Did the pollster actually discuss what “trail hunting” means?
Labour just hate the red jackets, and will oppose whatever they want to do on Boxing Day.
Yes, look at the graphic.
"Trail hunting" is the practice of laying a scent trail using a rag soaked in animal scent for hounds and riders on horseback to chase. Advocates say that this allows people to simulate hunts without actually harming an animal, but critics say it is sometimes used as a smokescreen for actual fox hunting. Do you think trail hunting should be made illegal, or should it remain legal?
It is clear from the polling where the public stands on the issue.
However, this question has been phrased in a way that exacerbates the negative outcome. Trail hunting is a simulation of hunting that allows people to hunt without harming an animal. There's no justification for using 'advocates say' there, nor for giving equal weight to 'critics'.
Ai says this:
44 individuals affiliated with organised hunts have been convicted or accepted cautions across 70 completed cases since 2005—approximately 3.9 cases per year.
That's a ludicrously low figure over 20+ years, and this is desperate stuff from the least popular Government ever.
Well, it either means that most hunts are law-abiding folks, or that getting a conviction is incredibly difficult with limited rural policing. If raptor persecution is anything to go by, it's the latter.
There are plenty of well-funded campaign groups who are more than willing to attend, gather evidence and pressurise the authorities to do something.
The fact those groups are necessary proves the point.
Whether they are necessary, or simply a vocal and litigious group of people pursuing a spiteful agenda is entirely based on your take on the issue. Their presence merely illustrates that your point about a single overworked bobby on his bicycle being the reason for the low conviction rate is bobbins.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
Some sick fuckers enjoy seeing animals suffer.
That is what fox hunting is all about.
I am surprised that a follower of the teachings of Jesus, such as HY, is on the side of cruelty.
Yes foxes, lovely cuddly things, never rip rabbits and chickens to pieces and kill lambs, certainly not
Getting into the realms of morality here but foxes don't rip apart chickens and kill lambs out of deliberate cruelty.
They are surplus killers. They will kill more than they need to eat. It's not cruelty obvs but it is something.
Drag hunting uses artificial scents (like aniseed) on a pre-planned route, focusing on equestrian sport and jumping, while trail hunting uses animal-based scents (like fox urine) and mimics traditional hunting.
Drag hunting is a more controlled, legitimate equestrian activity distinct from the controversial trail hunting often used as a cover for illegal hunting.
So to answer your question: The benefit of drag hunting is a harmless equestrian sport providing exercise and the other benefits of taking part in a sport. The "benefit" of trail hunting is providing a cover for illegal hunting.
Thanks for that. I live in a very rural area and I didn't know the distinction between the two. Is the proposal to ban both drag and trail or just trail?
Personally I support the ban on fox hunting. I would also support a ban on trail.hunting as you have explained it. I would not support a ban on drag hunting under those definitions.
I also have to say red coat hunting plays no part at all in the life of my rural community. I have never seen any sign of a hunt in the 17 years I have lived here.
Shooting in its various forms is however a big part of rural life round here
Shooting tends to be of pheasants, grouse etc and organised with often wealthy city types paying farmers and landowners to shoot on their land.
Trail hunts though tend to involve all sections of the rural community
Nope. That is one form.of shooting but certainly not the only one nor even the norm. In many rural areas shooting is in the form.of 'walking up' and is very different from the driven shoots you are referring to. Very few non locals and all the birds are taken for food.
Pheasants and grouse are also often eaten after big shoots
I actually do not have strong feelings on this stuff, but the way you are arguing @hyufd is probably not helping your cause with people like me who would like to see country activities continue, but with a little more respect (although not sentimentality) for wildlife. You are doing your cause any good by coming out with some of this stuff. I don't have strong feelings about shooting, but pheasants are bred specifically for shooting around here. We are inundated here at certain times of the year and I do enjoy seeing them in the garden and the foxes in our garden do dispatch a fair few. A few also get trapped in my greenhouse. They get in and can't get out. Also far more are shot than are needed for eating. At one time we used to get a brace every week from the surplus.
I have no issue with this, but let's not pretend it is something it is not.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
One thing that surprised me is that there is still hunting with hounds in Ireland. I think there are something like 40-odd hunts, including at least one down here in West Cork, red jackets and all.
Some of the farmers really hate them, but they have enough support to have defeated a recent Dail attempt to ban foxhunting by 124 votes to 24.
Quite conclusively you might note. You will find some farmers (or accountants) who really hate everything so the key issue was the vote in the Dail.
We need to reunify the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland so the good Irish MPs can outvote the nitwits we have in Westminster.
Most Irish MPs represent rural or semi rural constituencies, most UK MPs represent big city, suburban or large town constituencies is probably the main difference.
Though yes well done the Dail for voting to keep fox hunting unlike Westminster and Holyrood
Bloody funny 'most', given the population is 65% urban.
There are 59 Dublin TDs and, if we're generous, 10 Cork City TDs (though Cork North Central in particular has a substantial rural hinterland), and 4 Limerick City TDs (again there's a decent chunk of the consistency that covers rural East Limerick).
Galway is the fourth-largest city in Ireland with a population of a bit less than 90k. It's part of the Galway West constituency which elects 5 TDs to represent a population of about 150k, so the city has 60% of the population, but by no means dominates the election. Generally it's enough to elect one leftie with mostly city votes (though the two most recent left-wing TDs for the constituency, also consecutive Presidents of Ireland, were Irish-speakers who did well in the Connemara Gaeltacht areas too).
The next largest city is Waterford (60k) part of the Waterford constituency which covers the entire county of Waterford (population 127k). Now there are other urban areas within Waterford County such as Dungarvan (10k) and Tramore (11k), but we're definitely into the part of the distribution where constituencies are at least well split between urban and rural.
If you combine all the Dublin, Cork and Limerick TDs, and halfish the Galway and Waterford TDs, you can generously get to 77 urban TDs, but I think a better count would be the Dublin 59, 9 from Cork City, 3 from Limerick and 1 from Galway, to make a total of 72.
Either way you are well short of half of the 174 TDs in the Dail.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
Reporter: Did Putin agree to a ceasefire to allow a referendum?
Trump: Not a ceasefire. He feels that look, you know, they're fighting and to stop. And then if they have to start again, which is a possibility, he doesn't want to be in that position. I understand that position. I understand Putin from that standpoint.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
The dogs are useful to flush the prey to the guns. You need to set up a safe zone to shoot them, you can't just shoot anywhere, not in densely populated England. And then drive them in the right direction.
Some friends lived in West Wales. The local Hunt was a bunch of farmers on quad bikes and landrovers, the hounds would drive the fox to the guns. There was a terrier man too, you would see him out with his Jack Russells. This was some time ago, not sure if it still happens.
I don't see the argument against hunting prey animals, it's no more and no less inhumane than a slaughterhouse.
Drag hunting uses artificial scents (like aniseed) on a pre-planned route, focusing on equestrian sport and jumping, while trail hunting uses animal-based scents (like fox urine) and mimics traditional hunting.
Drag hunting is a more controlled, legitimate equestrian activity distinct from the controversial trail hunting often used as a cover for illegal hunting.
So to answer your question: The benefit of drag hunting is a harmless equestrian sport providing exercise and the other benefits of taking part in a sport. The "benefit" of trail hunting is providing a cover for illegal hunting.
Thanks for that. I live in a very rural area and I didn't know the distinction between the two. Is the proposal to ban both drag and trail or just trail?
