Agriculture clash

Young Farmers clubs for long had a reputation as a sort of rural marriage bureau. Recently a new reputation has been planted upon the people of Blackpool, which hosted their annual convention. Blackpool is an easygoing place, used to high spirits and abundant booze. The problem was not that the young farmers got drunk, but that they behaved badly. One is not to imagine tweedy bumpkins overdoing the scrumpy and kidnapping a llama, as in Miscreants were filmed kicking cars and annoying pedestrians in T-shirts with slogans like: “I am not an alcoholic. I am a Young Farmer.” Now their board has cancelled the annual convention. It’s another item for gloomy complaint after the weather, the EU and the latest epidemic. Perhaps Young Farmers are better left in small units, not crowded in industrial numbers.