Celebrating 200 years of the RNLI
This year marks the 200th year of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and over the weekend it was incredible to see the lifeboats of Salcombe, Dartmouth, Torbay and Teignmouth come together in Brixham to commemorate this milestone.
The ceremony marking the bicentenary of the RNLI was an opportunity for us to consider and reflect upon the high level of bravery, heroism and volunteering that has been undertaken over the last two centuries to keep people safe at sea. Today, as in 1824, a number of remarkable people in town and villages across our coastal communities dedicate themselves to being available at a moment’s notice to help rescue a fisherman in trouble, a ship on the rocks or a swimmer fighting against the tide.
The stories of RNLI rescues explain why it is such a well-supported charity and why it is so well-loved across the country. Taking place at Brixham’s Breakwater, the service of thanks and commemoration recognised the important role this charity plays and the need for it to continue for the next two hundred years. We should all give thanks and say a prayer of gratitude for the RNLI.
No Farmers No Food
A glance over to our European neighbours or Labour-run Wales shows what happens when politicians do not listen to the rural community. In both instances, draconian policies are being forced upon the agricultural community, that are set to reduce food production.
Farmers undertake the most difficult, back-breaking, hand-blistering work, often with little thanks. Their purpose is being called into question by politicians who fail to consider the work that farmers do to protect the environment while also producing food. No farmer that I have met across South Devon has ever expressed a desire to poison the land or reduce its fertility. Rather, they speak of the care and compassion needed to nurture their land so that it can produce the food we need.
Politicians must be aware of the fact that the agricultural community is not a group to be thrown around as some political football, but rather a key section of society that can make us all healthier and happier while also greening this pleasant land. It is for this reason that I have spent the past four years working with farmers to help reform the Rural Payments Agency, improve the Environmental Land Management Scheme and reform the public procurement system to increase at-gate prices.
Slowly but surely progress is being made, but no one should be in any doubt who the Labour Party or Liberal Democrats will throw under the bus if they were to be elected. After all the message is simple that without our farmers, we have no food.
South Devon Primary
Politics can be brutal and often unfair, but it is remarkable to see adverts for a South Devon Primary claiming that the majority of people’s views have been ignored in recent elections, ignoring the fact that the Conservative party has over the past three elections secured over 50% of the vote (the majority). What is more, the Labour Party are not taking part in the initiative. Failure to include the Labour Party, the major opposition party, makes this not a representative, engaging democratic process but a Liberal Democrat stitch-up.