I regularly champion local artists on my weekly radio show – and at times, I’ll admit this means playing songs which may not have otherwise made the cut, if judging on the quality of the music alone. It is therefore a joy when a local band produce an album of such unquestionable quality that I can not only share it with my listeners, but also enjoy repeated listens at home. It Leads To This, the 16th long player from Yeovil prog-rock stalwarts The Pineapple Thief, is one such record. Bruce Soord (the band’s driving force) has successfully managed to oversee the evolution of the group such that line-up changes have been less a revolving door, and more a gradual refinement and realisation of his creative vision.
Now 25 years into their journey, The Pineapple Thief have produced their tightest, warmest, and most rewarding album yet. While the eight tracks are given room to breathe, there are no 10-minute slow burners to be found here. Put It Right, the album opener, begins with a simple piano and vocal arrangement before swiftly blossoming into life – a subdued start, but the band are clearly keen to get to the point. While all is emphatically not well (Soord confesses on Rubicon that there is ‘no hope to be found’ and asks, ‘how could we get it so wrong?’ on the albums’ excellent title track, video below) there is a nobility and defiance on show throughout the album. The confidence and sure-footedness of the arrangements, musical performances and production, contrasted with universal lyrical themes of regret and opportunities lost, create a compelling tension which satisfies all the way to the final, rousing crescendo of cathartic closing track To Forget. It really has all led to this.
Matthew Ambrose presents Under The Radar on Tuesday evening at 7pm on Abbey104. Broadcasting on 104.7FM and online at abbey104.com.
One in three of us yearns to throw in the day job and set up on our own. In this month’s Letter from the Editor, Laura mulls over the realities of running your own business – who on earth would actually do it, and why do they love it? The reader’s letters are rather dominated by the reaction to the suspension of the Blackmore & Sparkford Vale Hunt story the BV ran last month.
JUST CLICK PLAY BELOW TO LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE
In politics, Simon Hoare MP’s varied March musings include championing British farming, lambing season, community advocacy and Government collaboration. Ken Huggins writes for the Green Party, and is calling for us all to protest, protest and again protest. Gary Jackson, the North Dorset Lib Dems candidate, is calling on the government to act with prudence, and urges it to do no more harm. And in his final column for the BV, Pat Osborne of North Dorset Labour is keen to point out that the county’s much-vaunted new second home tax is a pointless cash cow policy.
Lucy Nolan, Dorset’s only Accredited Pet Gundog Instructor (APGI), chats to Jenny about her work and the dogs she helps. It’s not about training gundogs for work – there’s a huge rise in working dogs being kept as pets, and as Lucy points out ‘With working breeds you must give them a job, otherwise they go self-employed!’ • Lucy runs Adhara Dog Training – https://www.adharadogtraining.co.uk/
Though there’s been TB testing at Rawston this month, James Cossins’ thoughts are fixed firmly on the national picture and finding a way forward
Rolling the fields at Rawston in the late 1960s
As ever with farming, the weather is having the upper hand here at Rawston Farm. The constant rainfall during February has meant that very little field work has been done – especially compared with last year, when February was one of the driest on record. We have carried out another TB test this month and we are very nearly clear, with just one animal to retest. Yet again fingers are crossed that in 60 days when the animal is retested, we go clear and can start selling our beef cattle at sensible values.
Lose 20% of your income It won’t have escaped most people’s attention that the NFU had their annual conference in Birmingham in February. After six years as President, Minette Batters retires from the post to be replaced by Tom Bradshaw. Minette has worked relentlessly during this period representing the farming industry to politicians, government institutions, supermarkets and many more. She has been the face of agriculture to the wider public through the difficulties such as Brexit, the COVID pandemic and the fight for British farming in the recent trade deals. I would like to extend my thanks to her for all she has done for our industry.
James Cossins at home on Rawston Farm
It was interesting that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attended the conference – the last time a Prime Minster attended (Gordon Brown) it was also an election year. We have had assurances from the Government that they are fully behind us, but it appears that the current financial incentives are the opposite, with encouragement being given to leave productive land empty, to rewild and not to produce food. Maybe on poor and unproductive land this is understandable, but it should not be encouraged on good food-producing land. We only produce about 65 per cent of our nation’s food at the moment. Surely we don’t want to cut production further and rely more heavily on imported food? Often the imported foods have lower standards of production and come from unsustainable sources such as removed rainforests. With the current insecurity in the world, we shouldn’t rely on imported food.