Personally I support the ban on fox hunting. I would also support a ban on trail.hunting as you have explained it. I would not support a ban on drag hunting under those definitions.
I also have to say red coat hunting plays no part at all in the life of my rural community. I have never seen any sign of a hunt in the 17 years I have lived here.
Shooting in its various forms is however a big part of rural life round here
Shooting tends to be of pheasants, grouse etc and organised with often wealthy city types paying farmers and landowners to shoot on their land.
Trail hunts though tend to involve all sections of the rural community
Nope. That is one form.of shooting but certainly not the only one nor even the norm. In many rural areas shooting is in the form.of 'walking up' and is very different from the driven shoots you are referring to. Very few non locals and all the birds are taken for food.
Pheasants and grouse are also often eaten after big shoots
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
Trail hunting and fox hunting are already banned in Scotland, so presumably those feudal re-enacters in Dumfriesshire are just going out for a cosplaying hack. Unless they’re breaking the law of course!!
They will be drag hunting (and trail hunting if they can get away with it I suspect)
Drag hunting is something that RuPaul indulges in?
One thing that surprised me is that there is still hunting with hounds in Ireland. I think there are something like 40-odd hunts, including at least one down here in West Cork, red jackets and all.
Some of the farmers really hate them, but they have enough support to have defeated a recent Dail attempt to ban foxhunting by 124 votes to 24.
Did the pollster actually discuss what “trail hunting” means?
Labour just hate the red jackets, and will oppose whatever they want to do on Boxing Day.
Yes, look at the graphic.
"Trail hunting" is the practice of laying a scent trail using a rag soaked in animal scent for hounds and riders on horseback to chase. Advocates say that this allows people to simulate hunts without actually harming an animal, but critics say it is sometimes used as a smokescreen for actual fox hunting. Do you think trail hunting should be made illegal, or should it remain legal?
It is clear from the polling where the public stands on the issue.
However, this question has been phrased in a way that exacerbates the negative outcome. Trail hunting is a simulation of hunting that allows people to hunt without harming an animal. There's no justification for using 'advocates say' there, nor for giving equal weight to 'critics'.
Ai says this:
44 individuals affiliated with organised hunts have been convicted or accepted cautions across 70 completed cases since 2005—approximately 3.9 cases per year.
That's a ludicrously low figure over 20+ years, and this is desperate stuff from the least popular Government ever.
Well, it either means that most hunts are law-abiding folks, or that getting a conviction is incredibly difficult with limited rural policing. If raptor persecution is anything to go by, it's the latter.
There are plenty of well-funded campaign groups who are more than willing to attend, gather evidence and pressurise the authorities to do something.
Quite a few of them are funded by the authorities they then lobby and pressure. Sockpuppets.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
I think most labour MPs care more about the class war part than the care of foxes.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
Some sick fuckers enjoy seeing animals suffer.
That is what fox hunting is all about.
I am surprised that a follower of the teachings of Jesus, such as HY, is on the side of cruelty.
Yes foxes, lovely cuddly things, never rip rabbits and chickens to pieces and kill lambs, certainly not
Goodness this is getting ridiculous. Are you now arguing that Foxes should be hunted because they are cruel? That is nature. Do you want them to become vegetarians? Are we going to exterminate all predators? Not a lot of hope for us then. The issue is whether something is unnecessarily cruel and whether we can do something to ameliorate that, as we have done with our abattoirs.
You wouldn't be happy if you lived in my house. We always have a fox den at the end of the garden and when the cubs are around it is like an abattoir and they always decapitate the animals (I don't know why). Lots of pigeons, song birds, pheasants, rats, squirrels, and occasional bird of prey.
One can be sensitive and still realistic about nature. For instance I found a deer suffering in our garden (it had a head wound full of maggots). I called a deer charity. They came out and shot it and it was then left in some woods for other animals to eat. Nature but with some compassion.
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Drag hunting uses artificial scents (like aniseed) on a pre-planned route, focusing on equestrian sport and jumping, while trail hunting uses animal-based scents (like fox urine) and mimics traditional hunting.
Drag hunting is a more controlled, legitimate equestrian activity distinct from the controversial trail hunting often used as a cover for illegal hunting.
So to answer your question: The benefit of drag hunting is a harmless equestrian sport providing exercise and the other benefits of taking part in a sport. The "benefit" of trail hunting is providing a cover for illegal hunting.
another townie opines
There are plenty of foxes around here. Cute faces, lovely tails. Beautiful. Bit of a problem with the bins.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
Some sick fuckers enjoy seeing animals suffer.
That is what fox hunting is all about.
I am surprised that a follower of the teachings of Jesus, such as HY, is on the side of cruelty.
Yes foxes, lovely cuddly things, never rip rabbits and chickens to pieces and kill lambs, certainly not
Foxes are predatory carnivore. They hunt and kill to survive.
I've been out for a meal in Quorn. I didn't see fox pie on the menu.
Got a Quorn pastie for dinner later this week. I assume it's not fox meat.
Ironically Portillo now makes his living fronting train shows. The Conservatives did cancel in 1994 but it was revived by the Labour government in 2006.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
Drag hunting uses artificial scents (like aniseed) on a pre-planned route, focusing on equestrian sport and jumping, while trail hunting uses animal-based scents (like fox urine) and mimics traditional hunting.
Drag hunting is a more controlled, legitimate equestrian activity distinct from the controversial trail hunting often used as a cover for illegal hunting.
So to answer your question: The benefit of drag hunting is a harmless equestrian sport providing exercise and the other benefits of taking part in a sport. The "benefit" of trail hunting is providing a cover for illegal hunting.
Thanks for that. I live in a very rural area and I didn't know the distinction between the two. Is the proposal to ban both drag and trail or just trail?
Personally I support the ban on fox hunting. I would also support a ban on trail.hunting as you have explained it. I would not support a ban on drag hunting under those definitions.
I also have to say red coat hunting plays no part at all in the life of my rural community. I have never seen any sign of a hunt in the 17 years I have lived here.
Shooting in its various forms is however a big part of rural life round here
The recent proposal in the UK government's Animal Welfare Strategy focuses specifically on banning trail hunting, not drag hunting.
I have to confess that I didn't know of the distinction between drag and trail hunting 30 minutes ago. You live and learn!
PS Useful for pub quizzes.
Ditto. And as described I would support drag bunting and not fox or trail hunting. I don't want to stop the pageantry or the enjoyment of those taking part or watching. The idea fox hunting keeps numbers down is nonsense. Fox territories don't work like that and of course if trail hunting is not killing foxes as claimed it is irrelevant and a daft justification.
So what if trail hunting is daft or irrelevant and others enjoy it?
What business is that of yours?
I didn't say Trail Hunting is daft @Casino_Royale and I don't think it is. I also don't think it is irrelevant and I don't want to ban country sports. So I think you have rather got the wrong end of the stick regarding my post. Although in fairness I have just reread my post and can completely understand why you would think that. I worded it very badly and have only just noticed it because of your reply.
The point I was making was that anyone claiming Trail Hunting keeps foxes numbers down is making an 'irrelevant and daft justification' if they also claim they don't kill foxes. That is an oxymoron and illogical.
I did not mean trail hunting itself is daft and irrelevant, although it looked like I did. I meant the justification they are using is daft and irrelevant. I should have used 'illogical'.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
Speaking of blood sports. As a teenager I witnessed a scorpion fight a few doors down from my local Wetherspoons in an abandoned building, which was rather random.
