And so another Boxing Day comes round.
The hunting ban has never commanded popular support. Most people couldn’t care less. And among those who could (massively concentrated, on both sides, in rural communities), opinion is still overwhelmingly opposed to the ban, i.e., in favour of the safety of the sheep and poultry whom must anti-hunt types still want to eat, and in favour of killing far fewer foxes, by far more humane methods, than the ban compels.
Wealth inequality in Britain is now greater than at any other time since records began. Social mobility has not only ceased, but gone dramatically into reverse. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq drone on. And so on, and on, and on.
But never mind. At least the red-coated toffs have been knocked off their horses, so high a priority for Attlee, Bevin, Morrison, Bevan and Gaitskell.
Except, of course, that it wasn’t, that they haven’t been, and that nor should they be.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The hunting ban is a north/south thing. Because hunting is a toffs thing in the south, Islington type Labour MPs hate it, banned it and want to keep it banned. They don't know that its a classless or working class thing in the north. Including the ones who are imposed MPs for Labour seats here. Hilary Armstrong, County Durham to her marrow, voted against a total ban while Chief Whip.
ReplyDeleteIndeed she did, much to her credit.
ReplyDeleteFor the moment, let us leave aside those chumps who voted for the Iraq War in return for a ban on foxhunting.
The Tories think that are onto a winner with foxhunting, and the hunting lobby seems to think that it is onto a winner with the Tories. But there were Commons majorities to ban hunting in the Major years.
And hunting's heartlands are Yorkshire, Wales, the Midlands, Devon and Cornwall, which return few or (in the Cornish case) no Tory MPs, and have now done so for three successive General Elections.
What you say about class and hunting in the North (and Wales) compared to the South also applies to cricket, oddly enough.
If anything, the Hunting Act needs strengthening so that we can be sure that chasing and killing wild animals for fun is clearly and for ever unlawful and regarded by all with well-deserved revulsion. If they know what's good for them politically, Cameron & Co. should, at the very least, promise to let sleeping dogs lie.
ReplyDeleteThere are no grounds for a repeal. 77 % of the public, from all social classes, oppose hunting with hounds as a cruel, perverse and outdated past time. Living in a democracy means accepting the majority vote and the legal, cruelty-free, alternative of drag hunting.
ReplyDeleteMr Woollard, we seem to disagree only on this issue.
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely no case for repeal. Hunt numbers are up all over the country. Drag hunting is legal. The sense of community, pageantry, heritage, and jobs are all still intact and yet these disgraceful people can’t manage to enjoy themselves unless they are terrifying and killing animals.
ReplyDeleteIf they want to avoid 'accidents' or the risk of arrest, they can muzzle the dogs and start the process of re-training them. Any farmer not beholden to the Countryside Alliance will tell you that foxes can be shot cleanly and humanely when necessary. Even conservative supporters have come out with a petition now to uphold the ban!
If you support the hunting act, please get your names on the R.O.A.R. (Register Online Against Repeal), an ‘all party’ list at: www.campaignfordecency.org.uk
Please make your voices heard!
How does drag hunting protect sheep or poultry?
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteHunting with hounds was never about pest control. The hunts were creating artificial earths in order for foxes to breed. If you read all of thier arguments leading up to the ban, they were quite open about this practice. We've recently found people who still breed foxes to 'deliver' to the hunts regardless of the ban (hence the need to strengthen the act and close the loopholes).
In the Western Morning News on Jan. 2nd. Kate Hoey was quoted:
'Ms Hoey, who is also chairman of the Countryside Alliance, has been long been outspoken in defending fox hunting, much to the irritation of many Labour party colleagues. She is credited with telling the Daily Mail: "A ban on hunting is not going to help us save a [single] fox. In fact, there will be very few foxes left in the country if hunting is abolished." '.
As for farmers, we know many who say that foxes can be shot cleanly and humanely when necessary and just as many who say they havent needed to do so. The pro-hunt argument - that foxes will be shot and left wounded, gassed or poisoned just doesn't wash. The type of people who will do this to an animal will continue to do it regardless of whether hunting with hounds is legal or not. Even the hunts admit this one when they are not in the media spotlight.
The pro-hunt Middle Way Group who have members representing the CA, use the argument above (that hunting is less cruel than the alternatives) and claim to have the support and scientific evidence from 550 vets from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Now, I'm not a rocket scientist but considering the hunting community keep a large number of vets comfortably employed and there are over 22000 members of the RCVS, I would seriously question the 'scientific' evidence of the 550 vets in question.
Speaking to vets who handle foxes that have been rescued from the hunts would give you an extremely different view.
It is said that the horses and hound running help to disperse the fox from the land they run on.
ReplyDelete"How does drag hunting protect sheep or poultry?"
ReplyDeleteI had large numbers of sheep when I was farming in a bigger way years ago and we had no trouble with foxes. One of my neighbours has 'flying flocks' (ones that are transported to wherever there is feed) and, so far as I am aware, has no trouble with foxes.
So far as chickens (my late father was a breeder of pedigree Rhode Island Reds) are concerned, it is wise in areas where foxes are around to shut the chickens up at night. Many chickens are kept indoors in any case.
But I go along with mhayworth: fox hunting was never about 'pest control.' It's all about the chase and the 'kill.' These people - Nick Herbert himself and the rest of them - are perverts. They derive perverted pleasure from the chase and the kill. They sicken me. I will work here in South East Cambridgeshire to outvote them and to prevent them ever practising their perversions again.
But, like mhayworth, I have no objection to these people dressing up and riding round the countryside, though I also have to say that many farmers regard the hunts as b****y nuisances even if they are just dressed up and riding round. I wouldn't want them drag hunting on such as my winter wheat because of the damage the hooves do. It's much worse on heavier land, too.
I might add that, in my area of Cambridgeshire, hare coursing was - and to a much reduced extent after the ban, now is - an absolute menace and vilely cruel. Show me a gamekeeper who says he likes hare coursers and I'll show you a liar.
A very interesting article from a group in Ireland 'Farmers back ban on Hunting'. We are hearing the same type of comments from farmers across the UK.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.meathchronicle.ie/opinion/letters/articles/2009/12/09/3993304-farmers-back-ban-on-hunting/