In the country

You know you are not in London for the New Year break when relatives arrive carrying the pheasant they have just shot and the magazine on the kitchen table when you drop by for a cup of tea is Farmers' Weekly rather than N16.

Out in East Kent they think the most important minister in the government is David Miliband, who rated 6 pictures and a 3 page interview in Farmers' Weekly along with the shock revelation that he hadn't owned any wellington boots before his appointment (not much call for them in either Chalk Farm or South Shields).

My uncle, who is active in the NFU, says Miliband seems to be an improvement as far as farmers are concerned on Margaret Beckett.

The farming bit of the Akehurst family has a website here: http://www.clipgate.co.uk/ (in case anyone reading this needs to land a light aircraft, park a caravan, or hire someone to do some ploughing).