Never heard of a fox hunt with dogs in these parts, despite being pretty rural. Pheasant shoots are ten a penny.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Doh, cars kill hundreds of times the amount that the odd trail hunting will and is shown far more clearly than the dodgy Labour guesses on trail hunting.
Yep, as I posted myself if you look at my earlier post. In fact it is the main cause of death for foxes in cities and it rather neatly shoots down the argument for hunting foxes with dogs as the vast majority are killed by other means and it does nothing to control of numbers (again see my other post for the details of why hunts don't control numbers). So if you can have a hunt anyway without the need for killing a fox, what is the point in killing a fox.
How do you get a majority of rural and semi-rural TDs in Ireland if the country is 65% urban?
Essentially it's the same process as with gerrymandering, but via geography: packing and cracking.
The 59 Dublin TDs - one-third of the total - represent a population that is pretty much 100% urban. That means the remaining two-thirds of the country is split about 32:35 (urban:rural). This ratio is pushed further against urban areas once you take Cork City out.
That is the packing part of gerrymandering.
The smaller urban areas are spread out and surrounded by rural areas. So in County Kerry (pop. 156k) the urban areas of Tralee (26k) and Killarney (14k) are surrounded by a larger rural population.
That is the cracking part of gerrymandering.
That's how you can have a minority of urban TDs when the population is 65% urban, and in this case there's no malevolent scheming doing it - purely geography.
Welcome back to the UK, where as in China I went on the bullet trains, always on time, 350 km/h (soon to be upgraded to 400-450 km/h), smooth as silk ride, incredibly comfortable giant airchair reclinable seating and a massage lady on hand to address any aches and pains. All built in 10 years. And from what I saw, they are still building more at a rapid pace.
Only minor downside, the 87 security checks to get on the bloody train.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
You can do that with trail hunting on the whole, it is just another act of Labour class war as usual.
Trail hunting probably does kill more foxes than drag hunting as it uses an animal scent and similar trails to fox hunts, even if those kills are not intentional. So it likely controls fox numbers more than drag hunts do
Stalin killing a million supposed kulaks was class war. Labour banning trail hunting is, at best, a class skirmish.
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
I’d agree so I expect they will do it by stealth rather than be open and above board about it. We need cheap energy. We’re not going to get it.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
You can do that with trail hunting on the whole, it is just another act of Labour class war as usual.
Trail hunting probably does kill more foxes than drag hunting as it uses an animal scent and similar trails to fox hunts, even if those kills are not intentional. So it likely controls fox numbers more than drag hunts do
Stalin killing a million supposed kulaks was class war. Labour banning trail hunting is, at best, a class skirmish.
Stalins was more a class massacre or a class holocaust.
Speaking of blood sports. As a teenager I witnessed a scorpion fight a few doors down from my local Wetherspoons in an abandoned building, which was rather random.
Never heard of a fox hunt with dogs in these parts, despite being pretty rural. Pheasant shoots are ten a penny.
Any scorpion that fights a few doors (presumably winning some) is obviously a hard bastard of a scorpion.
Bet he gets lots of space at the bar at the ‘spoons.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
You can do that with trail hunting on the whole, it is just another act of Labour class war as usual.
Trail hunting probably does kill more foxes than drag hunting as it uses an animal scent and similar trails to fox hunts, even if those kills are not intentional. So it likely controls fox numbers more than drag hunts do
Stalin killing a million supposed kulaks was class war. Labour banning trail hunting is, at best, a class skirmish.
I thought Stalin’s efforts at mass slaughter were a statistic?
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
I also like Venison sausages too.
I certainly plan to cook more with it in the new year as a nice alternative to beef and lamb.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
I also like Venison sausages too.
I certainly plan to cook more with it in the new year as a nice alternative to beef and lamb.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
Venison lasagne is rather nice.
As a veggie option Lentils in a lasagne is rather nice too !
New year I’ll give venison lasagne a bash. The mince seems ideal, or maybe I’ll do a venison chilli con carne.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
Hare is nice, more like beef than rabbit. The carcase holds a lot of blood though, the first time I cooced one it looked like a serial killer has been dismembering corpses in the kitchen.
My ultimate favourite game meat is woodcock, comes with the head on and the innards intact. You use the beak as a skewer, I like to liquidise the innards into the gravy
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
Some sick fuckers enjoy seeing animals suffer.
That is what fox hunting is all about.
I am surprised that a follower of the teachings of Jesus, such as HY, is on the side of cruelty.
Yes foxes, lovely cuddly things, never rip rabbits and chickens to pieces and kill lambs, certainly not
Goodness this is getting ridiculous. Are you now arguing that Foxes should be hunted because they are cruel? That is nature. Do you want them to become vegetarians? Are we going to exterminate all predators? Not a lot of hope for us then. The issue is whether something is unnecessarily cruel and whether we can do something to ameliorate that, as we have done with our abattoirs.
You wouldn't be happy if you lived in my house. We always have a fox den at the end of the garden and when the cubs are around it is like an abattoir and they always decapitate the animals (I don't know why). Lots of pigeons, song birds, pheasants, rats, squirrels, and occasional bird of prey.
One can be sensitive and still realistic about nature. For instance I found a deer suffering in our garden (it had a head wound full of maggots). I called a deer charity. They came out and shot it and it was then left in some woods for other animals to eat. Nature but with some compassion.
How do you get a majority of rural and semi-rural TDs in Ireland if the country is 65% urban?
Essentially it's the same process as with gerrymandering, but via geography: packing and cracking.
The 59 Dublin TDs - one-third of the total - represent a population that is pretty much 100% urban. That means the remaining two-thirds of the country is split about 32:35 (urban:rural). This ratio is pushed further against urban areas once you take Cork City out.
That is the packing part of gerrymandering.
The smaller urban areas are spread out and surrounded by rural areas. So in County Kerry (pop. 156k) the urban areas of Tralee (26k) and Killarney (14k) are surrounded by a larger rural population.
That is the cracking part of gerrymandering.
That's how you can have a minority of urban TDs when the population is 65% urban, and in this case there's no malevolent scheming doing it - purely geography.
Well, we gerrymander by claiming that rural MPs can't represent as many people as urban ones. Maybe the Irish do too
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
If you subsidise people getting insulation, you have gone for a reduction in energy use in a way that is clearly very popular.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
Hare is nice, more like beef than rabbit. The carcase holds a lot of blood though, the first time I cooced one it looked like a serial killer has been dismembering corpses in the kitchen.
My ultimate favourite game meat is woodcock, comes with the head on and the innards intact. You use the beak as a skewer, I like to liquidise the innards into the gravy
Woodcock is now red listed as it is in serious decline. It probably shouldn't be shot.
Though being ground-nesting, foxes are no doubt the main predator...
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
I’ve had hare; similar to rabbit but more solid. Never tried crocodile or ostrich but seem to recall kangaroo. Also when in Australia tried witchetty grub; you need quite a few to make a meal, but tastes a bit like peanut flavoured scrambled egg. Had all sorts of strange things in Thailand; rat, frog, grasshopper. The legs of the latter can get stuck in one’s teeth.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
Hare is nice, more like beef than rabbit. The carcase holds a lot of blood though, the first time I cooced one it looked like a serial killer has been dismembering corpses in the kitchen.
My ultimate favourite game meat is woodcock, comes with the head on and the innards intact. You use the beak as a skewer, I like to liquidise the innards into the gravy
I had a friend who said his favourite game was woodcock in cider.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
So you can wrap the duck in foil before roasting it? It’s not really necessary. You can just roast it without using any foil because it’s a fatty meat.
