People like you.

“People like you don’t understand the countryside.”

It’s a sentence that ends conversations before they even begin.

When it comes to disagreements on issues such as hunting, farming, rural tradition or rewilding, most of us don’t start with facts – we start with identity.

Town vs country. Left vs right. Tradition vs change.

Lines get drawn. Sides get chosen and suddenly, it’s not about the issue anymore, it’s personal - it's about 'people like you.'

In this episode, we step beyond tribal labels, past the lazy assumptions, and into the conversations we’ve stopped having.

Additional info

At the Edge is an independent media platform that takes a deep dive into our relationship with wild nature, exploring pathways to living well with wildlife.

Follow us on Instagram, or join me, Peter Cairns, on LinkedIn and Bluesky. And if you like what we do, please consider Buying Me A Coffee to support the production of future podcasts and other content.

This episode of At The Edge was produced in partnership with Adventurous Audio, and kindly supported by Ballintean Mountain Lodge.

Useful links

Visit Colin Murdoch at Reraig Forest.

Learn about the Cairngorms Crofters & Farmers Community.

Learn about The Centre for Good Relations.

Meet Sam Tedcastle, Matt Hay, Hugh Webster, Ruaridh Ormiston and Julius Purcell.

I'd thoroughly recommend three podcasts hosted by Julius Purcell as part of the Rewilding Earth series, in which he explores the resurgence of wolf, bear and Iberian lynx in Europe.