DUNKELD, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 13: A shooting party set off on first day of the grouse shooting season on Forneth Moor on August 13, 2018 in Dunkeld, Scotland. Gamekeepers are expecting a poor grouse shooting season this year, due to the heavy snowfall in March followed by a warm dry summer which has affected the number of birds breeding successfully. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
When George Orwell tried to define Englishness in his 1941 essay “England Your England”, written under the sound of Nazi bombers, he resorted to a list of images: “The clatter of clogs in the Lancashire mill towns, the to-and-fro of the lorries on the Great North Road, the queues outside the Labour Exchanges, the rattle of pin-tables in the Soho pubs, the old maids bicycling to Holy Communion through the mists of the autumn morning…”
What images define the British countryside in 2023? Closed pubs; a new estate of boxy, pricey houses; the packed waiting room at the one doctor’s surgery within 20 miles; farmers at kitchen tables reading trolling tweets by vegans and rewilders; polluted rivers; empty beer cans beside bus stops where the bus now longer stops; the red-brick cottage which working people once rented, but which has now been turned into an Airbnb; the Ocado van delivering supplies to the second-homers; and, if you look closely, the shadowy figures breaking into farmyards before roaring off into the night in a Merc Sprinter van.
Crime in the countryside often sounds like a bit of a laugh: too much underage cider with Rosie down The Crown, or ruddy-faced rogues off The Archers rustling a few sheep. But there’s a truth behind the clichés. Livestock theft has always been a problem in the sticks, although it isn’t just rural rascals nicking cows and sheep these days — it’s organised crime. An estimated £2.4 million worth of livestock was stolen in 2021, and this figure is increasing as the cost-of-living crisis bites, with the stolen animals going to back-street butchers. It is believed that the meat is then sold door to door by criminals posing as ethical organic meat suppliers.
Then there is the killing of sheep by pet-illiterate pandemic dog buyers (cost to farmers: £1.5 million in 2021), industrial fly-tipping, trespassing, fuel siphoning, and the nicking of £2.6 million worth of Land Rover Defenders for parts in 2021. There’s the hare coursing, the “liberation” of lambs by vegan activists, and the theft of farm quad bikes, tractors, machinery and technical equipment by roving overseas gangs. Especially sought-after are the pricey Global Positioning Units (GPS) on modern tractors and combine harvesters, which can cost up to £20,000 each.
There has long been a black market in agricultural kit destined for Eastern Europe, but according to the National Rural Crime Unit (NRCU), the main outlet for the burgled goods is now Russia. Western sanctions following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine have left the Russian bread-basket thirsty for stolen farm machinery. The National Farmers Union, the main rural insurer, believes that the cost of GPS theft doubled to more than £500,000 in the first four months of 2023, compared with the same period last year. While gangs have targeted the arable farms of eastern England for several years, they now operate up and down the country; in the last week of May, GPS units were stolen from farms from Wiltshire up to the Scottish Borders. In many instances, the farms were “cased” or surveilled by drones.
The problem is only getting worse. In the decade up to 2021, crime rates rose nearly three times faster in rural towns and villages across England and Wales than in the rest of the country. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, the cost of rural crime rose 40%. And yet, despite all this, the Countryside Alliance Rural Survey for Wales reported in February that 56% of respondents believed that the police were failing to take countryside crime seriously.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeThere are over 100,000 farmers in the UK so the cost of crime figures quoted are fairly low per farmer, albeit very painful for the victims. And most farmers can’t afford a Land Rover Defender. According to Keir Starmer “I gave up as a matter of principle years ago on the basis that eating meat wasn’t the right thing for the body and the planet”. Both Starmer and his wife have been strict vegetarians for many years, which puts them in a pretty small (some might say extreme) minority for people of their age. If farmers think they’ll get a better deal from Starmer, Yvette Cooper, or (heaven help us) the Green Party, they unfortunately have another thing coming. The opposition parties are as reckless about British food security as they are about British energy security.
That wasn’t a pepperoni pizza he had in Durham then?
The Landrover Defenders that are nicked for parts are the old ones which are difficult to procure parts for!
That wasn’t a pepperoni pizza he had in Durham then?
The Landrover Defenders that are nicked for parts are the old ones which are difficult to procure parts for!
There are over 100,000 farmers in the UK so the cost of crime figures quoted are fairly low per farmer, albeit very painful for the victims. And most farmers can’t afford a Land Rover Defender. According to Keir Starmer “I gave up as a matter of principle years ago on the basis that eating meat wasn’t the right thing for the body and the planet”. Both Starmer and his wife have been strict vegetarians for many years, which puts them in a pretty small (some might say extreme) minority for people of their age. If farmers think they’ll get a better deal from Starmer, Yvette Cooper, or (heaven help us) the Green Party, they unfortunately have another thing coming. The opposition parties are as reckless about British food security as they are about British energy security.
