Tim Farron and the illusory wool boom...

Like Tim Farron, I represent a lot of sheep (although these are now going for economic reasons to be replaced with beef cattle and horses) so I'm always struck by his strange and limited connection to economic reality:

Tim Farron, South Lakes MP and chair of the all-party parliamentary hill farming group, said: "We need to do all we can to support our farming industry, particularly in the uplands where life can be a real struggle. This support and funding could make a massive difference to upland farmers throughout Cumbria and help show the next generation that there is a real future in a career in farming."

OK there's some votes in this for Tim but is he really saying that there is a 'career' in upland farming when - a breath earlier - we read this:

An upland farmer earns, on average, only £6,000 a year, which has led to a number of people leaving the industry.

Six grand-a-year! That's half the minimum wage and Tim Farron thinks that this is some sort of sustainable industry? There's more - despite a (rather illusory) 'boom', here's the economics of upland sheep farming explained:

Will Rawling, chairman of Herdwick Sheep Breeders' Association, said he was getting about 50p a fleece. It costs him 70p to have each animal sheared; bundling and transport fees take the total cost per sheep up to about £1.50, three times what he gets back. 

To be fair the article also says most farmers are "breaking even" but it does seem that, not only isn't there a boom, but farming sheep on the fells isn't a viable business. If Tim Farron had said this and continued with 'but we need to find ways to continue the job, done by hill farmers at the moment, of caring for the fells', I would be with him. But he didn't, he simply called, like the good liberal, for price fixing.

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Councillor Ellis and the sheep...

One of those priceless moments for which cameras were invented. Shame then that I didn't have one with me!

We're putting up posters for Margaret Eaton's re-election campaign and pull up to a field gate on Keighley Road in Mike Ellis's big people carrier. The field beyond the gate is filled with sheep and lambs that, on hearing the van draw up and the hatch open come bounding, skipping and (in the case of one particularly ugly ram) marching down to the gate.

There's bleating in every possible tone from soprano to the deepest bass. These sheep clearly expect something and I'm prepared to bet that it isn't a 'Vote Conservative' poster - unless of course those have become edible recently.

So Mike enters the field - a little gingerly - clutching the poster and the string to attach it to the fence. The sheep close in, their bleating rising to a cacophonous crescendo - they are all but nibbling at Mike. The old ram is leaning hard against the gate - perhaps his aim is to stop the Councillor leaving the field until food is provided.

I'm stood there watching and trying not to laugh at the sight of a Tory councillor hemmed in on every side with sheep and lambs all yelling their heads off with the ovine equivalent of "where's our food then, mate!"

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Sharks? Of course not, this is Yorkshire - we have sheep!

And what a fine sheep it is too - perched atop the HQ of Swaledale Woollens. Better than those sharks that folk down south like on their roofs!

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What are we marching for?

There seems to have been a great deal of protesting going on recently. We have had a few thousand of Britain’s 2 million or so students meandering and (in a very few cases) marauding around London and, more recently, the somewhat strange activities of UK “uncut” in targeting retailers like Vodaphone and Top Shop - and I gather now Carphone Warehouse - because they don’t pay enough tax.

It seems to me that, while the idea of protest can be appealing, we should think through what we’re protesting about and why before we set about taking to the streets. And those who seek to give intellectual succour to the protesters must do likewise. Here’s the usually thoughtful Julian Dobson allowing the ‘spirit of ‘68’ to get the better of him:

The protestors don’t just exemplify civic engagement. They are also paragons of self-help. They get off their butts and get things done, using their time and resources for causes they care about. They share food and money. And while some of the slogans are tired, there are also examples of imagination and creativity.

But, Julian, what are they protesting about? And what exactly are they “getting done” – other than a temporary annoyance to the targeted business or those trying to go about their regular lives?

On the face of it the protests are pretty straightforward – you (insert name of chosen bloated plutocrat) must pay more tax so we (insert special interest group) can have whatever it is we are demanding provided for us by the Government - “free”.

These are the protests of the greedy against the greedy – groups of people who think it perfectly OK to club together so as to take more money off a particular group of people. People who don’t see that it’s just as much greed to argue for higher taxes to provide something you’ll benefit from as it is to seek to maximise profit and minimise tax (and probably of less social benefit).

