Apple Pie in the Sky

The BBC on the news today has been carrying a story about the decline in Orchards in Britain, and encouraging people to reverse the decline by planting their own orchards.

A great idea. I have two apple trees and a Cherry tree in my own back garden, though that doesn't qualify as an orchard, for which apparently you need 5 fruit trees. But, hold on a minute. For the last few years, we've been told by the environmentalist lobby, keen to ensure that the old landed aristocracy continue to enjoy the 90% of Britain's land area, that is still rural, free from encroachment by townies, that we all have to be prepared to live in even more cramped conditions in blocks of flats and apartments in already overcrowded cities rather than infringe on the Green Belt.

Now, I know that Del Boy and Rodney managed to site a nuclear bunker on the roof of Mandela House in Peckham, but how the hell are you supposed to establish an orchard on the balcony of some apartment!!!! In fact, even houses built with gardens would be struggling on the postage stamps of land normally allotted to them.

I think having your own orchard is agreat idea. So is having enough size of garden that you can grow your own vegetables, and have enough land for you and your kids to chill out - especially on a day such as today when we are all supposed to be making an effort to slllooowwwww down. But, that would mean going back to the ideas that motivated the idea of "homes fit for heroes", and the Parker Morris standard of decent sized accommodation, as opposed to the ideas of the last few years, motivated by the desire of builders to make as much profit as possible by squeezing as many houses or flats on to as small an area as possible, the desire of the rural middle class to hang on to their privileged position, and of the misguided middle class environmentalists who have given spurious arguments to back them up.

We should get back to the idea of Marx about abolishing the distinction between town and country, not by turning the country into the same mess as the cities, but by allowing people to escape that mess into a better environment.