For Sale: England’s Forests

Cameron’s plan to flog the public forest estate is opposed by 84% of the public. And yet, stupid and destructive as this sell-off promises to be, it’s just a stone’s throw from something really interesting. The creation of the public forest estate was as brutal as any other nationalisation. …I’m told that you can find entire farmsteads – houses, barns, pens and yards – compulsorily purchased by the state and now buried in darkness and sepulchral silence. The disposal of the English estate is likely to be as destructive as its creation, as forests managed by a radically-reformed commission are flogged to the highest bidder.