Farmer Palmer

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Farmer Palmer is a character in the British comic, Viz.

As the name suggests, Farmer Palmer is a parody of farmers in Britain. He is evidently from the West Country, judging by his accent (like many Viz characters, all of his speech is written phonetically), and in recent years has been seen as a caricature of the real-life farmer Tony Martin.

Farmer Palmer is never without a shotgun and has a tendency to shoot dead any dog that comes within a mile of his farm and declaring "Ee wuz wurryin moy sheep" (translation: "He was worrying my sheep") and he'll frequently chase and/or shoot walkers who dare to come onto his land. Farmer Palmer also engages in the most horrendous farming practices, such as using toxic pesticide and allowing diseases such as BSE (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy) to run rampant amongst his mistreated animals. At the height of the 2001 Foot and Mouth disease epidemic, there was a strip showing Farmer Palmer scraping the decaying scabs from the mouths of infected pigs and selling them as Pork rind to the local pub. He is extremely bigoted and xenophobic (including with people outside his local area) yet gleefully accepts farming subsidies from Europe.

The stereotype of inbreeding in West Country rural areas is alluded to frequently, with Farmer Palmer's son Jethro at one point marrying his sister and producing a one-eyed baby. Farmer Palmer originally disapproved of Jethro marrying his own sister, but then thought "Well, it never stopped your mum and me." Although he hates outsiders, Farmer Palmer once turned his farm into a guest house. The first couple to stay there fled in terror when Jethro pounded on their door all night, demanding to see the female guest's "dugs" (breasts) and in the morning they witness Farmer Palmer making bacon for breakfast by slicing up a squealing piglet alive.

Recently, Farmer Palmer has joined the Countryside Alliance, a real-life organization that has protested against the British Government for what it sees as urban people interfering in rural affairs, such as the government's ban on Fox Hunting.