Pasties, caravans, secret justice and now buzzards - the government has made its fourth U-turn in just three days. The Department for Environment, ...

The Prime Minister is right: if you care about eating food produced to the highest standards in the World you need to buy British. But it would make a massive difference if two of the biggest procurers of food in the country - schools and hospitals - listened more closely to their boss!

Getting our planning laws right was a big issue to ensure we protect our green spaces. But the countryside is not just pretty fields and forests; it is a living, breathing environment and the people who live there need to be listened to on all the issues, not just those that make prime time.

The government will today publish long-awaited reforms to the planning system which have been the focus of a bitter dispute with countryside campaigne...

Following George Osborne's third Budget, The Huffington Post bloggers have been giving their expert opinions on what the chancellor has done. Conse...

A simple stat for you to start: there are four mentions of 'rural' in the Budget document released by the Treasury today (available here) and 13 for 'cities'.

Some readers will recall that not so long ago, in the autumn of 2011, the government released its first stab at trimming down Britain's onerous planning regulations. The National Planning Policy Framework, or NPPF as it became known, was seen by the coalition as a useful new weapon in its battle to control the deficit - more houses, more wealth, more growth.

While some might have you believe that the biggest threat facing the countryside is the government's as yet unpublished and yet-to-be voted-on White Paper on planning (otherwise known as the National Planning Policy Framework or NPPF); in truth the biggest danger to our much-loved green spaces is the slow and seemingly irreversible decline of the rural economy.

There have always been those opposed to progress. But we're not talking about the Galileo or the Industrial Revolution here - we're talking about 40 minutes off the journey between London and Birmingham - at a cost of £17 billion of public money! And, when no-one can be quite sure of the scheme's success, it does all seem like a little too high a price to pay.

The Hunting Act has "failed", according to a government minister. As thousands of people prepare to head out to Boxing Day meets Agriculture minist...

However hot a potato the issue of fuel duty becomes, for the sake of the rural economy (among many others), today's debate must not be the end of the discussion.

The digital divide between urban and rural areas grows ever wider; with towns and cities basking in fibre-optic internet speeds and a variety of different providers offering competitive rates, while those living in the countryside have to contend with the net going down everytime someone calls their home telephone.

The beginning of November sees us enter autumn in earnest; the clocks go back, the nights draw in and there is an ever-present chill in the air. This weekend also heralds the beginning of the hunting season, with hunts up and down the country holding their opening meets.

Once upon a time that question was met with ridicule; the poser rendered a fool simply by having the temerity to ask it.

With a programme of rail upgrades and investment in superfast broadband, the Government could deliver the economic growth it desires, for a fraction of the cost of the High Speed Rail 2 project and in a fraction of the time.

Since I first wrote about the Battle for Planning Rights for this website just two weeks ago, the war of words on the Government's draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) has steadily intensified, reaching fever pitch in the past week now Parliament has returned.

The government is determined to press ahead with planning reforms, according to two of its senior figures. "No one should underestimate our determi...

A war is currently being waged in Britain. It is one that threatens to tear this sceptered isle in two, turning neighbour against neighbour and friends into enemies.

Here are some surprising statistics to start with: Average wages for people working in rural communities are £4,655 lower than the national average ...

To Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, for my first experience of the CLA Game Fair - Europe's largest countryside event. For those who have never been, the Fair is affectionately known as the "Glastonbury" for lovers of all things rural; an epithet that barely does justice to the scale or significance of the event.