And just as the town comes knocking for access on the door of the countryside, rural Britain prepares to march to town in protest "to save its way of life."

For tonight, as a curtain-raiser to the giant Countryside March expected to attract 250,000 people to London on Sunday, we see beacons being lit all over Britain as tokens of the country-dwellers' concerns.

Their agenda is said to include demands for greater tolerance for field sports, a better deal for farmers and improved services in rural areas such as transport, shops and hospitals.

There is no denying that these concerns are real.

The countryside has lots of problems - ranging from low pay to the collapse of rural communities and the BSE-inspired crisis in farming.

But what is the top of the agenda for this giant protest?

For, despite all the rural concerns that have been piled into its basket, is this demonstration not a vehicle got up by hunting enthusiasts to magnify the support for Britain's blood sports threatened by the Bill now going through Parliament to outlaw them?

Even so, the government may have to lend more than a token ear to the protests - if only because the old balance of British politics whereby the town was Labour and the countryside was Tory no longer exists.

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