JOURNALISTS – especially older ones – love to talk about great newspaper moments of the past and I’m no exception.

One of my favourites concerned the sub-editor who, undoubtedly with an egalitarian axe to grind, wrote the headline, “Another poor farmer” over a story about a son of the soil’s last will and testament.

This incident occurred in the days when it was actually possible to remonstrate with someone in the workplace without precipitating a top-level inquiry.

So I imagine the culprit was absolutely roasted by the editor and quite rightly, too. For not only was such editorialising unforgivable, but the sentiments expressed were probably downright inaccurate, too.

Of course, farmers make easy targets. The general perception is that being in agriculture is basically a licence to print pound notes and money can, contrary to belief, actually grow on trees.

The other day, I came across a cornfield on the banks of the Severn that had been submerged by the summer floods. The wheat stalks were flat on the ground, much of the grain sprouting new growth. The farmer had obviously lost the field’s entire crop, certainly at considerable cost to himself.

It doesn’t hurt to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, just once in a while.