinder. All we really want is to have the right weather at the right time. I could add that we would also appreciate a fair price for the produce which we grow or rear. To be fair livestock, beef and lamb, have made reasonable returns, but this has been reflected in the exorbitant prices we have paid for store cattle which very nearly broke the bank.
Ote Hall is hosting the Hurstpierpoint & District Ploughing Match on Sunday 28th September, something we have not done for some while. If the ground conditions are good, it will be a huge success, if they are challenging, I know the very experienced Match committee and volunteers, will ensure things go to plan and it will be a memorable day.
The winter was too wet, the spring too dry, resulting in a terribly disappointing harvest for many, which we have yet to complete as we await the delayed ripening of the spring beans. Hopefully, we find a window between the rain showers next week when we can finally combine this crop.
I am told that some of our neighbours have had bumper yields – recording more than 5t per acre. I find that quite extraordinary, but it goes without saying, they are clearly much better farmers than I am.
It is deeply concerning that Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, was appointed by Starmer as Britain’s National Security Adviser. It was Powell who secretly brokered the deal whereby Britain agreed to hand over £101million annually to Mauritius for 99 years in return for a lease on a base in the Chagos Islands. A previous administration had already secured a deal of £3million back in 1968. He is also fanatically anti-Brexit, and no doubt he is persuasively dripping his pro-EU propaganda into the Prime Minister’s receptive ear.
Jonathan Powell is currently in the news due to accusations that he is running a secret diplomatic back channel to terrorists and other dodgy characters using his own taxpayer-funded team of nameless operatives from Inter Mediate. A few years after he left Blair’s No 10, Powell founded this outfit, whose website says its mission is ‘to advance political solutions toward a more peaceful and secure world’. So far, despite receiving funding from the Foreign Office, this organisation has failed to make any progress in this field. Despite working with David Lammy as he tried to secure meetings in Syria, things have not gone to plan.
Powel is classified as a ‘special adviser’, which means he does not have to answer to Parliament even though he deals directly with foreign governments. This unaccountability no doubt suits him perfectly as he and his chum Peter Mandelson, to whom Blair gave unprecedented powers to issue orders to civil servants, still slither about in the shadows, seldom having to give explanations for their actions, still less having to justify them.
Both Powell and Mandelson are noted for being far more experienced, intelligent and well informed than David Lammy – as well as most of those on Labour’s front bench. Well, no surprise there.
It is clearly wrong that Starmer appointed Powell allowing him and the company he founded to play a mysterious, unofficial role in British foreign policy, possibly connecting the Foreign Office with some very dubious people. As columnist Stephen Glover has said, more than anyone in modern politics, Powell has succeeded in wielding power without accountability and has been allowed to get away with it. A fundamental maxim of democracy is that public figures should answer for their actions – and it is high time Jonathan Powell was made to do so.
It is increasingly clear that in today’s world, if we want to find joy, security, and comfort, we should look no further than beyond our families, close friends, work colleagues, and acquaintances. We should be directing all our energies, focus and efforts towards ensuring we can protect them as far as is possible.
We need to be motivated to see a positive future somewhere amongst the noise, chaos, shambles and aggression directed currently towards all that is good, British, wholesome, and yes, traditional and patriotic about our wonderful country.
There is a feeling of doom and gloom; it matters not whom one talks to. Fellow farmers, our wonderful dustmen, shop keepers, builders, mothers, care workers and city slickers, they all tell the same story. They are deeply concerned for their futures and that of their children and grandchildren.
So, where do we find the happy, cheerful stories? I think we look closer to home amongst our communities which as so often happens during times of trouble and uncertainly, pull together, watch each other’s backs, and perhaps quietly prepare for the worst.
Our summer has been full of challenges but also full of joy. Sunny days, and family descending upon Ote Hall from distant shores with the sound of children enjoying the open spaces and being able to run and play, swim, ride and become reacquainted with the beauty of our family home.
Days have extended into balmy evenings sitting and chatting whilst enjoying the glorious sun sets, day after day. All reassuring and precious moments whilst outside our immediate boundaries the world is increasingly dangerous, unpredictable, and very unstable.
And so, as the summer gently moves into autumn, we must be grateful for the special times we have had these past months, including birthdays, christenings, weddings, gatherings of friends but also saying goodbye to those who have slipped away as their time came, always too soon. Such memories are full of purpose, love and great affection, all imprinted upon our hearts.
And so to farming, that has been our greatest challenge, but we must look forward with optimism and hope that the following twelve months maybe a bit kinder. All we really want is to have the right weather at the right time. I could add that we would also appreciate a fair price for the produce which we grow or rear. To be fair livestock, beef and lamb, have made reasonable returns, but this has been reflected in the exorbitant prices we have paid for store cattle which very nearly broke the bank.
Ote Hall is hosting the Hurstpierpoint & District Ploughing Match on Sunday 28th September, something we have not done for some while. If the ground conditions are good, it will be a huge success, if they are challenging, I know the very experienced Match committee and volunteers, will ensure things go to plan and it will be a memorable day.
The winter was too wet, the spring too dry, resulting in a terribly disappointing harvest for many, which we have yet to complete as we await the delayed ripening of the spring beans. Hopefully, we find a window between the rain showers next week when we can finally combine this crop.
I am told that some of our neighbours have had bumper yields – recording more than 5t per acre. I find that quite extraordinary, but it goes without saying, they are clearly much better farmers than I am.
It is deeply concerning that Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, was appointed by Starmer as Britain’s National Security Adviser. It was Powell who secretly brokered the deal whereby Britain agreed to hand over £101million annually to Mauritius for 99 years in return for a lease on a base in the Chagos Islands. A previous administration had already secured a deal of £3million back in 1968. He is also fanatically anti-Brexit, and no doubt he is persuasively dripping his pro-EU propaganda into the Prime Minister’s receptive ear.
Jonathan Powell is currently in the news due to accusations that he is running a secret diplomatic back channel to terrorists and other dodgy characters using his own taxpayer-funded team of nameless operatives from Inter Mediate. A few years after he left Blair’s No 10, Powell founded this outfit, whose website says its mission is ‘to advance political solutions toward a more peaceful and secure world’. So far, despite receiving funding from the Foreign Office, this organisation has failed to make any progress in this field. Despite working with David Lammy as he tried to secure meetings in Syria, things have not gone to plan.
Powel is classified as a ‘special adviser’, which means he does not have to answer to Parliament even though he deals directly with foreign governments. This unaccountability no doubt suits him perfectly as he and his chum Peter Mandelson, to whom Blair gave unprecedented powers to issue orders to civil servants, still slither about in the shadows, seldom having to give explanations for their actions, still less having to justify them.
Both Powell and Mandelson are noted for being far more experienced, intelligent and well informed than David Lammy – as well as most of those on Labour’s front bench. Well, no surprise there.
It is clearly wrong that Starmer appointed Powell allowing him and the company he founded to play a mysterious, unofficial role in British foreign policy, possibly connecting the Foreign Office with some very dubious people. As columnist Stephen Glover has said, more than anyone in modern politics, Powell has succeeded in wielding power without accountability and has been allowed to get away with it. A fundamental maxim of democracy is that public figures should answer for their actions – and it is high time Jonathan Powell was made to do so.
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