Hovis our Tup is a jolly chap without an ounce of malice in his body. His demeanour is always calm and studied and he doesn’t waste time in negative thought. He strolls around without a care in the world and seems genuinely interested in conversation with his shepherd. On the subject of the UK economy he is generally sanguine, but has doubts that politicians are being totally honest with us. His actual words, delivered in a rich baritone voice, were “Baa Humbug.”
His lady friends do not appear to share his interest in political pillow talk because, for the third year running, our lambing season started early and was over within ten days. However, despite his successes Hovis will have to go. For despite his youth we do not now have the number of ewes to avoid an overheated gene pool.
Mention of overheating reminds me of what seems an interminable election campaign. I wonder: could the reason I have to change Hovis be a metaphor for why people revolt and replace their entire governing class. May be, like sheep, governing elites become inbred and so start to look and sound like each other. Do they all say Baa, and are their minds as clear as that of Hovis?
I am not saying politics (which is the art of the possible) is easy. The difficulties are reflected in election leaflets where only one of the five larger parties is saying unequivocally what it stands for. Most just seem to trying to second guess our aspirations or prejudices.
This may change as polling day approaches, but I hope whoever wins will reinstate the system whereby electioneering is over in three weeks. It will be a relief when the votes are counted and I am able to sit back in confidence knowing our debts and deficit are in the hands of (I admit to irony at this point) people who have the answers. The future for Hovis is less certain.
A tup without attitude is a blessing to any shepherd, and I wish I could say the same about a huge army of people for whom envy and malice gives a nasty attitude to their agenda. I refer of course; to the fastest growing sector of the British economy. The ‘Outrage Industry.’
I used to think that ‘outrage’ was a personal emotion one felt when others acted in a manner that broke commonly accepted norms of behaviour, for example, slaughter of Christians in the Arabic speaking world or mass gassing of people of Jewish ancestry. But in recent years, activist bodies have managed to change outrage from a being a personal emotion, into a weapon with which to beat anyone who does not agree with them.
Every day our media is hijacked by some group that is ‘outraged’ about something. I find this worrying because I can’t really think of anything that has ever ‘outraged’ me. I came close to it forty years ago when a Gloucester man tried to claim adverse possession on some land I had let him use to grow vegetables. But, by and large, I am not an ‘Outrage Man.’
Annoyed, irritated and impatient yes. But outrage no! I am not outraged for example; if an elderly Christian couple decide whom they want in their B&B as guests. Nor am I outraged if an air hostess wears a cross around her neck. Even the cartoonist who lampoons a dead prophet or living religious leader does not outrage me. In fact, so un-outraged am I that if a dairy farmer wants a TB-free pool of wild life on his farm I have no problem with his arranging it.
Mention of wildlife however, reminds me that Natural England has allowed a group of beavers established on the river Otter to stay, but that the effect of their residency over five years will be monitored. At this news, enthusiastic dewy-eyed reporters and camera crews then flocked to Devon. I too think it a good idea to let the creatures loose so long as organisers do not pretend that, as beaver numbers grow culling is not inevitable.
When that day arrives, one hopes that the organisers will be as adaptable as staff in charge of a male Panda at Beijing zoo whose shortcomings led to the following headline:
Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
Personally, I look forward to a successful Beaver trial. Who knows, maybe we can then offset the importation of Canadian Tilly Hats to the UK with our own exports of English Beaver- skin hats to Ottawa.
View from the Pew 