Minette Batters has worked relentlessly for six years, representing the farming industry to politicians, government institutions and supermarkets
I have been asked recently why the English farmers are not out protesting with their tractors as farmers are across Europe. In the UK I believe the last thing we want to do is upset our customers by disrupting their daily activities. Across the channel, the European Union is trying to enforce certain measures which would make farming even more difficult than it already is. The EU want to reduce the amount of inputs that farmers can use to grow crops, meaning that the amount of food they would be able to produce would be dramatically reduced, consequently reducing their income. Closer to home, in Wales there is a proposal put forward by the Welsh government that ten per cent of farmed land be planted to trees and a further ten per cent be left as set-aside. Again this would have a dramatic effect on their incomes. The English government has produced a sustainable farming incentive scheme which rewards farmers for carrying out activities that benefit the environment. Farmers can choose from a wide range of options like hedgerow management, not putting fertiliser on grassland, not using insecticides on crops, sowing cover crops and planting unproductive parts of field with wild flowers or food for wild birds. Every farmer has the choice to enter the scheme and consequently be financially rewarded for doing so.
Well done George! Finally, congratulations to my fellow BV columnist George Hosford, who was announced as the South West regional winner of the Meurig Raymond award at the NFU conference. The prestigious annual award is presented to the member who goes above and beyond as an NFU member. George was specifically recognised for the work he does in educating the public, especially children, on where their food comes from and what farmers are doing for the environment. The judges said ‘George’s passion for education, the agricultural sector and the environment is second to none. His enthusiasm is infectious. An eternally positive voice, not scared to question and hold to account, he will ask the difficult questions in a constructive manor, holding policy makers to account and working hard to safeguard the future of the farming sector which he so clearly loves.’
£22 – signed special editions in stock now The history of the Middle Ages is typically the story of the rich and powerful – there’s barely a written note for most people’s lives. Now, cutting-edge science can give us a new understanding of the past – one more intimate and inclusive than ever before. The seven stories in Crypt are not comforting tales. We meet the victims of the St Brice’s Day Massacre. We see a society struggling to make sense of disease, disability and death, as incurable epidemics sweep through medieval Europe. We learn of a protracted battle between Church and State that led to t the destruction of the most famous tomb in England, and we come face to face with the archers who went down with Henry VIII’s favourite ship, the Mary Rose. ‘We are using the same techniques that we use to track diseases now. We are using the same techniques to sequence DNA – just from very, very old bones. Rather than a swab to the mouth, you take DNA from the bones. It gives you an extraordinary insight into families through time.’
The Ladder: Life Lessons from Women Who Have Scaled the Heights and Dodged the Snakes by Cathy Newman £18.99
Journalist and presenter of Channel 4 News Cathy Newman’s new book The Ladder brings together discussions between women – about work, love, growth, challenge, the big decisions and the stories of their lives. Offering inspiration and wise counsel from some of the world’s most acclaimed and influential women, this book is an insight and a trove of solidarity. It talks about change, anger, illness, imposter syndrome, self-knowledge, purpose, how to not panic in a crisis and how to stop worrying you’re boring. Amid the pages are discussions with women who have achieved extraordinary things in their fields and pursuits, from scientists like Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, activists like Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, film-makers like Waad Al-Kateab, religious leaders like Rose Hudson-Wilkin and broadcasters like Joan Bakewell.
Employ My Ability offers vocational training for students with learning disabilities and special educational needs and disabilities. One of their students, Maddie Walters, spent her work experience with us, and now writes a regular column – Ed
Bird-watching has always been popular. Across the UK, more than half a million people took part in the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch 2023, counting and reporting on more than nine million birds! The Big Garden Birdwatch is a public survey, involving people tracking the types of birds – and how many of them – can be seen in their garden. Collectively it builds a picture of bird activity in gardens across the UK. Click here if you would like more information about how YOU can take part! Looking at this year’s results, the top three birds seen in Dorset gardens are the blue tit, the house sparrow and the starling. But rare birds are sometimes seen as well! This year in Dorset there have been confirmed sightings of the Eurasian goshawk and common chiffchaff (Siberian)! The Eurasian goshawk is a forest-dwelling hawk with pale eyebrows and orange eyes. The common chiffchaff is a very plain and dull, more brownish bird overall with pale eyebrows and dark legs. Have you seen on in your garden? If you do see a bird and don’t know what it is, this online identifier tool might help If you want to make your garden more bird-friendly here are some ideas: Put out bird food on a bird table and in feeders. Try seeds for sparrows and finches, fat balls for tits, and fruit and worms for thrushes and robins. Try to put out only what will get eaten, so there’s nothing left to go off Put out fresh water and make sure you clean feeders and tables regularly Provide safe nesting places by planting native trees and shrubs, or putting up nest boxes or a bird box. A bird box can substitute for a tree-hole and many birds will move in the autumn to get ready for winter. If bird-watching appeals to you, why not join a local bird watching group? Take a look at Dorset Bird Club on Facebook, where you can join events, talk birds – and of course report any rare sightings!
