HUNTING!
Well, it's sure been difficult to ignore this. I was aware of it all last week in the news, on Question Time, in the papers, etc, but it seemed that the media - in much of its coverage - tended to feature extremists from both camps arguing with each other. Hurrah! then, for Alexander Chanceller's column in the Guardian. It's the first thing I've read/listened to/watched all week that caused me to think, in quiet agreement, 'Yes, that's just how I feel too'. This is a cut-down edit of what he had to say. It's carefully written to appear more moderate than it really is:
From where I sit in Northamptonshire, I overlook land on which Henry VII used to hunt deer with Anne Boleyn, and I am close to the 'countries' of the Grafton and the Pytchley, two of the country's most famous foxhunts. These and most of the other 184 packs of foxhounds in England and Wales have been planning to meet today; but if they do so, it will be in cautious, unfestive mood. A hard-core of hunt members intend to flout the ban, but the majority seem to want to stay within the law. This means laying artificial trails of scent for the hounds, or simply taking them out on exercise.
There cannot, however, be much in that to stir the blood or to satisfy the passion for the chase. No more cries of 'tally-ho', I imagine; no more blasts on the hunting horn. Just a New Labour-approved leisure activity. The challenge to the hunting ban will go on: the Countryside ALliance is planning to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights. But I would be very surprised if most hunt members didn't soon tire of this and looked for other ways to relieve the boredom of country life in winter. Should we regret this? Most people will not. Like me, they have no interest in hunting and many will rejoice at the ending of a sport they regards as a cruel indulgence by a privileged few.
But while I sympathise with this point of view, I admit that I do regret the ban. Hunting remains an important focus for community life in the country - perhaps more important than ever. When so many villages have lost their pubs, shops, post offices and bus services, it is one of the few things that bring all types of people together. And foxhunting is also the countryman's shield against the city dweller's view of the countryside as a leisure facility, as a pastoral idyll to be preserved for his occasional enjoyment.
I feel indignant at the presumption of a government that chooses to override the rights of a minority, simply because a majority of the electorate disapproves of what that minority does*. Perhaps I am heartless, but I don't care enough about foxes to put their welfare above the happiness of the people whose whole lives revolve around hunting them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Much like the Criminal Justice Act (or whatever it was called) where police were allowed to break up convoys of people listening to music 'characterised by repetitive beats'.
So the above isn't a tremendously fasionable point of view to hold in London left-wing circles (ie where there's a particular concentration of Guardian readers) but who cares.
Well, it's sure been difficult to ignore this. I was aware of it all last week in the news, on Question Time, in the papers, etc, but it seemed that the media - in much of its coverage - tended to feature extremists from both camps arguing with each other. Hurrah! then, for Alexander Chanceller's column in the Guardian. It's the first thing I've read/listened to/watched all week that caused me to think, in quiet agreement, 'Yes, that's just how I feel too'. This is a cut-down edit of what he had to say. It's carefully written to appear more moderate than it really is:
From where I sit in Northamptonshire, I overlook land on which Henry VII used to hunt deer with Anne Boleyn, and I am close to the 'countries' of the Grafton and the Pytchley, two of the country's most famous foxhunts. These and most of the other 184 packs of foxhounds in England and Wales have been planning to meet today; but if they do so, it will be in cautious, unfestive mood. A hard-core of hunt members intend to flout the ban, but the majority seem to want to stay within the law. This means laying artificial trails of scent for the hounds, or simply taking them out on exercise.
There cannot, however, be much in that to stir the blood or to satisfy the passion for the chase. No more cries of 'tally-ho', I imagine; no more blasts on the hunting horn. Just a New Labour-approved leisure activity. The challenge to the hunting ban will go on: the Countryside ALliance is planning to take the issue to the European Court of Human Rights. But I would be very surprised if most hunt members didn't soon tire of this and looked for other ways to relieve the boredom of country life in winter. Should we regret this? Most people will not. Like me, they have no interest in hunting and many will rejoice at the ending of a sport they regards as a cruel indulgence by a privileged few.
But while I sympathise with this point of view, I admit that I do regret the ban. Hunting remains an important focus for community life in the country - perhaps more important than ever. When so many villages have lost their pubs, shops, post offices and bus services, it is one of the few things that bring all types of people together. And foxhunting is also the countryman's shield against the city dweller's view of the countryside as a leisure facility, as a pastoral idyll to be preserved for his occasional enjoyment.
I feel indignant at the presumption of a government that chooses to override the rights of a minority, simply because a majority of the electorate disapproves of what that minority does*. Perhaps I am heartless, but I don't care enough about foxes to put their welfare above the happiness of the people whose whole lives revolve around hunting them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Much like the Criminal Justice Act (or whatever it was called) where police were allowed to break up convoys of people listening to music 'characterised by repetitive beats'.
So the above isn't a tremendously fasionable point of view to hold in London left-wing circles (ie where there's a particular concentration of Guardian readers) but who cares.
