It's an exciting time in the Forest today with all the talk

about selling off forest woodlands.

Maybe the woodlands would be bought by some

Russian boss, who'll buy the forest with hundreds of

millions of British pounds. It worked for Chelsea football

club.

Or maybe a Chinese, communist, entrepreneur,

oxymoron would buy up the Forest and opencast mine it

to China.  We don't need the coal, and afterwards we'll

have flat virgin land to start the process off all over again.

Or maybe, and this is most exciting, a Texan oil

magnate will buy the Forest and transport us all to live in

Arizona in the warm sunshine. We could then, all go

shopping at the local Co-op, just across London Bridge.

But the more lightly scenario would be, for a British

company to be formed calling itself, for instance, 'The

Forest of Dean Woodland Association'. The woodlands

would be transferred into their control so they could, then

go to the bank and borrow against their newly acquired

land, and pay someone for it. Who that will be is still

unknown, but it certainly won't be us, and the banks, as

usual, will pretend to make millions, and pay someone an

enormous bonus for doing nothing and making nothing.

The Forest of Dean Woodland Association is a bit of

a mouthful, so the company would probably rename itself

to, let's say 'A Couple-O'-Trees', to make the deal easier

to understand for Foresters.

My vote is to go to the warm sunshine, but I can't

see myself living in America for very long, so I'll stay in

the Forest whoever pretends to buy it.

It is said that possession is nine tenths of the law if

you want to play around in the legal system. But the

Forest is ours anyway. Just remember 'money' is only a

medium for exchange, a belief that someone else has a

belief in its value, or even just a plain and simple belief.

But the woodlands, the lakes, and the citizens, not

forgetting to mention the boar, the deer, the foxes, the

rabbits, and all the fauna and flora of the Forest, are real

and we live here with them. ­

– Danial Faux, Ruffit Close, Coleford.