I won't do you no harm....
Today is the last day before the ban on hunting with hounds becomes law. The last challenge in the High Court has been dismissed, and nothing can now stop the ban coming into force. Not surprisingly, every hunt in the country is expected to be out and about today. If you are a fox, you might do well to stay in bed today.
This law has generated a lot of protest, and there have been threats of widespread disobediance. With this in mind, there have been a lot of interviews with the police in the press, asking how they are going to be enforcing the law when it comes into force. The police have in the main been keen to indicate that they will not be spending their time following illegal hunts, and making arrests over the corpses of foxes as they are torn limb from limb by a pack of slavering hounds. They have stressed that there will be prosecutions if the law is broken, but that they prefer to spend their time working with the hunts to make sure that they understand the law, and that if they do go out (say to go drag hunting), they will be able to do so within the bounds of the law and thus under the protection of the law. The maximum penalty for breaking this law is a fine of £5000.
I think the bottom line is that the police aren't sure how they can practically enforce this law, and are hoping that the hunts stay the right side of the law.
Hm.
I do not approve of fox hunting. I like foxes. I do not have much sympathy for many of these people, because I dislike what I see of them. I do not believe that the countryside will fall apart without the patronage and good husbandry of the hunts. I do not believe there will be widespread countryside unemployment. I do not believe that the country will be held to ransom by packs of marauding foxes, their populations no longer humanely controlled by packs of dogs and posh people on horses. I have little patience for the threats of mass public protest either. What makes these people think they have the right to simply pick and choose the laws that they obey?
"Oh, Margot and I do find it difficult to get to Newbury, so we think a bypass would be a great idea, and they should dig that Swampy chap out of his tunnel with a JCB and throw him to the dogs. What what?"
"Ban hunting? Are they mad? I shall be out there as usual on Saturday and they can just try and stop me!"
What the hell gives them the right?
Having said all of that.... I do have a liberal pang of guilt about the fact that I am quite happy to watch an activity that thousands of people love, that is a centuries old tradition being swept into the dustbin of history by a metropolitan government. What happens if Labour choose something I do care about next? What if they try and take us into a disastrous and unjustified war?
Oh.
This law has generated a lot of protest, and there have been threats of widespread disobediance. With this in mind, there have been a lot of interviews with the police in the press, asking how they are going to be enforcing the law when it comes into force. The police have in the main been keen to indicate that they will not be spending their time following illegal hunts, and making arrests over the corpses of foxes as they are torn limb from limb by a pack of slavering hounds. They have stressed that there will be prosecutions if the law is broken, but that they prefer to spend their time working with the hunts to make sure that they understand the law, and that if they do go out (say to go drag hunting), they will be able to do so within the bounds of the law and thus under the protection of the law. The maximum penalty for breaking this law is a fine of £5000.
I think the bottom line is that the police aren't sure how they can practically enforce this law, and are hoping that the hunts stay the right side of the law.
Hm.
I do not approve of fox hunting. I like foxes. I do not have much sympathy for many of these people, because I dislike what I see of them. I do not believe that the countryside will fall apart without the patronage and good husbandry of the hunts. I do not believe there will be widespread countryside unemployment. I do not believe that the country will be held to ransom by packs of marauding foxes, their populations no longer humanely controlled by packs of dogs and posh people on horses. I have little patience for the threats of mass public protest either. What makes these people think they have the right to simply pick and choose the laws that they obey?
"Oh, Margot and I do find it difficult to get to Newbury, so we think a bypass would be a great idea, and they should dig that Swampy chap out of his tunnel with a JCB and throw him to the dogs. What what?"
"Ban hunting? Are they mad? I shall be out there as usual on Saturday and they can just try and stop me!"
What the hell gives them the right?
Having said all of that.... I do have a liberal pang of guilt about the fact that I am quite happy to watch an activity that thousands of people love, that is a centuries old tradition being swept into the dustbin of history by a metropolitan government. What happens if Labour choose something I do care about next? What if they try and take us into a disastrous and unjustified war?
Oh.
posted by swisslet @ 08:19
8 Comments:
At 11:41 am,
Damo said…
Hmmm. I don't put this on class lines, but I do put it on political inclination lines. The right wing always seems to be above the law when they don't like something. Look at Mark Thatcher's slap on the wrist. Look at this particular issue here. Look at the fuel protests... the protestors were apparently "peoples' champions", as opposed to the normal "great unwashed".
Irrespective of the pros and cons of hunting, some peoples' belief that they are above everything makes me sick.
At 12:05 pm,
swisslet said…
..."some peoples' belief that they are above everything makes me sick."
I agree with you, but you do realise you could increasingly say that about the current British Government?
At 4:36 pm,
John McClure said…
"If you are a fox, you might do well to stay in bed today"Alternatively, if you're a fox reading a blog, you don't need our help in working out how to outwit the hunters.
At 10:00 pm,
Tom said…
Anybody remember this advert?
A fat man in riding gear, running panic stricken through a forest. Sweating, scared, frightened. He is being chased by something.
Eventually he manages to get indoors and bolts the door. He breathes a sigh of relief. And then he hears something...
He turns... To be confronted by a fox, in riding gear, carrying a stick, sitting behind a desk. The fox says, "Ah, Sir Rodney. We meet at last!" (or something like that) and then the fox laughs evilly.
Funniest advert of all time. I have no idea what it was advertising.
Oh, Fox Hunting? Against it, of course. Just because it has gone on for centuries, does not mean that it is right.
At 9:02 am,
LB said…
I totally agree with you.
What will eventually bring this Government down I think is when there is a huge rebellion by the (huge) body of "average normal" people in this country.
When they start doing (or not doing) things that affect people like us. The fuel protests were an example, the Poll Tax another.
There comes a point where the polite working millions just get f*cked off with being hit by uninsured drivers and not being able to find a dentist within 20 miles (did you spot my gripes there?...!)
I'd love to have seen the police's reaction when, for example, a law came in to prohibit the dealing of heroin. What if all the drug dealers had said "We're going to do it anyway"? Do you think the police took an advisory stance and worked with them to ensure they understood the law? Or do you think they nicked them and beat them to within an inch of their lives?
But drug dealers are not posh landowners, are they? Or members of the Royal Family? Or people who donate large sums to the political parties?
Actually, saying that, they might be, to be fair...)
At 7:22 pm,
Aravis said…
I agree with the viewpoints here, so will only say thanks to John, Tom and LB for making me laugh. *G*
At 8:51 pm,
The Num Num said…
Fox hunting. Hmm. I never understood it or the backlash against it.
My housemate at uni used to go Sabbing. He's a top notch sound bloke. Salt of the earth. But I never understood why he went.
I mean, I'm mr pacifist, peace loving dude. But if I were a farmer, I'd like to control foxes from munching through my livestock. OK, so there's a problem with hunting as a sport, but its kinda less harmful than battery livestock farms isn't it? I mean, its like we're growing animals for death, cramped up in a prison, fed hormones and drugs to grow big and fat so we can kill and eat them. So there I am thinking, its just one fox. Its lived a free life - shame it has to die a gruesome death. But all the animals it kills for food also die the same gruesome death, but its in the balance of things. So aren't battery farms unbalanced?
I'm veggie by the way, so urm, I'll shut up now. Each to their own though, since there can never (repeat never) be a right way on this planet. We need difference and diversity for advancement and evolution. :)
Love the joke ebay adverts though - for sale one buglehorn, well used. etc. etc.
At 12:05 am,
Aravis said…
numnum, the difference as I see it is that animals raised for food aren't hunted down and terrorized over a prolonged period of time before being ripped to shreds. But you're right; they're all killed in the end.
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