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
I’d agree so I expect they will do it by stealth rather than be open and above board about it. We need cheap energy. We’re not going to get it.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
I also like Venison sausages too.
I certainly plan to cook more with it in the new year as a nice alternative to beef and lamb.
A brace of pheasant is great value for money
Had pheasant a few years ago from my ex Brother in Law. He used to manage a property (owned by a relative of the late Labour leader John Smith apparently) and he used to shoot them and pigeons.
I liked both. Pheasant I always felt was a nicer flavour to chicken and turkey.
Where would you get them these days ? I use farm shops and local butchers but not seen them for years and my sister divorced him so none from there.
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
I’d agree so I expect they will do it by stealth rather than be open and above board about it. We need cheap energy. We’re not going to get it.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
So leave it all to Ed Miliband then?
Effectively we are already doing that with the Climate Change Committee. It’s merely there to lobby for what he/his team wants. Leave it to him and his department let them own it.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
I’ve had horse in Italy (nice) and kangaroo and ostrich in the Netherlands (both nice). Hosted an exotic meats barbecue while at college with some nice crocodile tail steaks, which were very interesting, and some kudu (bit boring). (A future MP attended.)
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
So you can wrap the duck in foil before roasting it? It’s not really necessary. You can just roast it without using any foil because it’s a fatty meat.
I sear the fat side in a pan for 6 minutes, the non fat side for 1 minute, then in the oven. Time dependent on the pinkness.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
I also like Venison sausages too.
I certainly plan to cook more with it in the new year as a nice alternative to beef and lamb.
A brace of pheasant is great value for money
Had pheasant a few years ago from my ex Brother in Law. He used to manage a property (owned by a relative of the late Labour leader John Smith apparently) and he used to shoot them and pigeons.
I liked both. Pheasant I always felt was a nicer flavour to chicken and turkey.
Where would you get them these days ? I use farm shops and local butchers but not seen them for years and my sister divorced him so none from there.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
I’ve had hare; similar to rabbit but more solid. Never tried crocodile or ostrich but seem to recall kangaroo. Also when in Australia tried witchetty grub; you need quite a few to make a meal, but tastes a bit like peanut flavoured scrambled egg. Had all sorts of strange things in Thailand; rat, frog, grasshopper. The legs of the latter can get stuck in one’s teeth.
Grasshoppers and locusts are the only kosher insects.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
Hare is nice, more like beef than rabbit. The carcase holds a lot of blood though, the first time I cooced one it looked like a serial killer has been dismembering corpses in the kitchen.
My ultimate favourite game meat is woodcock, comes with the head on and the innards intact. You use the beak as a skewer, I like to liquidise the innards into the gravy
I had a friend who said his favourite game was woodcock in cider.
At least, I think that's what he said.
Is that a rural version of the biscuit game as played, apparently, by posh kids at public school.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
Some sick fuckers enjoy seeing animals suffer.
That is what fox hunting is all about.
I am surprised that a follower of the teachings of Jesus, such as HY, is on the side of cruelty.
Yes foxes, lovely cuddly things, never rip rabbits and chickens to pieces and kill lambs, certainly not
Goodness this is getting ridiculous. Are you now arguing that Foxes should be hunted because they are cruel? That is nature. Do you want them to become vegetarians? Are we going to exterminate all predators? Not a lot of hope for us then. The issue is whether something is unnecessarily cruel and whether we can do something to ameliorate that, as we have done with our abattoirs.
You wouldn't be happy if you lived in my house. We always have a fox den at the end of the garden and when the cubs are around it is like an abattoir and they always decapitate the animals (I don't know why). Lots of pigeons, song birds, pheasants, rats, squirrels, and occasional bird of prey.
One can be sensitive and still realistic about nature. For instance I found a deer suffering in our garden (it had a head wound full of maggots). I called a deer charity. They came out and shot it and it was then left in some woods for other animals to eat. Nature but with some compassion.
I don't see hunting as unnecessarily cruel, in any way, and I suspect it's far better than what goes on (unseen) in abattoirs.
A gunshot is believed to be more humane but that very much depends on the quality of the shot and, in most instances, a predator will kill its prey with a quick bite to the neck as any nature documentary will show you.
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
I’d agree so I expect they will do it by stealth rather than be open and above board about it. We need cheap energy. We’re not going to get it.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
So leave it all to Ed Miliband then?
Effectively we are already doing that with the Climate Change Committee. It’s merely there to lobby for what he/his team wants. Leave it to him and his department let them own it.
Or should we have governance by unelected NGO ?
That would seem to be the conclusion of Blair’s Third Way and Cameron’s Big Society.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
How do you get a majority of rural and semi-rural TDs in Ireland if the country is 65% urban?
Essentially it's the same process as with gerrymandering, but via geography: packing and cracking.
The 59 Dublin TDs - one-third of the total - represent a population that is pretty much 100% urban. That means the remaining two-thirds of the country is split about 32:35 (urban:rural). This ratio is pushed further against urban areas once you take Cork City out.
That is the packing part of gerrymandering.
The smaller urban areas are spread out and surrounded by rural areas. So in County Kerry (pop. 156k) the urban areas of Tralee (26k) and Killarney (14k) are surrounded by a larger rural population.
That is the cracking part of gerrymandering.
That's how you can have a minority of urban TDs when the population is 65% urban, and in this case there's no malevolent scheming doing it - purely geography.
Well, we gerrymander by claiming that rural MPs can't represent as many people as urban ones. Maybe the Irish do too
My constituency, very rural Cork South-West, is one of those with more than 30,000 people per TD (the constitutional limit, which applies to the national average).
The main concern that affects the choices the boundary commission makes is the universal antipathy to crossing County boundaries.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
I’ve had hare; similar to rabbit but more solid. Never tried crocodile or ostrich but seem to recall kangaroo. Also when in Australia tried witchetty grub; you need quite a few to make a meal, but tastes a bit like peanut flavoured scrambled egg. Had all sorts of strange things in Thailand; rat, frog, grasshopper. The legs of the latter can get stuck in one’s teeth.
I had Hare at Swinton Hall in N Yorks. Very lovely it was too. Definitely more robust than rabbit.
I had snails in Portugal.
Frog I had in Malaysia and it was fine.
When I was at Bombardier one of the guys in Hong Kong, a local not an expat, I worked with liked the local food. He boasted of eating scorpion and tarantula.
One thing I wouldn’t eat is Balut. The embryonic chicken boiled in an egg.
God, I hate this Labour MP, he makes me look bad, particularly as my major achievement on Christmas Day was making a trifle.
None of you understand the pressure/disappointment of Pakistani heritage parents when you don’t become a doctor.
Glasgow MP performs kidney transplant on Christmas Day to give patient 'gift' of life
Dr Zubir Ahmed, MP for Glasgow South West, worked his 18th Christmas Day shift at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, saying he was "thinking about all the medical and nursing staff who worked alongside me"
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Me too. Although I did have some once that was obviously hung for rather longer than I probably needed. I haven't had goat for a long time and have asked my butcher for some recently, so I am waiting for that. Should be interesting. Have also tried crocodile, ostrich and kangaroo. I enjoyed all. I also cooked horse in France. Haven't had rabbit for a long time and I don't think I have ever had hare.
I’ve had hare; similar to rabbit but more solid. Never tried crocodile or ostrich but seem to recall kangaroo. Also when in Australia tried witchetty grub; you need quite a few to make a meal, but tastes a bit like peanut flavoured scrambled egg. Had all sorts of strange things in Thailand; rat, frog, grasshopper. The legs of the latter can get stuck in one’s teeth.
