Change was coming very fast to Aikenfield and it was welcomed in some ways but in most it was rather feared. He noticed that young labourers wanting to stay on the land were terrified of losing their tight cottages if they lost their jobs. There was a real problem of rural homelessness and he talked to a young shepherd who although he was proud to come from Suffolk also had thoughts of going to Australia. All the same he managed to find fascinating characters.
South Africa’s infrastructure—its ports, railways and power grid—are struggling and poorly managed. Ordinary South Africans are increasingly fed up. We profile Russia’s new military commander in Ukraine. And our obituaries editor remembers one of Britain’s finest rural writers.
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