Hinterland
Rural News
Cost of living crisis: ‘People heating one room with firewood’
A classic rural example of the problems people are facing in terms of the cost of living crisis. This story tells us: High Ash Farm in Caistor St Edmund is a 500-acre arable farm. It is also a haven for wildlife, with half the farm set aside for flora and fauna. The farm has also […]
Landline digital switch puts rural areas ‘at risk’, say campaigners
Now here’s a different spin on the challenge of rural connectivity. This article tells us: Plans for a digital switchover which will render traditional landlines redundant will leave rural communities at risk, according to campaigners. Despite a delay, BT is planning to replace analogue phone lines with broadband based ones by 2025. In Shropshire, where […]
Royal Mail aims to open up to 50 drone routes for rural deliveries
In an antidote to the above article and the problems rural dwellers face this piece demonstrates one very positive outcome of new technology in the context of rural connectivity. It tells us: The UK’s Royal Mail wants to set up as many as 50 drone routes over the next three years to make deliveries to […]
Lack of rural connectivity holding UK farming back – NFU
This is not such good news in terms of the competitiveness of rural economic activity. Please not the mobile connectivity point. I think we often concentrate on broadband without focusing enough on the sometimes very poor mobile connectivity of places. I also wonder why my mobile connectivity fluctuates and what is happening when it appears […]
Cornwall pub receives framed apology from Vogue magazine
Well just to prove that rural settings are at the cutting edge of fashion this article tells how: A village pub has received a framed apology from the publishers of one of the world’s biggest fashion magazines. The Star Inn at Vogue pub in Cornwall had been asked to change its name by Vogue magazine’s […]
Rural areas held back by housing and infrastructure woes, report warns
I am tempted in response to this story to say, “tell me something I don’t know….” How useful these reports are when they never seem to get taken up by policy makers I am not sure but I applaud the effort to keep these issues on the agenda. Bravo The rural economy is being held […]
NHS boss feared waiting for ambulance after stroke
This is a chilling story, especially for rural dwellers where according to this if you have stroke symptoms you need someone to get you to A&E fast and not to wait for an ambulance, when the call centre will put you in a second tier of priority. An NHS boss who had a stroke was […]
Number of inactive adults in England rises by 1.3m since Covid
This story goes nicely with “And Finally…”. It leads me to reflect that England with its relatively limited access to open countryside is not in its areas a green gym. Indeed in many urban places there are better facilities and opportunities to get active than in rural settings. About 1.3 million adults have become inactive […]
Matt Hancock blames Public Health England after damning High Court ruling on Covid in care homes
Do you think the NHS or Matt Hancock is to blame? We seem to live in a political environment where it is always someone else’s fault these days….. My father-in-law was discharged from hospital with covid to a care home, he lived there as a virtual prisoner before recovering only to die of heart failure […]
‘I come to the library to keep warm’: Norfolk residents battling fuel poverty
God bless local authorities and their humble libraries. I was in Mablethorpe last week and the library assistant offered me a cup of tea in return for a voluntary donation, plus biscuits and I was just waiting for some people to join me for a site visit!!! This is both a sad but a heart […]
‘Access is vital’: picnicking protesters target Duke of Somerset’s woods
True to form, Totnes as the alternative leading edge heart of rural Britain, is the source of a gentle spin on the 1930s mass trespass in the Peak District, this time its some woods with music sandwiches and cake at the heart of a challenge to those who would use public money to keep the […]
Labour calls for emergency budget over cost of living crisis
In view of the fact it costs more, particularly in terms of heating, to live in rural settings, we will be keeping a close eye on how the skyrocketing price of oil and gas plays out in rural communities. This story tells us: Labour is calling for an emergency budget to bring forward more measures […]