Puts me in mind of Chesterton’s “The Secret People.” Conservatives seem to assume the countryside will vote for them even while they use the countryside as an open sewer.
Puts me in mind of Chesterton’s “The Secret People.” Conservatives seem to assume the countryside will vote for them even while they use the countryside as an open sewer.
I personally think that if Police don’t solve a burglary within a reasonable time frame then the insurance company should have free reign to sue the Police for the cost of the insurance payout.
Hear hear! Plod are hopeless and bent!
Hear hear! Plod are hopeless and bent!
I personally think that if Police don’t solve a burglary within a reasonable time frame then the insurance company should have free reign to sue the Police for the cost of the insurance payout.
Labour doesn’t have a hope in hell in the countryside unless it abandons its woke agenda. Despite incomers, country people are down to earth. They also have a great understanding and love of the land, seeing that it was they who managed it over hundreds of years and shaped the Britain we know today (or knew…) So probably not so keen on open borders. The other crime that has been neglected in the countryside is drugs. Untrammelled by the “sophistications” of the city, they have been an easy sitting target. As for “Labour being the party of law and order” – I nearly choked. Like saying Labour is the party of economic growth. And don’t get me started on Defra.
Labour doesn’t have a hope in hell in the countryside unless it abandons its woke agenda. Despite incomers, country people are down to earth. They also have a great understanding and love of the land, seeing that it was they who managed it over hundreds of years and shaped the Britain we know today (or knew…) So probably not so keen on open borders. The other crime that has been neglected in the countryside is drugs. Untrammelled by the “sophistications” of the city, they have been an easy sitting target. As for “Labour being the party of law and order” – I nearly choked. Like saying Labour is the party of economic growth. And don’t get me started on Defra.
Anyone in the countryside who thinks voting Labour will improve matters needs their head examining.
There is also the small matter of field sports.
There is also the small matter of field sports.
Anyone in the countryside who thinks voting Labour will improve matters needs their head examining.
There is a crime in the countryside that I believe should attract capital punishment… shiny new roof racked Land Rover defenders with wide wheels disgorging people with Children called Courtenay, Tiger Jayde and Chardonnay all decked out in shiny new now totally passee Berbours and Hunter gum boots, fresh up from intra M25 nu britn……
There is a crime in the countryside that I believe should attract capital punishment… shiny new roof racked Land Rover defenders with wide wheels disgorging people with Children called Courtenay, Tiger Jayde and Chardonnay all decked out in shiny new now totally passee Berbours and Hunter gum boots, fresh up from intra M25 nu britn……
Here in the US we can just shoot the bastards, but if you live in a country where just carrying a cricket bat in public requires that you be able to prove you are on your way to a game, more rural policing is the only solution. If the thieves are using drones, why can’t the police extend their operational range in the same way?
In America your likely be shot by the crook before you had chance to pull your weapon. While having your gear stolen is incredibly annoying, I’d rather that than ending up in a gunfight with a 50-50 chance of survival
In America your likely be shot by the crook before you had chance to pull your weapon. While having your gear stolen is incredibly annoying, I’d rather that than ending up in a gunfight with a 50-50 chance of survival
Here in the US we can just shoot the bastards, but if you live in a country where just carrying a cricket bat in public requires that you be able to prove you are on your way to a game, more rural policing is the only solution. If the thieves are using drones, why can’t the police extend their operational range in the same way?
It’s nearly all gone wrong hasn’t it.
Listening to Cameron/Osborne evidence at Covid Inquiry certainly makes one ponder how much our current problems were seeded in the austerity strategy they initiated (and which has never really ended). Even the IMF, no bastion of Marxist economics, concluded we’d squeezed too hard.
The longer term affects are everywhere now. There is a long term cost consequence to the ideology that was pursued over and above that which others felt economically unnecessary. Remember to rebalance one’s finances it’s what we put in too that makes a difference and the fixation with tax cuts led us to squeeze essential services beyond a sensible balance point.
Looks like you have posted on the wrong article.
Rural crime, cuts in policing?
Can’t get a rural GP appt – cuts in doctor numbers?
Etc
I assume too much I know
Rural crime, cuts in policing?
Can’t get a rural GP appt – cuts in doctor numbers?
Etc
I assume too much I know
There was no austerity, that was just smoke and mirrors talk from Osborne to keep the markets on side. Public spending went up, in real terms, every year from 2010. Spending may not have been as high as you might have wished but that’s not austerity.
Well not for the most vulnerable and not if take into account population rises. The stats have been much massaged by the rising spending on pensions which hid the fact that there were freezes for the bulk of benefits.