Grasshoppers and locusts are the only kosher insects.
Never tried locust. I’m always up for a go, though; solid little bodies, so should be a good chew!
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
A lot of venison isn't wild these days, it's farmed. There's also a lot imported. I agree that having a lot more wild venison hunted and going into the food chain would be good.
We lead the world in country sports and coming over here to hunt should be far better promoted.
God, I hate this Labour MP, he makes me look bad, particularly as my major achievement on Christmas Day was making a trifle.
None of you understand the pressure/disappointment of Pakistani heritage parents when you don’t become a doctor.
Glasgow MP performs kidney transplant on Christmas Day to give patient 'gift' of life
Dr Zubir Ahmed, MP for Glasgow South West, worked his 18th Christmas Day shift at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, saying he was "thinking about all the medical and nursing staff who worked alongside me"
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
Venison lasagne is rather nice.
As a veggie option Lentils in a lasagne is rather nice too !
New year I’ll give venison lasagne a bash. The mince seems ideal, or maybe I’ll do a venison chilli con carne.
My wife makes a version of shepherd's pie that we call poachers pie: uses minced vensison and duck. (You could add some rabbit too.)
"Against this backdrop, thoughtful dissenters will consider whether an early election could be forced by via some kind of general strike blended with a dose of fuel and port blockades."
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
I’d agree so I expect they will do it by stealth rather than be open and above board about it. We need cheap energy. We’re not going to get it.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
So leave it all to Ed Miliband then?
Effectively we are already doing that with the Climate Change Committee. It’s merely there to lobby for what he/his team wants. Leave it to him and his department let them own it.
Or should we have governance by unelected NGO ?
That would seem to be the conclusion of Blair’s Third Way and Cameron’s Big Society.
Very much so.
I cannot see it changing either as these groups are so well entrenched. Any attempt to remove, or even reduce, them will be met with a robust response and media campaign as they are so well enmeshed with the media.
Irrespective of the facts the public will be convinced life will be worse without them.
"Against this backdrop, thoughtful dissenters will consider whether an early election could be forced by via some kind of general strike blended with a dose of fuel and port blockades."
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
Venison lasagne is rather nice.
Venison Rogan Josh is excellent.
Even though it’s vegan
That's actually what I've just had for lunch, but unfortunately I forgot to take a photo first.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
Venison lasagne is rather nice.
As a veggie option Lentils in a lasagne is rather nice too !
New year I’ll give venison lasagne a bash. The mince seems ideal, or maybe I’ll do a venison chilli con carne.
My wife makes a version of shepherd's pie that we call poachers pie: uses minced vensison and duck. (You could add some rabbit too.)
Very fine it is .
Love that name.
Does she mince her duck ?
I’ve bought breast and leg but never seen minced duck.
"Against this backdrop, thoughtful dissenters will consider whether an early election could be forced by via some kind of general strike blended with a dose of fuel and port blockades."
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
Hang on, we are going around in circles here. I assume you are saying the original purpose of the hunt was killing foxes. Well obviously. But if you can get the enjoyment and spectacle without killing foxes then what is the problem.
And if you say to control fox numbers I am likely to punch a wall because:
a) Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes anyway (so what is your point in not moving to drag hunting where you can get the same enjoyment and definitely not kill a fox)) b) Fox hunting did not control numbers. See my post where I showed that.
Some sick fuckers enjoy seeing animals suffer.
That is what fox hunting is all about.
I am surprised that a follower of the teachings of Jesus, such as HY, is on the side of cruelty.
Yes foxes, lovely cuddly things, never rip rabbits and chickens to pieces and kill lambs, certainly not
As a religious nutter, who believes in the uniqueness of humanity as compared to the animals, aren’t we supposed to operate on a higher plane?
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
A lot of venison isn't wild these days, it's farmed. There's also a lot imported. I agree that having a lot more wild venison hunted and going into the food chain would be good.
We lead the world in country sports and coming over here to hunt should be far better promoted.
Come here to hunt deer rather than go to Zimbabwe to shoot lions.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
Venison lasagne is rather nice.
Venison Rogan Josh is excellent.
Even though it’s vegan
That's actually what I've just had for lunch, but unfortunately I forgot to take a photo first.
I had a Pek chopped pork bread roll. With some of the jelly.
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
I’d agree so I expect they will do it by stealth rather than be open and above board about it. We need cheap energy. We’re not going to get it.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
So leave it all to Ed Miliband then?
Effectively we are already doing that with the Climate Change Committee. It’s merely there to lobby for what he/his team wants. Leave it to him and his department let them own it.
Or should we have governance by unelected NGO ?
The Climate Change Committee isn't an NGO. It's an advisory committee. All sorts of departments have them to provide expert advice. Pretty sure there's one on vaccinations, for example.
The main difference with the Climate Change Committee is that it was established by statute. One of my old lecturers and supervisors used to be on it.
Ideally what you want an advisory committee like this to do is to set out different options for the relevant minister, with estimates of costs, benefits and drawbacks, and neutral on political ideology. Obviously there's a risk that they'll try to craft their recommendations in a way that tries to achieve the ministry to choosing a specific option - but in that case you have the wrong people on the committee.
Drag hunting uses artificial scents (like aniseed) on a pre-planned route, focusing on equestrian sport and jumping, while trail hunting uses animal-based scents (like fox urine) and mimics traditional hunting.
Drag hunting is a more controlled, legitimate equestrian activity distinct from the controversial trail hunting often used as a cover for illegal hunting.
So to answer your question: The benefit of drag hunting is a harmless equestrian sport providing exercise and the other benefits of taking part in a sport. The "benefit" of trail hunting is providing a cover for illegal hunting.
Thanks for that. I live in a very rural area and I didn't know the distinction between the two. Is the proposal to ban both drag and trail or just trail?
Personally I support the ban on fox hunting. I would also support a ban on trail.hunting as you have explained it. I would not support a ban on drag hunting under those definitions.
I also have to say red coat hunting plays no part at all in the life of my rural community. I have never seen any sign of a hunt in the 17 years I have lived here.
Shooting in its various forms is however a big part of rural life round here
The recent proposal in the UK government's Animal Welfare Strategy focuses specifically on banning trail hunting, not drag hunting.
I have to confess that I didn't know of the distinction between drag and trail hunting 30 minutes ago. You live and learn!
PS Useful for pub quizzes.
FWIW I had lunch the other day with someone who was very upset about the proposed ban. She doesn’t distinguish between trail and drag hunting (I asked specifically as I didn’t know).
The only *actual* difference between the two definitions you have provided is artificial vs natural scent (both routes pre-planned and laid out in advance - and there’s no real way you can describe the motivations of the person laying it out whether it is “sport” or “cover”).
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
A lot of venison isn't wild these days, it's farmed. There's also a lot imported. I agree that having a lot more wild venison hunted and going into the food chain would be good.
We lead the world in country sports and coming over here to hunt should be far better promoted.
Kudos to the sheep, almost the only thing we eat that hasn’t succumbed to some sort of intensive farming.
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
I’d agree so I expect they will do it by stealth rather than be open and above board about it. We need cheap energy. We’re not going to get it.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
So leave it all to Ed Miliband then?
Effectively we are already doing that with the Climate Change Committee. It’s merely there to lobby for what he/his team wants. Leave it to him and his department let them own it.
Or should we have governance by unelected NGO ?
That would seem to be the conclusion of Blair’s Third Way and Cameron’s Big Society.
Very much so.