However, there is something rather worse than the desire to take other people’s money for our own benefit. These protestors are campaigning for the right to be sheep – to continue being supplicants at the altar of the state. The campaigning students and occupying protestors are not agents of some greater liberty but servants of the big state – creatures of dependence not beacons of liberty. They want a bigger state, higher taxes and more regulation because they want the cuddly comfort zone that brings. The protestors don’t just want something for nothing, they want others fined to pay for that something and a state that rocks them gently in its cradle.

These protests are not the anger of the revolution – regardless of their chosen rhetoric – but the redoubt of those frightened by the prospect of liberty. Scared of self-service, caught in the bright headlights of personal responsibility. These protests are cries from those who fear losing their privileges and comforts.

These are not protests for freedom but the plaintive bleating of sheep trapped on the wrong side of the fence.

Not my fight.

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Further thoughts on Sheep - and what the clown says...

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The dear old Clown asks "What is wrong with people?"

He'll like this quote from de Tocqueville:

"It is vain to summon a people who have been rendered so dependent on the central power to choose from time to time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity."

...and I guess Fromm's take on all this is also relevent:

"Authority is not a quality one person "has," in the sense that he has property or physical qualities. Authority refers to an interpersonal relation in which one person looks upon another as somebody superior to him."

We act as sheep because we desire to be sheep. Or not as the case may be?

And, if we stand alone? Proudly saying we won't flock? What happens? Ah, yes - that flock gets together attacks us, condemns us for difference. The flock may even break off from doing down another flock long enough to cast the lone ram out into the wilderness or worse still to pen that independent beast up safely away from any corruption that might come from actually thinking differently.

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On sheep...

Sheep. Trotting along dutifully behind whoever heads for the gap in the fence. Proferring received wisdom as if we'd just thought of it yesterday. Following blindly the latest fad or fashion, unthinking, unquestioning - assuming that the crowd is right.

Today we have new words for sheep-like behaviour, words that make it seem terribly clever, awfully trendy - terms like "crowd sourcing" and "the wisdom of crowds". We've convinced ourselves that we can replace our critical facilities with opinion polling, focus groups, surveys and questionnaires. We can count references or word frequency and pretend that somehow this gives a profound insight into deeper truths. We replace thinking with counting.

Sheep. Bleating about safety, security, the comfort of groupthink, the blanket of conformity. We pretend we're oh so radical when, in truth, we're just tagging along with the crowd. Whether it's the latest political fad, the newest music or the trendiest film, our behaviour is to snuggle up to the big crowd.

And, if we stand alone? Proudly saying we won't flock? What happens? Ah, yes - that flock gets together attacks us, condemns us for difference. The flock may even break off from doing down another flock long enough to cast the lone ram out into the wilderness or worse still to pen that independent beast up safely away from any corruption that might come from actually thinking differently.

Sheep. Thoughtless, careless and lost without the flock around them. I think sheep would want "fair votes".

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Sheep stunt and RSPCA idiocy

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It may be a daft stunt to wheel a sheep into a supermarket but that is nothing compared to the stupidity of this official comment:

"We have tracked down the sheep's owner but we can't return it to its flock for six days because of restrictions on the movement of livestock."

Now I don't like the RSPCA but this kind of comment reveals the utter lunacy of our livestock regulations. Presumably the sheep is camped out in ASDA if it can't be moved?

Idiots

These sheep are forgiven for waking me up every morning for the past week!

These sheep are guilty of waking me up every other morning for the past ten days - half of them have bells round their necks and the clunking and baa-ing at five in the morning wasn't all that cheering. But I've forgiven the sheep as their milk contributed to the cheese from these people - Pinzani. Some of the very best pecorino and ricotta you'll ever taste including one infused with white truffle that I'll speak of later.

The older pecorino is almost as hard as a Parmesan and can be used as a substitute whereas the younger ones make great cheese on toast, are fantastic as a starter with olives or can be used in cooking as an alternative to cheeses like Emmenthal, Gouda or Edam. And the ricotta? Make a cheesecake. Or better still a cheese & truffle souffle!