Down on the farm

GNUS INTERNATIONAL

I've deliberately refrained from commenting on the current European ding-dongs, simply because my own thoughts about Europe are in a state of transition, and because other people cover the issue so much more comprehensively than I could. But my attention was caught by this opinion piece in the Guardian by Jackie Ashley. She makes one point which I thought was fair comment (more than one, in fact, but this is the one which caught my attention):

But there is a logic in the French position, too, never reported in the British press. France has twice our landmass, with the same number of people. It has 28m hectares of agricultural land, compared to our 16m.

I'd been thinking Blair was right (tactically, if nothing else) to hit back at France's farming subsidies in response to demands to give up Britain's EU rebate. Besides, bashing the French can often be fun. But Ashley's observation had been lost on me until now.

Just a little drop in the ocean of pro- and anti-European debate crashing its way across the blogs of our land.

(Also I didn't want to have to type too much today, as I have sliced one of my fingers open with a breadknife.)