@Blurock: agree with you very much about property rights for rural people to give them a full stake in society and freedom from past constraints.

@Dave A: I have heard of COPE but it seemed to fade away; thanks for explaining why this happened. Your last comment about the U.K. is very true - and much more true than it was a few years ago. It is fuelling the culture wars and the rise of a brand of right-wing ‘working class’ populism that we have not experienced before (except on a smaller scale with the National Front in the 1970s).