GROWERS in the Vale of Evesham have complained that British immigration rules are preventing foreign workers from entering the country to pick seasonal crops.

Eh? It's impossible to walk down the street and not hear any number of languages these days, so I really don't know what that's all about.

Of course, there was once a time when British lads couldn't wait to earn a bob or two in the fields.

But these days, the only tan youths are likely to get is probably radiation burn from staring at a computer screen for too long.

The other reason they're not following a rotavator is because they are walking down Worcester High Street or through St John's shouting their spotty faces off.

This appears to be the latest craze for the more cerebrally-challenged members of the younger generation.

You can encounter these intellectual heavyweights any day of the week - from Henwick Road, across Sabrina Bridge and into the city, screeching gaggles of gormless girls and boys can regularly be observed spilling over pavements and sucking on the metal cans that so recently replaced their mothers' teats. Fine. You expect youth to have its moments.

But these days, it seems that any kind of endeavour is but a momentary distraction from the more serious business of doing precisely nothing.

Once though, all lads were fruitfully engaged in either college or an apprenticeship.

Only a few years ago, existence had form and structure for most youngsters.

You left school at 16, got a job and trained for five years.

It would be work all day, tech' two nights a week, rock n' roll Friday and Saturday nights and early to bed come Sunday in order to gird your loins for whatever Monday morning hurled at you.

Now, in a land that the politicians have allowed the vultures of globalism to pick clean, a surplus of indigenous labour only makes its presence felt on the streets after dark.

Meanwhile, four out of every five new jobs are being snapped up by newcomers who are more than willing to get their hands dirty.

No wonder the Evesham growers don't want to see any impediment to the flow of eager, conscientious labour.