Caroline Stocks on the obvious combination of journalism, media and farming
Dear oh dear. I can’t image the NFU team are a bunch of happy bunnies at the moment. Having given DEFRA secretary Caroline Spelman a telling off this week for not taking farming seriously enough, this morning it’s emerged government plans for a badger cull to tackle bovine TB are being delayed. The setback until [...]
After the glamour of the Soil Association conference in Manchester last week, this week I’m at the NEC in Birmingham for the National Farmers Union’s annual meeting. With no general election on the immediate horizon, union president Peter Kendall in the hot seat for another year and a DEFRA team widely seen as sympathetic towards [...]
Mark Twain, in the title there. Not sure it worked, but it’s made me feel a bit cultured. Poor old Andrew George though, eh? And I’m not just pitying him for this terrible photo we keep wheeling out on FWi: Having spent years helping the NFU thrash out arguments advocating a supermarket ombudsman to protect [...]
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Lib Dem Andrew George is disappointed the Lib Dems don’t have anyone DEFRA, as covered by Farmers Weekly and Western Morning News. Spot the difference, anyone? Share: Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet about [...]
Mr News Editor, Mr Chief Reporter and I went into London on Tuesday to have lunch with DEFRA farm minister Jim Paice. We were meeting him ahead of his official announcement about the possibility of allowing farmers to cull badgers to help combat bovine tuberculosis. The idea was we’d get the low-down on the consultation [...]
Oh dear, things aren’t looking so good for DEFRA secretary Caroline Spelman – and she hasn’t even been in the job a week. There were rumblings of discontent at the weekend over possible conflicts of interest between Cazza’s new post and her links to food and bio-tech lobbying company Spelman, Cormack and Associates, which she [...]
Who’d be a politician, eh? Day one of the NFU conference in Birmingham and DEFRA secretary Hilary Benn is welcomed to the stage. From the off Hils looked like he knew he was going to be in for a hard time, so he switched on the charm. He said farmers had done a super job [...]