I cannot see it changing either as these groups are so well entrenched. Any attempt to remove, or even reduce, them will be met with a robust response and media campaign as they are so well enmeshed with the media.
Irrespective of the facts the public will be convinced life will be worse without them.
Had to laugh at this passage from the CCCs 2025 progress report:
"Last year, we made making electricity cheaper our first recommendation. When people and businesses switch to electric technologies, they are paying more than the actual cost of supplying the extra electricity they demand, because of policy decisions taken many years ago. Removing policy costs from electricity would ensure the underlying cost-savings of switching to efficient electric technologies are captured by households and businesses, encouraging take-up. The Government has made no clear progress on removing policy costs since the election. Making electricity cheaper remains our first recommendation"
So far the government have been close to the opposite. Like so many other issues, it is aware of the problem but not doing anywhere near enough to address it. We are an energy abundant country, whether it is in wind, oil, gas, nuclear, solar.
The effort to reduce energy costs has been pathetic
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
Venison lasagne is rather nice.
Venison Rogan Josh is excellent.
Even though it’s vegan
That's actually what I've just had for lunch, but unfortunately I forgot to take a photo first.
Your nascent career as travel journalist and airport thriller writer has just collapsed.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Plenty of deer shot and venison eaten in the Highlands of Scotland
Plenty of deer shot everywhere. Just ask foresters and zoologists in England. It's not just the Red Deer but pest species such as muntjac .
Three of the species of deer here are invasive too.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
A local pub/restuarant has venison on the menu every so often. Very tasty.
We used to buy Venison from Raby castle as they had a few herd and farmed them.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
Cheaper than beef or lamb at my local butcher - for diced.
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
Venison lasagne is rather nice.
Venison Rogan Josh is excellent.
Even though it’s vegan
That's actually what I've just had for lunch, but unfortunately I forgot to take a photo first.
Your nascent career as travel journalist and airport thriller writer has just collapsed.
0/10
Oh no! I'll just have to continue running an international tutoring agency instead.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
A lot of venison isn't wild these days, it's farmed. There's also a lot imported. I agree that having a lot more wild venison hunted and going into the food chain would be good.
We lead the world in country sports and coming over here to hunt should be far better promoted.
Wild deer are becoming quite a problem in parts of Highlands and Scotland. I would expect a fair bit more venison to end up on dinner plates soon
Given that they could use aniseed rather than animal scent, it's clearly just a ruse to continue actual fox hunting, do a ban seems justified. The actual control measure for fox numbers would seem to be the motor car. We have plenty of foxes in my urban area and they don't cause an issue if you secure your bins properly. Given I've seen the cubs being taught to raid bins while surrounded by grazing rabbits, I doubt they can be bothered with chickens either.
Next the clowns will want to ban driving cars
There’s a few who do, de growth is very much on the agenda for some. Limit the supply of energy and water and other key essentials and simply live within that and forget growth as it hurts the planet.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Climate change committee has made some suggestions on energy use which it wants to see implemented.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
I’d agree so I expect they will do it by stealth rather than be open and above board about it. We need cheap energy. We’re not going to get it.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
So leave it all to Ed Miliband then?
Effectively we are already doing that with the Climate Change Committee. It’s merely there to lobby for what he/his team wants. Leave it to him and his department let them own it.
Or should we have governance by unelected NGO ?
That would seem to be the conclusion of Blair’s Third Way and Cameron’s Big Society.
Very much so.
I cannot see it changing either as these groups are so well entrenched. Any attempt to remove, or even reduce, them will be met with a robust response and media campaign as they are so well enmeshed with the media.
Irrespective of the facts the public will be convinced life will be worse without them.
Had to laugh at this passage from the CCCs 2025 progress report:
"Last year, we made making electricity cheaper our first recommendation. When people and businesses switch to electric technologies, they are paying more than the actual cost of supplying the extra electricity they demand, because of policy decisions taken many years ago. Removing policy costs from electricity would ensure the underlying cost-savings of switching to efficient electric technologies are captured by households and businesses, encouraging take-up. The Government has made no clear progress on removing policy costs since the election. Making electricity cheaper remains our first recommendation"
So far the government have been close to the opposite. Like so many other issues, it is aware of the problem but not doing anywhere near enough to address it. We are an energy abundant country, whether it is in wind, oil, gas, nuclear, solar.
The effort to reduce energy costs has been pathetic
The annoying thing is, if we had made the right decisions 10-15 years ago on tidal and nuclear we would now be almost energy independent and could tell Putin to go fuck himself.
Oh, and energy would be a lot cheaper.
But we didn't (with the partial exception of Scotland which I think does produce all of its energy from renewable domestic sources but doesn't have the infrastructure to manage it independently).
Only the past few weeks I have eaten goose, pig trotters, pig intestines, chicken gizzards...and they are just the things which were identified.
Maybe you should stop scavenging from other people’s wheelie bins and start buying your own food?
Times are tough and all that....actually in China you worry when they don't tell you what it is other than generic "beef" or "chicken"....it probably means its really bad meat of questionable origins, rather than if they proudly tell you here is your beef offal.
Can I recommend to you all a thoroughly interesting 45 minute conversation between Polanski and James Medway, one of the economists I respect most: https://pca.st/episode/aa464011-8ea3-4f3f-8903-0cef76bf3481. Even if Polanski is not your cup of tea (and he isn't mine economically), Meadway is both very intelligent and an excellent communicator.
Two points, a trigger warning and a question: 1. One of the things I respect most about Meadway is that, almost uniquely amongst left-wing economists, he engages with the reality of the power of the bond markets in the UK, resisting the simplistic 'just borrow more' that Polanski wants to hear. 2. Meadway laces his conversation about economics with an understanding of the current and likely future impacts of climate change. At a time when it feels like everyone has just stopped talking about this, that's really refreshing.
The trigger warning: Meadway was economic adviser to McDonnell when he was Shadow Chancellor. If your thinking goes McDonnell=Corbyn=Antisemitism=Evil, maybe spend your scarce 45 mins elsewhere. But if you're interested in a coherent left-wing critique of our economic system it's worth your time.
The question: particularly for @Luckyguy1983 as I know you have views on this, but also for any right of centre person interested in economics - what do you make of Meadway's arguments (first 10 mins of the podcast) about how the BoE deals with its ownership of government debt?
I haven’t (and won’t) have a chance to look but people get way to focused on accounting and what that means in terms of the “rules” that the government has set itself.
It doesn’t matter.
If the debt exists and needs to be paid back, in which case it is a real liability and should be thought of as such - ie it is a constraint on our ability to borrow additional money and should bear interest (even if you are just moving money to another pocket that can be helpful from a budget control mechanism).
Alternatively the debt is not “real” in which case the government has effectively printed money and we need to accept that the money supply is higher than it would otherwise be, with a consequent impact on inflation and interest rates.
That’s it. There are no other alternatives. What we do at the moment is pretend that it is real, whereas in reality it probably isn’t, but ignore it anyway for spending purposes.
I personally believe that we should treat it as real and should sterilise the debt. The increase in the money supply has inflated the price of real assets (such as housing) and is a big part of the societal pressure that we are under
I appreciate the reply - I had just arrived at the in-laws yesterday so didn't have time to do anything other than acknowledge it. But if you're about now...
... Could you explain what you mean by 'sterilise the debt'?
Other than that I broadly agree - though I wonder about your assertion that treating the debt as not real and therefore printing money has led to the inflation that we have all experienced in the price of real goods.
