MACHYNLLETH: Recently in this diary (see below) I deplored the threatened industrialisation of a part of Anglesey. A reader disagrees with me and also decries the trend he detects in all the Guardian’s country diarists to “meddle in politics.” He adds: “I am sure of one thing – I and thousands of others who read Country Diary do not go to it for politics.” So I hope my fellow-diarists will take heed. We must confine ourselves to babbling o’ green fields and to kidding our readers that all is well in those fields; and that the beauty of the countryside, the health and happiness of country people, and the future of the flora and fauna are safe in the care of the politicians.

But seriously, I believe that the political problems that beset every facet of life in the countryside are many and grave and that a country diarist who never mentioned them would be grossly falsifying the picture. Anyone wanting to hear these problems discussed with reference to Wales should come to the Council for the Protection of Rural Wales weekend conference at Aberystwyth beginning on Friday, March 29. There will be several distinguished speakers who have reason to know what could be in store for all the British countryside. But if you can not get to the conference you can still support the council’s splendid work by becoming a member.



The Guardian, 13 February 1968.



