Do You Think He Has A Point

[emmie]

not sure i do,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2367644/Make-townies-exam-rural-affairs-allowed-vote-says-David-Gower.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[emmie]

don't many people like a trip out to the countryside if you live in a city, get away from it all, i have when able, seems rather odd that he as suggested that townies, who are they i wonder, should take some sort of exam, on what exactly...

[joggerjayne]

I think he might have a point.

Different parts of the country have different priorities, different ways of life, different issues.

We tend to think emotively about some issues, without worrying about hard facts, and then impose our own views on people who are actually affected by those issues.

[emmie]

i don't like the fact that much of the countryside, at least those parts i know reasonably well, where friends, relatives live or lived have now been joined up, like one of those join up the dots game, ever more housing estates built onto old market towns, killing the life blood of the community. But his assumption seems to be that so called townies don't get the issues of the countryside, i do...

[waterboatman]

I think he has a point. Some children don't know where milk, vegetables, fruit and most of the fresh food comes from. They miss out on so much.

[joggerjayne]

Waitrose, Boatie.

Don't they teach kids anything??

[emmie]

but that has long been the case, my family going back generations are from the capital, and in those days kids didn't really get out of it, seeing as how travel by car was almost non existent, and rail was beyond the reach of many, i am talking of a long while ago, but even so

[missnemesis]

I think it's unfair of he who has a sprawling country estate to be so scathing of those who live in towns. Many, many townsfolk would love to live/move to the countryside and involve themselves in the local community but have no way of ever doing so; due to the many rural residences which are hugely overpriced or owned as 'holiday homes'.

As for removing people's right to vote on things they do not know about I'm pretty sure he knows nothing of living in a high rise 'sink estate' where poverty and crime are unfortunately (for some) the norm. Does this mean he should lose his vote?

[emmie]

i was thinking much the same, perhaps he needs to look at our cities urban sprawl, should countryside people like him vote on townie issues, surely aren't we all people of UK, and have as much right to have a say in each issue, be it countryside or town.

[pixie373]

I don't see how an exam would help. It would be better to get a good balance of opinions from people who genuinely live in the country, as well as those who live in towns.

[missnemesis]

Agree completely em10. We are supposed to live in a democratic society where everyone over the age of 18 is allowed to have their say in the process. If everyone had to pass exams on everyone else's way of life beforehand we'd never get anything done.

[emmie]

aren't many who live in the countryside former townies, moved for a quieter life...

[missnemesis]

Exactly em :)

[sandyRoe]

Could he have an eye on a political career? He sounds as though he'd make the perfect back-bench Tory MP from the shires.

[emmie]

sandyr, i wouldn't want him as an MP, they already have enough problems without him stirring up the pot over town and countryside.

[missnemesis]

You may be on to something there Sandy. His professional cricketing career is over, I have no idea if his TV career is (I never watched the programme he was on) so what should one do with one's time now? ;-)

[emmie]

he is a sports commentator on Sky i think, perhaps you are right, but this isn't the way to go about it if so.

[jake-the-peg]

Ah - he's one of those people who think 'If you don't agree with me it must be because you are insufficientl educated'

I guess the alternative is that people not agreeing with him might be right and he might be wrong - and that's just unthinkable isn't it?

Not sure about his other points but I laughed like a drain at:

// fox hunting and pheasant shooting..[are] an effective form of pest control and conservation.//

Yeah right David - that's why so many pheasants are bred and why you see Rent-a-kill riding about on horses - because it's so effective!

[emmie]

i have never agreed with fox hunting, it still seems barbaric, and it's not because it's all fluffy bunny thinking, just that if you need to control the fox population there are better ways than setting a pack of dogs on them.

[missnemesis]

///Yeah right David - that's why so many pheasants are bred and why you see Rent-a-kill riding about on horses - because it's so effective!///

Ach JTP I just choked on my tea then lol

[Cloverjo]

This thread brings to mind the cricket World Cup a few years ago. Gower was anchoring from what looked like a beach side villa with the waves lapping up the white sand, while SirIan, Bumble et al were sweating out in the heat of the stadiums.