My understanding, which is partial and on which I am happy to be challenged, is that asset prices such as housing haven't inflated noticeably more since the expansion of the money supply than they were doing beforehand. Instead, the spike in inflation that has led to the current societal pressures was primarily as a result of supply chain shocks during COVID and subsequently specific price shocks as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
If this view was correct, then we might be more justified in treating the debt as not real, and so gaining the benefit of increased headroom right now, which is very badly needed for the economy.
I'd be interested in your or others' views.
Sterilising debt is a fancy way of saying buying back government debt and cancelling it. (So sterilising the impact of the monetary action).
The money supply impact is on *asset price inflation* - so the cost of houses not the cost of food and other goods. At its simplest, if there is more money looking for investment but the same supply of assets, the nominal price of assets goes up.
(You can argue whether its asset prices or cost of goods that has the bigger societal impact - I’d say that asset prices are the more structural issue)
Only the past few weeks I have eaten goose, pig trotters, pig intestines, chicken gizzards...and they are just the things which were identified.
For Christmas dinner I had some lovely big Pacific oysters, stir fried beef intestines and something meaty on skewers (I would have to go back and check the menu to remember what it was) at the riverside night market in Siem Reap. I will certainly be going back for more oysters before I leave the beef intestines we're chewy on the outside with a squishy inside, which I am slightly concerned about
"Against this backdrop, thoughtful dissenters will consider whether an early election could be forced by via some kind of general strike blended with a dose of fuel and port blockades."
"Against this backdrop, thoughtful dissenters will consider whether an early election could be forced by via some kind of general strike blended with a dose of fuel and port blockades."
Only the past few weeks I have eaten goose, pig trotters, pig intestines, chicken gizzards...and they are just the things which were identified.
I had chicken gizzards when visiting a toolmaker in Portugal. Very nice it was too in a lovely tomato sauce.
Stuff like Trotters as well as haslet, pork belly and other foods were cheap foods back 30 or so years. Not these days.
Never had intestines. Sounds unpleasant.
A mates ex wife is Jamaica . She once cooked a dish for us with pigs tails in. Cannot say I enjoyed them but the rest of the dish was banging.
The pig intestines were part of Hunan cuisine, which how can we put it when I tried to order I was told I wasn't allowed more than "medium" spice....I had to have a big tub of ice cream afterwards. The Indians restaurants in the UK aint not nothing on that stuff, a phaal doesn't even meet what is is "medium" spiced.
So a plurality of Tory supporters oppose a trail hunting ban and less than half of Reform voters want to ban it either. The Boxing Day hunt also is a crucial part of village and rural life in areas like where I live. Hundreds turn out on the village green and the pub serves mulled wine as the hunt gathers and for its supporters in rural areas it is a big deal. Even if they have to hunt a trail or drag hunt now not a fox (whose numbers still need to be kept down).
Labour may try and ban trail hunting as most of its supporters want as it banned fox hunting but with Farage and Badenoch opposed to a trail hunting ban, if Labour lose power at the next general election it will be restored
There are perhaps only 170 hunt packs in England so this romanticised notion of every village welcoming its hunt with drinks and applause really needs to be challenged.
My only experience of this was in St Ives (Cornwall) several years ago when the Western Hunt paid the town a visit and it was all very congenial with a few supporters shouting and a small crowd applauding. For most, it was a curiousity and I suppose if there's a purpose to it, it shows urban people an aspect of rural life with which they would otherwise be unfamiliar.
I just think rural communities have a lot more serious issues than the future of the local Hunt.
Those foxhunts are spread across the country from Pembrokeshire to here in rural Essex, from Dumfriesshire to Wensleydale, the Cotswolds and Devon and will of course often stop at more than 1 village on a big hunt day than Boxing Day.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes, what objection would hunts have to converting to Drag hunting? There doesn't seem to be one.
Also you keep bringing up the hunts keep the fox numbers down. If Trail hunts don't kill foxes how do they do that?
Also when fox hunts were allowed to kill they did not keep numbers down because that is not how Fox territories work. if you want I can go through the numbers for you but a simple example is to compare the City Fox to the Rural Fox. The City Fox has a much much much smaller territory than a Rural Fox (the territory is not controlled by extermination but food supply). Yet the City Office is effectively hunted and relentlessly so by the car. It is the major form of death for City Foxes and the average life span for a City Fox is 12 - 18 months but 3 years for a Rural Fox with some living up to 8 years.
So although the City Fox is culled and far more efficiently than a hunt its numbers are far greater. That is because food supply and not hunting is the determinant of the number of foxes.
Hunts used to kill 20 - 25,000 foxes a year. About 1.500,000 - 2,000,000 foxes are born each year. A killed foxes territory is simply taken over by another pair of foxes who will now breed.
If Trail hunting supposedly doesn't kill foxes why does it need to be banned?
Trail hunting also follows an animal based not artificial scent so is closer to the traditional sport of fox hunting Labour banned
Doh. Because they do kill foxes when they shouldn't. I think that has been shown quite clearly.
Which was of course the original purpose of the hunt until Labour in its class war banned it
I suspect it's becoming arguable that we should re-introduce deer hunting round here; both native species and muntjac are beginning to become pests. Guns, though, I think. Not packs of dogs.
Why Britain has a deer problem - leaving damage that costs millions
A lot of venison isn't wild these days, it's farmed. There's also a lot imported. I agree that having a lot more wild venison hunted and going into the food chain would be good.
We lead the world in country sports and coming over here to hunt should be far better promoted.
Kudos to the sheep, almost the only thing we eat that hasn’t succumbed to some sort of intensive farming.
A lot of it has, and is over-wintered in big sheds.
Proper upland (or salt marsh) British lamb is a thing of beauty, though
Comments
I have no issue with this, but let's not pretend it is something it is not.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9d93xzey70o
Galway is the fourth-largest city in Ireland with a population of a bit less than 90k. It's part of the Galway West constituency which elects 5 TDs to represent a population of about 150k, so the city has 60% of the population, but by no means dominates the election. Generally it's enough to elect one leftie with mostly city votes (though the two most recent left-wing TDs for the constituency, also consecutive Presidents of Ireland, were Irish-speakers who did well in the Connemara Gaeltacht areas too).
The next largest city is Waterford (60k) part of the Waterford constituency which covers the entire county of Waterford (population 127k). Now there are other urban areas within Waterford County such as Dungarvan (10k) and Tramore (11k), but we're definitely into the part of the distribution where constituencies are at least well split between urban and rural.
If you combine all the Dublin, Cork and Limerick TDs, and halfish the Galway and Waterford TDs, you can generously get to 77 urban TDs, but I think a better count would be the Dublin 59, 9 from Cork City, 3 from Limerick and 1 from Galway, to make a total of 72.
Either way you are well short of half of the 174 TDs in the Dail.
I'd agree with HYUFD on this one.
Some friends lived in West Wales. The local Hunt was a bunch of farmers on quad bikes and landrovers, the hounds would drive the fox to the guns. There was a terrier man too, you would see him out with his Jack Russells. This was some time ago, not sure if it still happens.
I don't see the argument against hunting prey animals, it's no more and no less inhumane than a slaughterhouse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iaaBZMIzIE
Jack Charlton on a grouse shoot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXdL8iEK89w
And Jack Charlton on a rough shoot - which is the type of shooting RT is referring to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb4zAlj66sE
I wonder what proportion of these types of incident are Russian malevolence vs crumbling infrastructure vs just one of those things.
