SIR, – whilst I agree with much that Hamish Waugh (and Jim Brown) wrote about in The SF of April 8, I would not wish us to go down the road of a CAP look alike.

Just as many of the problems emanating from the housing crisis are due to too few houses being built to meet reasonable demand, so farming should be focused primarily on the production of quality food and in quantities that does not leave us vulnerable to blockade.

The recent missile attack by the USA on a Syrian air field should leave us in no doubt about the effectiveness of modern weaponry.

USA and her allies are not alone in having such weapons and with much of the Royal Navy's budget taken up in vanity projects such as Trident and aircraft carriers without aircraft, we would be hard pushed to defend the large number of ships required to meet the 40% and more of our food requirements.

Things can happen very quickly nowadays as the events of last week has shown, and having good reserves of necessities is not just prudent but vital.

In our negotiations with the EU it is them that have always had surpluses to find a home for, but they are not the only countries with that problem. Food production cannot shift as quickly to some tax haven as the financial services.

The psuedo science surrounding those advocating this so called 'rewilding' reminds me of the biblical story of the stupid people who fashioned a golden calf and then proceeded to worship it.

Their need to have something to worship transcended any rational reason. Likewise, those who see the countryside as it is now as 'the wild' must be in complete denial about what the wild they yearn to return to actually was, as it has changed more or less permanently, starting more than 6000 years ago.

Claims of 'scientific' method are gross exaggeration and amount to putting some figures to some of the things they can measure and making self serving guesses about those they cannot.

Our leaders have a huge task in front of them and whether you like Donald Trump or not, at least he has shown himself to react to events and do so decisively! Can we say the same for our politicians?

A large amount of money has been spent on the IT system that has yet to function properly. Some people must have received a lot of it!

Might it not be better pursuing them than going after long dead sexual criminals? The cabinet secretary says his officials are working 'flat out'. To many reading this journal 'flat out' means 16 hours a day plus, seven days a week, till the job is done.

Maybe that is what they are doing but I doubt it!

Sandy Henderson,

Faulds Farm,

Dunblane