Farming Today

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Farming Today: 25/09/23 Services for young people in rural areas; Lib Dems and farming; Nature writing

25/09/23 Services for young people in rural areas; Lib Dems and farming; Nature writing

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 25/09/23 Services for young people in rural areas; Lib Dems and farming; Nature writing

Youth services in rural areas. Lib Dem vision for farming and environment. Nature writing.

New analysis shows young people in rural areas missing out. Liberal Democrats map out their plans for rural affairs. We talk nature writing with a specialist bookshop owner.

Young people in rural areas are missing out on "critical" services due to a "postcode lottery", charities have warned. Many youth clubs have started up again for the year, but BBC analysis shows that £70 million in grants for youth clubs was awarded in August and most of it went to venues around big cities. Experts told us children in villages and small towns are ‘the forgotten youths’ and a lack of ‘vital’ youth work could seriously impact their chances in life. 

It's party conference season and with by-election campaigns ongoing and speculation about the date of a general election we can expect the parties to outline their offer to voters. Over the next few weeks we'll hear from the rural affairs spokespeople from the main four parties, Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and the Scottish National Party. Today as the Lib Dem conference takes place in Bournemouth, we speak to their rural affairs spokesman is Tim Farron, a former leader of the party and a Cumbrian MP.

Sales of books about nature have been steadily rising over the past few years. We're said to be living in a golden age for nature writing. Is that true and what, if any,  difference does writing about nature make to our attitudes towards it? All week we'll be talking to nature writers. We begin by talking to a specialist book shop owner who's one of the judges for the Wainwright Prize which awards annual prizes for both nature and conservation writing and for nature writing for children.  

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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Farming Today

25/09/23 Services for young people in rural areas; Lib Dems and farming; Nature writing

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