Quote Originally Posted by drumgerry View Post
"Robust"?! Didn't you hear about bee farmers being practically wiped out last winter in Scotland MBC? Maybe in Wales it's some sort of commercial beekeeper paradise but up here not so much. And "most deserving"? - in the words of that great tennis player -"You ca-NNOT be serious!" One example of more deserving than your bee importing, foreign bee producer-supporting bee farmer - the upland or remote crofter/farmer. Keeping them going stops our country being a depopulated, unproductive wilderness. We live in very different countries MBC as may be pointed out to you by rather a lot of us in September 2014.
I try and be mindful of the fact things are a bit different up there, but surely even in Scotland, bees ( even imported bees from the 'dark side')provide invaluable pollination not just to cultivated plants but also all the wild flora, which in turn benefits everyone in supporting more fauna for grockles to come and gawp at while staying in pricey hotels.. How about subsidising crofters to keep bees ? There'd be no need for dedicated bee farmers then and it would ensure the countryside would get adequate pollination.

I strongly support devolution, but dread your lot going your own way as it would leave the rest of us even more London-centric than at present