Chris Loder MP is a long-time advocate for the new Council Tax premiums on second homes to combat housing inequality in Dorset
Chris Loader
You may have seen the news last month that second homes in Dorset will be subject to a 100 per cent Council Tax premium from 1st April 2025. In addition to the Second Homes Tax, from 1st April this year, properties classified as long-term empty and unoccupied will pay a 100 per cent Council Tax premium. I have consistently campaigned for the introduction of a second homes tax; back in September, I raised the issue directly with the Chancellor. We have a particularly high concentration of second homes in West Dorset, compared with other parts of the county. This is especially so for our villages and hamlets, including those in and around Sherborne and Bridport. Recent figures suggest that there are now more than 2,000 second homes in the county, many of them unoccupied for long periods. It’s an issue that affects much of rural Britain, and it’s unfairly preventing hard-working, locally-born residents in West Dorset from getting onto the property ladder. It also risks zapping the life and character out of our rural communities. The introduction of a Second Homes Tax in West Dorset is only permissible because of the Government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, which I voted for at every stage in Parliament. The legislation also allows for greater localised control over the growth of short-term lets, which are an additional issue in rural areas. New regulations, aimed at addressing the rise in properties used as short-term lets, will be introduced by the summer. They include mandatory registration of short-term let properties and the introduction of a new separate class of planning terms. In addition, where there are local concerns about the over-concentration of short-term lets, Dorset Council can require a planning application for change of use of a dwelling. Taken together, these measures represent a significant step towards protecting our local communities and our way of life in rural Britain.
Over the border In other news, the topic of local government finance in our neighbour, Somerset, has once again been in the news. Many of our region’s local authorities have been setting their budgets this week. Somerset Council has proposed an increase of 4.99%in Council Tax. But we ought not to forget that the Liberal Democrat administration in Somerset only weeks ago lobbied the Government for an additional 5% increase, which would have seen an enormous hike in people’s bills in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. And it still doesn’t detract from the overall view that at all tiers – parish, town, and county – Somerset residents are facing prospective tax increases on an unprecedented level. We need to again ask why Somerset Council thinks it is acceptable for Somerset’s taxpayers to shoulder the cost. It was, after all, under the Liberal Democrats’ leadership that the black hole* in this council’s finances ballooned from £38 million to £100 million – a deficit of £62 million that’s pushed Somerset to near-bankruptcy. Tax rises have also now been confirmed for nearby Yeovil, where the Lib-Dem run town council has approved its biggest ever tax rise: a Band D home in the town faces a 90% increase and will pay an extra £130 a year. Taunton residents will also be facing an eye-watering increase, where another Lib Dem-run town council voted through a 179% increase in Council Tax – a Band D home in the county town will pay an extra £192 a year. In addition, Somerset residents in towns such as Langport, Somerton, Martock, have parish precepts within the top 50 in England, costing households as much as £325 a year… As always, I’d be most interested to know your views on these topics. You can contact me by email: [email protected] and you can keep up to date with my latest news by visiting chrisloder.co.uk or write to me at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.
Ed. note: The Conservatives ran the former Somerset County Council from 2009 to 2022.
From roadside rubbish to recycling innovations, Rupert Hardy takes a look at the seemingly neverending battle against litter in the UK
Litter on A31 at Winterborne Zelston Image: Rupert Hardy
Littering in Britain is a disgrace – and worse than in most of Europe. CPRE has been active campaigners to stop it for years. In 2008, CPRE’s then-president, Bill Bryson, launched the Stop the Drop campaign against litter and fly-tipping. Around the country, 225 groups joined the campaign, picking up more than 30,000 bags of litter. The campaign was front-page news in The Times, and millions of people watched Bill Bryson’s spin-off BBC Panorama programme, Notes from a Dirty Island. But the success was short-lived. Dorset CPRE has been involved in litter campaigning since we started the Rural Litter Initiative in 2003 – a precursor to the current Litter Free Dorset (LFD), which does a brilliant job on a limited budget, funded by Dorset Council and Wessex Water. The campaign also supports lots of voluntary groups, focusing on changing people’s behaviour and working with businesses to reduce packaging etc. However, it is an endless battle, with litter endangering our environment, our wildlife and our economy in spite of increased environmental awareness. But what is the solution?
Reducing roadside litter Roadside litter not only impacts our environment but it is costly to clear up. Litter on the A1 in east Dorset is a particular eyesore between December and spring, when the verges are cleared. Overall, litter costs UK taxpayers more than £1 billion a year. Most people say it makes them angry and frustrated, but it can also affect mental health. Why do people just throw their rubbish out of their car window? Understanding motivation is a key part of finding a solution, and educational campaigns can certainly help to reduce littering. The tougher fines introduced last year might help too, but enforcement has been limited. It doesn’t help that National Highways removed litter-free standards as a key performance indicator. The Clean Up Britain campaign is currently taking National Highways to court over its obligations. One recent idea has been Love Your Verge, a countywide collaboration between Dorset Council and LFD. The verges in Dorset host a wide range of wildlife and need protecting. The campaign promotes the council’s verge management, aimed at encouraging roadside biodiversity, partly by less frequent cutting and also by reducing littering. However, funds are limited in these days of financial cutbacks. Dorset drivers can also now use dashcam footage to report to the council incidents of rubbish being thrown from cars. A spokesman from Dorset Council said that every single report received is acted upon. All drivers around Dorset are encouraged to take action against litter thrown from vehicles by reporting incidents using the online form here.
