JUST WHEN it looked as if 'the government' was trying to push us into eating more veg, it seems a meddling council in England is doing the opposite by issuing advice to eat fewer Brussels sprouts.

While the UK voted to cut its ties with the administration in Brussels, it is maybe taking it a bit to xenophobically-far to say that we cannot eat the humble sprout. But rather than that, it was an attempt by Leicestershire County Council to offer 'Christmas Twitter tips' to the public to reduce waste.

It went as far as saying that six was the optimum amount of the wee mini-cabbages that everyone should eat. I know a whole load of people out there who could happily eat a whole plateful, while others simply wouldn't have them sharing a plate with their turkey, ham and roastit tatties.

Maybe a few tips on cutting down on plastic, cardboard and polystyrene waste would be more applicable in this case ... or maybe it was a sideways attempt to cut 'greenhouse gases'!?

The real Stanley stands up

FOLLOWING our revelation that it was Stanley Johnson (Boris' dad) who was in the 'I'm a celebrity, get me out of here' jungle, rather than the real Stanley Johnstone, Scotland's veteran straw and fodder dealer, from Perth, he has been on the phone to The Raider to thank me.

"Aye, thanks for a' that free publicity," he told me. "I had so many folk get in touch with me after it, that I managed to sell 10 more loads off the back of it."

The 82-year-old and one of our longest running classified section advertisers, said that he'll take the same free publicity every week ... well we ain't guaranteeing that, but this is another one!

The Raider reaches parts that others can't!

Sheep have rights too

I WAS incensed this week – and I would imagine many of its readership would be too – to read the words of Jim Crumley, a well-known advocate of species re-introductions, in Tuesday's edition of The Courier.

A fan of wolf, beaver and lynx re-introduction, he has probably lived up to the expectation that a columnist should elicit comment. But his assertion that 'sheep farming is mostly environmentally disastrous and propped up by subsidy' needs to be challenged – and I hope that some of his readership do.

However, sadly, those of his persuasion would like to see Scotland return to wilderness and for wildlife to proliferate with little thought for the generations of farmers who have made a living there – with the only proviso that it's alright for them to live and earn a crust there!

Those and people like him, fail to realise that even the wild places in Scotland are never really too far from homes of real people who work hard and live off the land, rather than making a living by sitting at a desk and throwing brickbats at those who have the temerity to get in the way of wild life re-introductions.

As well as the people who make their living in the wilder areas of Scotland, there's also the hillwalkers and climbers who visit them for recreation to take into consideration. And, sheep have rights too!