The gap between countryside communities and the wider general public seems wider than ever - Sarah Todd

At the time of writing Belgian-Dutch border crossings were blocked, Polish farmers were threatening closure of the Ukraine border and Greece’s government was doing some speedy negotiating. German farmers had also got in on the act, using tractors to block ports including Hamburg - one of the busiest European hubs for container shipping. Irish farmers have also taken to the streets in their tractors to protest.

Now, politics isn’t this correspondent’s specialist subject, but it’s still interesting to note that all this upset doesn’t make it sound as if the grass is greener on the remaining EU side of the fence. Secondly, is all this muck flinging symptomatic of a wider unrest within rural communities?

Never mind a furrow’s width, there seems to be a gaping chasm - perhaps bigger than ever before - between countryside communities and the wider general public. There is huge frustration on the part of farmers, that the world has become so distanced from their rural way of life. Just a generation or so ago most people from Belgium to Beverley and beyond could name somebody - a grandparent, uncle or family friend - that had grown up with a farming connection.

Working on the land or in an associated industry such as farm machinery repair, gamekeeping, forestry, a butcher’s shop, or as a farrier. There has most definitely been a changing of the guard, with seemingly many more people in call centres and computers rather than land-based industries.

That’s just the way the world has gone. There is no point crying over spilt milk. However, certainly here in the UK and seemingly from the demonstrations overseas, there doesn’t seem to be any particular party in the political arena that seems to outwardly ‘get’ the huge transition farming has been through.

There will be other sectors of the population that feel the same; maybe like those working in the traditional manufacturing industries. There just doesn’t seem to be that middle ground between the left-wing Metropolitan elite and the old boy private school network. We all need to feel that there is somebody out there talking the same language as us and, for the farming community both at home and across the rest of Europe it seems, that just isn’t happening at the moment. Now time will tell, but there was something rather energising last week about listening to Northern Ireland’s new first minister Michelle O’Neill pledging to represent the entire population - not just supporters from her own party.

Northern Ireland’s corridors of power at Stormont have been without a first minister or deputy first minister since February 2022 and it’s impossible not to join her hope that the hitting of rock bottom will kickstart a new era of hope. Maybe it’s just the way it is, that politically the wheels have to periodically come off before bouncing back.

Anyway, let’s try to lift the mood a little and it's great to read that Kate Garraway is set to return to her television role this week following the funeral of her husband Derek Draper. There never seems to be enough time in this household for Good Morning Britain but it’s impossible not to admire the spotlight this breakfast television presenter has shone on those, like her late husband, living with extreme complications from Covid. In doing so, she also lifted the lid on the unsung heroes within the caring community.

It was good to see King Charles, prior to the world learning about his cancer diagnosis, waving to the cameras as he attended a church service at Sandringham on Sunday. One can only hope for a speedy recovery for His Majesty. Queen Camilla was by his side and there can be no doubt that she is a tower of strength to her husband, quietly managing a very full diary while he was out of action and Prince William was at his wife’s hospital bedside.

She is like tens of thousands of terrier loving countrywomen of a certain age; just ploughing on and quietly doing her best when times get tough. Thinking aloud, there did seem to be an awful lot of men among the French farmer protesters. Bet many of the women were quietly at home on the farms, capably and without fuss or fanfare, keeping the home fires burning and holding everything together.