Any clearer way of saying 'no'? (From Gazette & Herald)

Any clearer way of saying 'no'?

THE reaction of President Chirac to the decisive defeat of his EU constitution campaign makes one wonder in what distorted dream world of democracy he lives.

There doesn't seem to me to be any clearer way of saying no than the French people did on Sunday, and despite all the millions of Francs poured into the promotion of the Government's misplaced views, the people do not want any further involvement with an unelected and uncontrolled bureaucracy in Brussels.

It amazed me that Chirac apparently regards the "No" vote as a temporary set back following which another vote will have to be taken in due course.

What would have happened if he'd received approval of a new constitution? - Do we really believe that he would have gone on to another vote in those circumstances.

I would remind Le President of his statement on April 28, 2004, when he said "Any country voting no to the constitution must leave the EU."

It is interesting if unacceptable that our own Prime Minister dare not now even risk a vote in this country.

Let us hope that the message gets through to our political masters before we all drown or emigrate to get away from the piles of useless paper.

I have just returned from escorting her who has to be obeyed to New Zealand to see our latest granddaughter Beth Alice, and I relate the difference in approach to disease control on the other side of the world.

Before entry into New Zealand you are given a large form to complete on the plane asking searching questions about the purpose of your visit, the goods you are carrying and any contact you have had with farming activities.

In our case, walking boots were taking out of the suitcase and scrubbed and disinfected in Auckland when we landed.

When we flew back to Australia a long video was compulsory viewing declaring the precious state of Australia as an island and detailing the forbidden entry of and penalties for any animal or plant product.

On our return to the UK, security was slightly improved from last year and the air stewardess gave a 20 second dissertation on the perils of bringing meat and fruit into the country.

At Manchester Airport itself there was a sniffer dog playing with a tennis ball and we did see two black travellers have their cases opened which contained plastic bags full of what looked like meat.

As an aside, during our stay in New Zealand there was a letter written to their Prime Minister in what turned out to be a student hoax and containing in the worst possible taste a threat that the FMD virus had been released on an island just off Auckland.

Because the sender could not be traced, the authorities had to spend over £2 million in trying to ensure that the letter was a hoax.

Nevertheless, they didn't adopt the British policy of slaughtering everything in sight, but merely carried out proper tests.

Just in case the EU has not got sufficient bottle to curb its farming production, the World Trade Organisation lurks in the shadows with a very heavy hammer.

They have now ruled that our "C" sugar exports are in their view "cross subsidised" by the profits on the "A" and "B" sugar quota which has been supported.

This opinion is expressed despite the "C" sugar being put freely on the open market without any direct subsidy. But nevertheless the WTO ruling means that we are exceeding our total permitted subsidised exports by over 300 per cent!

The bad news is that the EC are now looking to drop the support price to farmers by over 40 per cent which means that if you want to grow sugar beet you want to look at its viability with the market price at around £16 per tonne.

As an alternative the EC is going to offer a buy out scheme with processors getting around £500 per tonne of sugar that they give up in year one which would be 2006.

The future for this break crop looks precarious.

DEFRA in accordance with best practice goes through the motions of having extensive consultations with the agricultural industry on many aspects of changes they wish to introduce.

Thousands of letters are sent out to parties both directly involved and some with extremely tenuous links.

My experience in responding to these consultations is that DEFRA takes not a blind bit of notice and their rejection of the wide spread opposition to their table valuation proposals is typical. Not for nothing are they known as Deaf Ear!

For all diseases where animals have to be slaughtered they are proposing farmers should be compensated according to a table rather than by individual valuation.

Originally they suggested 10 categories, but have now revised this to 29 and I can tell you why this is completely and utterly inadequate.

If one breaks down the categories by sex for heifers, steers and bulls then you are reduced to 10 categories.

If one then divides this into beef and dairy you are down to five categories.

And finally if a six monthly span in age is taken you will find that everything over 24 months of age has to be grouped into one valuation box.

The tables take no account of quality or pedigree or even breed.

The whole thing is a shambolic injustice that typifies the attitude of the Ministry that is meant to be looking after agriculture.

Forward 104 cattle including 47 bulls 636 sheep forward including 457 lambs and 191 ewes. Medium steers to 118p J L Gray, Grindale, ave 111.7p; Heavy steers to 127p D R Jackson, Carnaby, ave 115.6p; Light bulls to 125p G Morley, Marishes, ave 124.5p; Medium bulls to 105p G Morley, Marishes, ave 103.2p; Heavy bulls to 111p A M Stones, Ebberston, average 101.7p; Black and white bulls to 93p C & S D Leckenby, ave 84.3p; Medium heifers to 133p G I Marwood, Harome, ave 109.3p; Heavy heifers to 146p G I Marwood, Harome, ave 116.6p; Standard lambs to 147.4p B W and B R Raines & Son, Old Malton, ave 143.0p; Medium lambs to 151.2p W Lewis and Son, Kettleness, ave 141.6p; Heavy lambs to 147.8p T G Warters and Son, Boythorpe, ave 138.7p; Medium hoggs to 125.7p D & R Cussins, Kirkbymoorside, ave 112.7p; Heavy hoggs to 117.3p J F Thorpe, Stittenham, ave 81.2p; Overweight hoggs to 114.5p C Dale, Skirpenbeck, ave 105.2p; Ewes to £35.20 W Burdass & Sons.

Updated: 11:13 Wednesday, June 01, 2005