Bill Bryson Talks Sense

"To me, the mathematics of the British landscape are wonderfully simple and compelling. Britain has about 60 million acres of land and about 60 million people. That’s one acre for each of us. Every time you give up 10 acres of greenfield site to build a superstore, in effect ten people lose their acres. To enjoy the countryside they must go and use other people’s acres. By developing countryside you force more and more people to share less and less space. Trying to limit the growth of development in the countryside isn’t Nimbyism, in my view. It’s common sense."