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Thomas Country
duration: 49:49
VIDEO
frame rate - 29 fps
Data Rate - 139kbps
Video Sample Size - 24 bit
Video Compression - DivX
frame Size - 352x230
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Bit rate - 128kbps
Audio format - MP3
[the following is from the Mark Thomas website: http://www.markthomasinfo.com/info/specials.asp]
Property development
1st March 1998 Countryside alliance had a march in London, 300,000 people
Wasn't really a demonstration, no social worker party banners
Saying it was a march about the countryside, conservation, rural post offices, etc.
What they were actually saying was "die townie scum"
Janet George was the press spokesman for the countryside alliance
Up against a vast majority supporting a ban on hunting from the public
She said the strategy was " To wrap up hunting in a wider rural fabric because everyone loves the countryside and hates hunting". Their first priority was to stop the Foster bill
They invited other countryside groups to join in but just to boost the numbers
Robin Hanbury Tenison, Co-founder of the countryside alliance said they made no secret of the fact that it was triggered by Michael Foser's bill which was an "anti-hunting, anti-dog-owning bill which was very damaging to the countryside".
But aren't the other issues important as well? Janet George is on record as saying "People would ring up and say 'what do you think about such-and-such?', and I'd make something up."
Fair enough strategy, better than having Hunstmen walking around saying "we like killing things".
Biggest landowners in the country were on the march. Not a pro-hunting march, also about other issues like rural poverty.
Released a single hoping it would get to number 1 sung by George Bowyer, a real country boy and Lord Denham's son.
Not keen to play up the class interest. Who owns the land and what do they do with it.
The great and the good claim to be guardians of the land, but that's not really true.
Two communities in South Wales with lovely land between them, with lots of wildlife. Pontypool park estates is going to build 1200 new homes on the land.
They are owned by the Hanbury Tenison family. He claims he has nothing to do with it, it's his brother's estate.
Edward Duke is the ex president f the countryside alliance. In 1996 he built a £2 million factory on a green field site. He claimed the site was "green field in a business sense of the word, not a countryside alliance sense".
Created a character "Farmer Mark" who used to work in the city, made a lot of money and has now bought a farm.
Went along to a country fair and chatted to the countryside alliance people. They organise shooting and fishing parties for children from 6 years upwards.
Staged a debate at the Newbury fair, persuaded George Monbiot to debate with farmer Mark. Mark is playing to a home crowd.
Monbiot punts in favour of the right to roam and a healthy debate ensues
1996 farmers profits rose by 29%, 1995 cereal farmers profits went up by 138%.
Many farms been bought up by large corporations.
Have lost
40% of fenland
95% of meadow land
300,000 km of hedgerows
20% of all scheduled ancient monuments
Ben Gill, president of the National Farmers Union argues that if we have lost so much why do people flock into the countryside at the weekend
Mark visits the South Downs with Dave Bangs a local wildlife expert who explains that there is none of the wildlife there that there used to be.
Farmers can get subsidies to keep downland, but they get bigger subsidies and farmers can plough up down land and then claim subsidy for turning it back into down land.
The common agricultural policy (CAP) subsidises the big farms.
£90 a hectare to grow Maize, £250 to grow cereals, £225 to grow oilseed rape and £325 for set-aside.
Ben Gill says that hedgerows are being re-planted. Of course, farmers are subsidised for doing this.
He does admit that they've got things wrong in the past.
£6.5 billion pounds a year the taxpayer pays to subsidise farming
Countryside alliance doesn't support the right to roam, they support the country landowners association's proposal for voluntary access agreements.
Bertie Bows of the country landowners association says "We don't want all and sundry roaming across our land, especially not criminals, drug pushers and vandals."
What the landowners really want is exclusivity. The NFU are now lobbying to ban subversive activities such as kite flying and picnics.
Back at the Newbury debate Farmer Mark suggested centrres of excellence rather than wholesale conservation. But it really kicked off when they got onto fox-hunting.
They claim that fox-hunting is pest control.
New Forest council paid £7,800 attending hunts and dealing with queries. The local hunt killed just 7 foxes that year.
£1,100 per fox. Doesn't sound very efficient.
Went down there in a Reliant Robin with a fox's head as a professional pest control company and handed out some leaflets saying they could do them for £50 a time.
The huntsmen were confused and not very interested.
The other argument used is that if they don't hunt foxes then there is no incentive for the farmers to have conservation on their fields. Farmers would maximise the size of their fields for efficiency and lose all the hedges and coppice woods that encourage wildlife. The argument is that the best way to stop this happening is to encourage field sports.
Sounds a bit like "we have to conserve the countryside so we can kill it".
Another argument is that if you get rid of hunting you'll destroy the fabric of traditional rural life and there will be job losses.
In 50 years, half a million land jobs have been lost by mechanisation. Don't remember the huntsmen supporting and fights for jobs.
Back at Newbury, Mark puts forward a Country sports cable channel.
The Duke of Devonshire applied for 2 open cast mines on his land, 1 on a square mile of green belt. The council for the protection of rural England described open cast mining as "wreaking havoc on a scale unparalleled in this country". At the time of the application, the Duke of Devonshire was their Vice President.
The countryside alliance have accepted donations from Sunlea Holdings, Pillar Properties and Sir Robert McAlpine, all property companies that have developed green field sites.
The alliance say that the donations do not affect their policies in any way.
Richard Teist joint chairman of Sunlea Holdings said that the Countryside Alliance was for the protection of field sports, not fields.
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