Rural difficulties

Our excursion into Cwm Gors at the weekend reinforced the message I had previously from friends and other farmers in the constituency: nobody, except the largest landowners, makes a living from farming alone these days. Doing other people's books, testing drones or catering for townies' leisure pursuits are a few of the activities keeping the wolf from the door.

Fast broadband would help to counteract the effects of isolation and give access to public services which civil servants increasingly assume are available to everybody with smart phones and tablets. "Wireless internet" schemes are being rolled out by government-aided entrepreneurs and one such is coming to the area between Pontardawe and Gwaun-cae-gurwen. It seems to me that the funding model is not robust, as one such company failed in Monmouthshire leaving subscribers without the service they had come to depend on. However, I am assured that the company involved in the Cwmgorse area is more substantial and has other successful schemes behind it.

My muck-raking friends on the Neath Ferret would no doubt wish me to include a photo of a donkey wearing a rosette. I am sorry to disappoint them. Instead, I spotted (sorry for the pun) a Gloucester pig which provides the tail-piece.