Who Owns England?

I’ve started reading Guy Shrubsole’s Who Owns England (2019) yesterday. It has some interesting and disturbing implications for thinking about Church Farms and Christian Agriculture. But it also highlights the important role that the Church might be able to play in bringing about more equitable access to England’s countryside. I’ve still got a lot to read, but my impression so far is that the Church is categorised as being part of ‘the Establishment,’ and therefore part of the problem. Acknowledging this situation is important, but it’s also important to ask what might be done to make the Church part of the solution here. In a debate that is deeply divided, the Church might be able to function as a space of reconciliation and to create real progress. This adds an interesting additional layer of challenge to any efforts to bring about a Christian agrarianism, but it’s good to be aware of this challenge. My reading so far points to the importance of the geographer Doreen Massey in this field, so it’s going to be important to look at some of her ideas.