Taking on the W. I.

Featured in an Any Questions last night, courtesy of the Women's Institute. Always been wary of the W. I. ever since they reduced Tony Blair to a jabbering sweatpig when he was in his pomp. Fellow panelists were the Reverend Mary Turnock, Voyka Turner, and former Montgomeryshire MP, Delwyn Williams. A few of this blog's favourite subjects were on the menu, including the proposed badger cull, the proposed post office closure programme, closure of small schools, and the diversion of food producing land to bio crops. Discovered a huge advantage flowing from writing a blog. All of my arguments are lined up in my head, all ready for rolling out. Only problem is that everyone else discovered the disadvantage is that I do go on a bit when mounted on my hobby horses. The Rev Mary thanked me because it reduced the need for the rest of the panel to answer more questions. Good job there wasn't a question on law making powers for the Assembly!

The question that caused most disagreement was the one about bio crops. Delwyn seemed to believe that the inherent ingenuity of the human race would deliver all the grain we need for food and energy, that climate change is no more than the sun doing one or two odd things, and that global warming was nothing whatsoever to do with human activity. I just launched in and said that transferring land which has been producing food to producing ethanol on the massive scale its happening is bonkers - only superseded in its madness by the clearing of tropical forests to grow bio crops. I think the W. I agreed with me on this one. I'm not sure they did on the badger cull, even if Ann Dixon, a local vet's life sniggered when Delwyn said we should vaccinate all the badgers.