FARM REPORTS LEAVE STINK

By Geoff Myland

IN its coverage of Monday’s farming tax debate, The Crumbling News did at least establish that Penrith and Solway Labour MP Markus Campbell-Savours was there in PERSON.

The Will-O’-The-Wisp MP told the Carlisle paper that he “listened with interest,” to the debate, while a photograph of him there “in person” was also shared with the weekly paper.

But it does beg the follow-up question?

Why didn’t he contribute to the debate when his constituency is apparently home to more farms than any other in the country, and his fellow Labour MPs made such forceful contributions?

Many will be scratching their heads about having an MP who goes to debates to spectate.

The newspaper did not find space to settle this glaringly obvious question in its otherwise comprehensive and full-page coverage of the issue.

Perhaps local farming “bible”, The Slumberland & Westmorland Imperilled, Penrith, could shed some much-needed light on matters?

(Highly unlikely, but we’ll give it a go…)

Mr Campbell-Savours must surely be available to speak with the Penrith paper given that he has a regular (and surprisingly good) new column in the newspaper, which also devotes three gigantic broadsheet pages to Farming & Countryside news.

Yet in its usual bubble from the outside world, The Imperilled had no exclusive on the farming debate issue and buried a short article about it way back in the paper on Page 20.

(The article read like a re-worked Press Release direct from the MP!)

The “newspaper” did not appear to have asked the MP why he had attended the debate but not spoken.

However, the paper did find time to secure at least one quote from the MP for this week’s edition.

But this was for the paper’s “Love Your Newspaper” full-page special.

(Basically this was a page of self-love saying how brilliant the paper is, which often means all is not tickety-boo on the sales front.)

Mr Campbell-Savours told the paper: “There’s no local democracy without good local journalism!”

We couldn’t agree more!

Nor was there any reportage in the Imperilled of Labour admitting at a farming conference that farming was not the top of its priorities.

Given that 95% of the Eden Valley is said to be dedicated to agriculture and is home to circa 2,000 farms, you’d have thought this may have registered with someone on the newspaper which was telling its readers that it: “Reports on life across this vibrant rural area, week in, week out!”

Meanwhile, the massive protest by THOUSANDS of farmers that brought London to a grinding halt on Monday and was part of rolling news coverage on some channels was reduced to a single weedy and downplayed paragraph in the Imperilled.

“Also on Monday, farmers gathered in London to protest against the proposed changes,” it wrote.

That was it.

Organisers said 1,200 to 1,400 tractors turned up – claiming it was the biggest rural protest against the new Government so far.