Country cousins lose their direction
More than 200,000 people are expected to march through the streets of London today in a most unusual protest.
This is not a single issue rally by a small interest group but more a vast protest by a section of the population which feels under threat from Tony Blair's Labour Government. The people protesting are those who live in the countryside.
It used to be that there was a perceived North-South divide in Britain. Now there is more an urban-rural gulf prompted by the actions of a party which sees its allegiance historically as among the urban populace. That is a simplification, of course. Mr Blair did not achieve his unprecedented majority by urban votes alone.
But perceptions can often be as important as reality and a series of issues has come to a head, prompting the impression that the government is deliberately targeting the countryside.
The issues are the ban on beef on the bone because of mad cow disease fears, the lack of subsidy for beef farmers in Britain, compared to elsewhere in the European Union, the attempt to end fox hunting, threats to ban unpasteurised milk, proposals to build more than five million new homes in the countryside, the closure of village schools, the ending of village bus routes.
But many of these are perceived more than real - the government has pulled back on its homes proposals and its threat to ban untreated milk, the fox hunting legislation is stalled because Mr Blair would not support it. The government has also moved in recent days to help embattled farmers in both the beef and hill farming sectors.
Mr Blair has created a series of rural development agencies and claims his government has injected GBP440 million (HK$5.6 billion) into rural schools.
But it is a confrontation he cannot win. The perception is already there and it has become political - both the major opposition parties will have their leaders among the marchers. Even the remnants of the British coal-mining industry will be present, protesting at the closure of pit villages.
The words of a leading conservationist David Bellamy sum up the perceptions when he warned of 'mass insurrection'. He criticised town dwellers who were prepared to eat battery-produced hens and turkeys, yet 'pointed the finger of scorn' at those who made a living out of rural pursuits. 'They [the townies] want other people to do their dirty work,' he said.
That sums up the debate - it is the view of one sector of the community uncaringly exploiting the other.
Ilive in the countryside. I write this, looking out over fields, yet I believe the perception is wrong. For decades the urban areas have effectively subsidised the rural.
Farmers have for decades absorbed subsidies. Only a few may have got rich but they have been cushioned from economic reality much more than any urban small businessman.
Arguably if we stopped sheltering agriculture from market forces there would be much cheaper food and lower taxes.
Nor are country people particularly good protectors of the environment themselves. The biggest landowner in my area, a farmer and Tory activist, would dearly love to sell off fields for housing if he could convince the local council - voted in by mainly urban people - to grant planning permission.
Farmers in many areas have recently been ripping up hedges in an attempt to pre-empt new legislation to protect them as a habitat for wildlife.
The march today will be more important than many because there are dangerous perceptions afield - the government is being accused of doing something it has actually pulled back from. When people fight phantom causes then they can easily be misled.
