The countryside

Actually, there should be no such conflict. It is to small traditional farms that we owe much of the quality of our once glorious countryside, with its network of wildlife-friendly hedgerows, wild-flower meadows, carefully tended coppice woodlands and ponds, etc.

Shockingly, this type of farming has been in catastrophic decline in recent decades, having been largely replaced by the ruthless, intensive variety. This wholly malign trend has made us all losers, not only in terms of amenity, but through the denaturing of our food, which now comes laced with all manner of chemical poisons.

For this lunacy to cease there needs to be a fundamental government rethink about the countryside, with massively increased public support and protection for small family farms, and punitive legislation against the other sort.

Only then will there be a return to sanity in the countryside, as well as in our nation as a whole, which relies heavily on the countryside, not just for its physical, but for much of its spiritual nourishment.

Tony Kelly, Crook, Co Durham.