Tally Ho

Today is the first day of the hunting season. Which may seem strange since hunting has been banned. However the hunts still go out as the law has left them with opportunities to ride.

I want to make it clear that although I was brought up in the country and although I used to have a horse myself, I have never taken part in a hunt and I am completely ambivalent about it. I think the time spent on the bill against hunting was a disgrace because there are more important things that need sorting, not because I support hunting as such.

That said, I can now continue. So Anne Widdecombe is leading a vanguard to get hunt monitors. But she is proposing using those who are already out filming hunts and taking part in anti-hunt activities. I am afraid that this would just be a means of legalising vigilantes and seems to be very much the wrong way to go. The hunt may not be whiter than white, but neither are those on the other side. By calling them "monitors" it makes them sound like they are in charge of giving out milk, but these people are often violent and abusive.

Anne also said that flouting the law gave the wrong signals to society. Which seems a difficult thing to claim when two politicians, those trying to win the leadership of the Liberals, have just gone on record that they would do exactly that over identity cards.