Many many years ago, when the BBC was in its infancy and the Archers just had a smallholding there was a radio programme - a very early soap opera I suppose you'd call it - on the Home Service every weekday afternoon entitled "Mrs Dale's Diary". Mrs Dale, was, for a while, played by the famous stage actress Jesse Matthews and her radio "husband" was a hard working doctor, Jim Dale.
One of the fictional Mrs Dale's catch phrases when speaking of her husbands work load was "I'm worried about Jim".
Well, I'm not worried about Jim - Paice - that is. He's taken to the job of Agriculture Minister like a duck to water. He did, of course, have a lot of experience with the brief, having been opposition spokesman on the subject for about five years. He therefore has the advantage of coming over like a man who knows his subject - a quality that has been notably absent in the last few politicians who have held the post, especially in the first few months of office.
Even better, and I am in danger of coming over all party political here, he's actually beginning to deliver some of the promises he made in opposition, despite the fact that they will prove unpopular in some quarters and will almost certainly cause him problems. I refer particularly to the consultation he's just announced on culling badgers, which is, of course, a political minefield. But he believes it is necessary and has taken the first steps towards introducing a cull next year. And cattle farmers all over the UK will thank him for it.