Other litter campaigns Single-use plastic is a big problem for the environment even before it pollutes our rivers and oceans. Chemicals derived from fossil fuel production are used to make most plastics. Last year it was finally announced that a range of polluting single-use plastics, such as cutlery, would be banned from October 2023. The ban is part of the government’s latest round of policies to cut down on plastic packaging, but it could have gone further. This year LFD has a Bring Your Own campaign aimed at getting consumers to take their own cutlery, cups and lunch-boxes when visiting cafés and shops. It is going well so far, with 100 Dorset businesses already joining the campaign. One nationally-popular idea has been the award-winning Refill campaign, which aims to make refilling your water bottle as easy and cheap as possible by introducing refill points on every street. Refill is asking cafés, shops and businesses to welcome anyone to refill their water bottles with good old tap water – for free! It has been rolled out successfully along the beaches of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, with the introduction of 150 refill points. Meanwhile, LFD its providing portable ashtrays made from seaweed paper in the oddly named Beach Buttholder campaign. Following some terrible heath fires in Dorset in recent years, Litter Free Dorset is working hard to stop the sale of disposable barbecues. It has had considerable success with many major retailers, including Waitrose, permanently removing them from sale.
Deposit return scheme For 15 years now, CPRE has been campaigning for a deposit return system (DRS), where a small deposit would be applied on any drinks container, which is then refunded when it is returned for recycling. We encouraged Damers First School in Dorchester to write to Michael Gove to back such a return system in 2018, and a group from the school had the opportunity to meet the Minister. The launch of a plastic bottle DRS in England was finally announced by the government last year, due to start in 2025 – but it will not include glass. That failure, which was a 2019 manifesto promise, is a major missed opportunity.
What can you do? Gillingham Litter Pickers and Hilltop Litter Pickers (Shaftesbury) are just two of the voluntary groups that organise regular litter picking in North Dorset. Lots of villages organise annual litter picks. At Ansty, it is a great community event to pick up a lorry-load of rubbish, followed by a barbecue lunch. Do join them! If you want to join or start a litter picking group, or borrow equipment, it is easy. LFD does a lot of work in this area, so see litterfreedorset.co.uk where you will find a range of resource material to get you started. Overall, there have been some wins – but there is still a lot of litter to pick!
This month Conservative and LibDem Councillors approved proposals for a 100 per cent premium on council tax for second homes. With around 5,500 households on Dorset Council’s housing register, you’d be forgiven for hoping that this might be intended to alleviate a housing emergency in Dorset caused by a failure of local housing policy from Conservative-run councils for the last 35 years. Not so. First, the policy is likely to do precious little to encourage second homeowners to free up their properties for those with more pressing housing needs – not least because second homeowners will tend to be wealthy enough to cover the additional costs of the privilege of owning a second home. But with house prices ten to 12 times a typical salary for the area, Dorset people in housing need would simply not be able to afford to buy those properties even if the increased premium were to result in a flurry of second homeowners offloading their country pads. Second, while Tory councillors also voted for 40 per cent of the revenue raised from the second home premium to be ring-fenced to support the provision of affordable housing in Dorset, in December they reaffirmed their position that they would not be investing in council housing. Dorset Councils owns no council houses and demand for social housing is met exclusively by private housing associations, so it is unclear how exactly this money might be used to support the provision of affordable housing. As such, Conservative housing policy in Dorset remains confused, insincere and totally inadequate. The 100 per cent premium on council tax for second homes is just the latest example of this. Instead of a solution, it’s a cynical ‘cash cow’ that has precious little to do with meeting housing need in Dorset, and much more to do with filling the growing funding gap for other critical frontline services that have been continually eroded by Tory cuts to local authority funding since 2010. Pat Osborne North Dorset Labour Party
We are very sad to announce the passing of Jean Oswald of Castle Cary on the 5th March 2024, aged 93.
Funeral service at St. Michael’s Church, North Cadbury on Friday 5th April 2024 at 2.00p.m.
Family flowers only please.
Donations in memory of Jean for Christian Aid may be sent c/o A. J. Wakely & Sons, The Old Police Station, Carrington Way, Wincanton, BA9 9JS. Tel: 01963 31310. Please make cheques payable to Christian Aid.