As this article makes clear:
‘The 2010 Conservative-led government chose to implement a type of austerity that reshuffled spending away from the future and current generations by cutting spending on education (crumbling schools, tuition fees) and the working poor (tax credits and housing benefit cuts), to state pension recipients. This, of course, is not to suggest that state pension recipients have been sheltered from austerity. In fact, the UK’s state pension is among the lowest in developed countries with old age poverty sharply on the rise.’
https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/21496/economics/economic-record-of-osborne-and-cameron-2010-2016/
Well not for the most vulnerable and not if take into account population rises. The stats have been much massaged by the rising spending on pensions which hid the fact that there were freezes for the bulk of benefits.
As this article makes clear:
‘The 2010 Conservative-led government chose to implement a type of austerity that reshuffled spending away from the future and current generations by cutting spending on education (crumbling schools, tuition fees) and the working poor (tax credits and housing benefit cuts), to state pension recipients. This, of course, is not to suggest that state pension recipients have been sheltered from austerity. In fact, the UK’s state pension is among the lowest in developed countries with old age poverty sharply on the rise.’
https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/21496/economics/economic-record-of-osborne-and-cameron-2010-2016/
Looks like you have posted on the wrong article.
There was no austerity, that was just smoke and mirrors talk from Osborne to keep the markets on side. Public spending went up, in real terms, every year from 2010. Spending may not have been as high as you might have wished but that’s not austerity.
It’s nearly all gone wrong hasn’t it.
Listening to Cameron/Osborne evidence at Covid Inquiry certainly makes one ponder how much our current problems were seeded in the austerity strategy they initiated (and which has never really ended). Even the IMF, no bastion of Marxist economics, concluded we’d squeezed too hard.
The longer term affects are everywhere now. There is a long term cost consequence to the ideology that was pursued over and above that which others felt economically unnecessary. Remember to rebalance one’s finances it’s what we put in too that makes a difference and the fixation with tax cuts led us to squeeze essential services beyond a sensible balance point.
Your figures of the low millions is hilarious. The theft of my reversing camera is £800. The government’s reaponse to Covid was…£600 bn? This article is divorced from reality .
Your figures of the low millions is hilarious. The theft of my reversing camera is £800. The government’s reaponse to Covid was…£600 bn? This article is divorced from reality .
This is rather muddled. Yes, the young female farmer says she won’t vote Tory. This is in no way evidence that she or others will vote Labour or Green. Indeed, the Green vote is most likely town types who have relocated and taken it upon themselves to deliver sermons to the locals. Cooper’s remarks in now way guarantee any increase in rural policing and theft of livestock and machinery might be seen as a bit more than ‘antisocial behaviour’.
This is rather muddled. Yes, the young female farmer says she won’t vote Tory. This is in no way evidence that she or others will vote Labour or Green. Indeed, the Green vote is most likely town types who have relocated and taken it upon themselves to deliver sermons to the locals. Cooper’s remarks in now way guarantee any increase in rural policing and theft of livestock and machinery might be seen as a bit more than ‘antisocial behaviour’.
Lewis may be an old market town, but two of the major local employers are local government and Sussex University, a few miles down the road at Falmer. Students may choose in live in trendy Brighton, but a lot of admin and teaching staff prefer Lewes. I personally doubt that Maria Caulfield, excellent MP though she is, will survive the next General Election, despite the fact she is a hard worker and has achieved good results for her constituents.
The author always seems to thrive on the cynical and nihilistic. Awful content.
Says a Townie, no doubt.
You get an uptick for that. The ‘countryside’ is an illusion that folks like Lewis-Stempel prefer to perpetuate, building this grand vision of how they are custodians of nature being oppressed by wicked government legislation. Truth is they will turn anything for a buck, virtues and morals are instantly forgotten if something is affecting the profit margin. And I can guarantee the livestock disappearances are fraudulent insurance claims – moving animals is a long, difficult and noisy business, amazing therefore how they mysteriously vanish without being noticed.
Quite.. one just has to look at all the ghastly urban middles out on let days in their shiny too new shooting kit….
Quite.. one just has to look at all the ghastly urban middles out on let days in their shiny too new shooting kit….
You get an uptick for that. The ‘countryside’ is an illusion that folks like Lewis-Stempel prefer to perpetuate, building this grand vision of how they are custodians of nature being oppressed by wicked government legislation. Truth is they will turn anything for a buck, virtues and morals are instantly forgotten if something is affecting the profit margin. And I can guarantee the livestock disappearances are fraudulent insurance claims – moving animals is a long, difficult and noisy business, amazing therefore how they mysteriously vanish without being noticed.
Says a Townie, no doubt.
The author always seems to thrive on the cynical and nihilistic. Awful content.