Going to the Wall

BBC Radio 4's Farming Today programme on weekdays at 5.45 is a mouthpiece for the farming industry. The other day a group of aspiring sheep farmers were discussing the obstacles to their prospects of making a good living. Chief of these was the fact that the public no longer seems to relish  lamb chops as it used to. Without enough demand what chance do they have?

So many of the old industries have gone to the wall with merely a shrug from government;but sheep farming in the uplands staggers on subsidised to an alarming degree.

On Blacka sheep are going to a wall constructed to remarkable proportions. You would think it capable of imprisoning sheep of prodigious size and athleticism.

As if the wall itself is not tall enough (it surely is) it's been decided to top it with two strands of barbed wire.  Sentry towers and armed guards are eagerly awaited. All is paid for with eye-watering amounts of public money. In addition to this there is Single Farm Payment with various supplements for supporting those in 'difficult' areas, and Higher Level Stewardship.

The wall to date has cost about £35,000. Of course we can afford it. Can't we?? After all there's lots of money around.

They call the enclosure a nature reserve. All the wild flowers get eaten by the sheep; what right do they have to thrive in a nature reserve?

SRWT is now talking of building a smaller enclosure inside the outer enclosure with another surrounding wall. Why? To keep the sheep out!

The walls may not be visible from space. But that may be true of the pile of public money that has gone into this land. And the enclosure still looks unbelievably dreary.

What's going on here has many things in common with corruption. And there is no scrutiny by the relevant public bodies, no accountability.