You wouldn't be happy if you lived in my house. We always have a fox den at the end of the garden and when the cubs are around it is like an abattoir and they always decapitate the animals (I don't know why). Lots of pigeons, song birds, pheasants, rats, squirrels, and occasional bird of prey.
One can be sensitive and still realistic about nature. For instance I found a deer suffering in our garden (it had a head wound full of maggots). I called a deer charity. They came out and shot it and it was then left in some woods for other animals to eat. Nature but with some compassion.
The EU has spent millions funding groups looking at it.
Cute faces, lovely tails. Beautiful.
Bit of a problem with the bins.
And with the photo!!
https://www.ft.com/content/a5b73dfa-e981-4f2b-99a1-7b6c897a99a7 (£££ ?)
Ironically Portillo now makes his living fronting train shows. The Conservatives did cancel in 1994 but it was revived by the Labour government in 2006.
I quite like the Chinese Water Deer.
If energy supply is limited, I'd expect a big backlash from the masses. If taxes were put up on flying, transport, meat etc it would obviously favour the wealthy. I dont see how you could go for reduction in energy use without annoying a big part of the population
The point I was making was that anyone claiming Trail Hunting keeps foxes numbers down is making an 'irrelevant and daft justification' if they also claim they don't kill foxes. That is an oxymoron and illogical.
I did not mean trail hunting itself is daft and irrelevant, although it looked like I did. I meant the justification they are using is daft and irrelevant. I should have used 'illogical'.
Never heard of a fox hunt with dogs in these parts, despite being pretty rural. Pheasant shoots are ten a penny.
Essentially it's the same process as with gerrymandering, but via geography: packing and cracking.
The 59 Dublin TDs - one-third of the total - represent a population that is pretty much 100% urban. That means the remaining two-thirds of the country is split about 32:35 (urban:rural). This ratio is pushed further against urban areas once you take Cork City out.
That is the packing part of gerrymandering.
The smaller urban areas are spread out and surrounded by rural areas. So in County Kerry (pop. 156k) the urban areas of Tralee (26k) and Killarney (14k) are surrounded by a larger rural population.
That is the cracking part of gerrymandering.
That's how you can have a minority of urban TDs when the population is 65% urban, and in this case there's no malevolent scheming doing it - purely geography.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c93wkw37p0pt
Welcome back to the UK, where as in China I went on the bullet trains, always on time, 350 km/h (soon to be upgraded to 400-450 km/h), smooth as silk ride, incredibly comfortable giant airchair reclinable seating and a massage lady on hand to address any aches and pains. All built in 10 years. And from what I saw, they are still building more at a rapid pace.
Only minor downside, the 87 security checks to get on the bloody train.
The Climate Change Committe is one of those unelected NGO’s that @Sandpit was referring to. It has no accountability. Get money from the govt and lobbies the govt on matters that will affect each and every one of us.
It would be better to abolish many of these NGO’s as the govt just subcontracts policy making to them.
Bet he gets lots of space at the bar at the ‘spoons.
I agree, it is very very tasty.
Had it earlier in the year at a couple of local restaurants. It seems to be getting more and more popular rather than just high end places.
I’m really a fan of it.
*Grabs tinfoil hat and ducks*
You can use it in any receipe that calls for lamb and most for beef.
I certainly plan to cook more with it in the new year as a nice alternative to beef and lamb.
New year I’ll give venison lasagne a bash. The mince seems ideal, or maybe I’ll do a venison chilli con carne.
My ultimate favourite game meat is woodcock, comes with the head on and the innards intact. You use the beak as a skewer, I like to liquidise the innards into the gravy
Though being ground-nesting, foxes are no doubt the main predator...
Had all sorts of strange things in Thailand; rat, frog, grasshopper. The legs of the latter can get stuck in one’s teeth.
At least, I think that's what he said.
I liked both. Pheasant I always felt was a nicer flavour to chicken and turkey.
Where would you get them these days ? I use farm shops and local butchers but not seen them for years and my sister divorced him so none from there.
Or should we have governance by unelected NGO ?
Duck breast, of course.
https://www.wildmeat.co.uk/collections/pheasant?srsltid=AfmBOoqbu7Cj0L-F2ULV-AAsMMwR748SZcj3DzGklee9Cko_sOJjlcfl
Otherwise just try to keep looking until you find a place that stocks it. Gloucester Services do but I appreciate Tebay is a fair drive.
A gunshot is believed to be more humane but that very much depends on the quality of the shot and, in most instances, a predator will kill its prey with a quick bite to the neck as any nature documentary will show you.
Even though it’s vegan
The main concern that affects the choices the boundary commission makes is the universal antipathy to crossing County boundaries.
I had snails in Portugal.
Frog I had in Malaysia and it was fine.
When I was at Bombardier one of the guys in Hong Kong, a local not an expat, I worked with liked the local food. He boasted of eating scorpion and tarantula.
One thing I wouldn’t eat is Balut. The embryonic chicken boiled in an egg.
None of you understand the pressure/disappointment of Pakistani heritage parents when you don’t become a doctor.
Glasgow MP performs kidney transplant on Christmas Day to give patient 'gift' of life
Dr Zubir Ahmed, MP for Glasgow South West, worked his 18th Christmas Day shift at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, saying he was "thinking about all the medical and nursing staff who worked alongside me"
https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/glasgow-mp-performs-kidney-transplant-33133150
We lead the world in country sports and coming over here to hunt should be far better promoted.
Very fine it is .
"Against this backdrop, thoughtful dissenters will consider whether an early election could be forced by via some kind of general strike blended with a dose of fuel and port blockades."
Britain is dangerously radicalised. Time is short to turn things round
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/29/britain-dangerously-radicalised-time-short-turn-round/
I cannot see it changing either as these groups are so well entrenched. Any attempt to remove, or even reduce, them will be met with a robust response and media campaign as they are so well enmeshed with the media.
Irrespective of the facts the public will be convinced life will be worse without them.
Clicks on article
Sees it’s Isobel Oakshott.
Clicks off promptly.
Does she mince her duck ?
I’ve bought breast and leg but never seen minced duck.
Banging it was too.
The main difference with the Climate Change Committee is that it was established by statute. One of my old lecturers and supervisors used to be on it.
Ideally what you want an advisory committee like this to do is to set out different options for the relevant minister, with estimates of costs, benefits and drawbacks, and neutral on political ideology. Obviously there's a risk that they'll try to craft their recommendations in a way that tries to achieve the ministry to choosing a specific option - but in that case you have the wrong people on the committee.
The only *actual* difference between the two definitions you have provided is artificial vs natural scent (both routes pre-planned and laid out in advance - and there’s no real way you can describe the motivations of the person laying it out whether it is “sport” or “cover”).
"Last year, we made making electricity cheaper our first recommendation. When people and businesses switch to electric technologies, they are paying more than the actual cost of supplying the extra electricity they demand, because of policy decisions taken many years ago. Removing policy costs from electricity would ensure the underlying cost-savings of switching to efficient electric technologies are captured by households and businesses, encouraging take-up. The Government has made no clear progress on removing policy costs since the election. Making electricity cheaper remains our first recommendation"
So far the government have been close to the opposite. Like so many other issues, it is aware of the problem but not doing anywhere near enough to address it. We are an energy abundant country, whether it is in wind, oil, gas, nuclear, solar.
The effort to reduce energy costs has been pathetic
0/10
Oh, and energy would be a lot cheaper.
But we didn't (with the partial exception of Scotland which I think does produce all of its energy from renewable domestic sources but doesn't have the infrastructure to manage it independently).
Stuff like Trotters as well as haslet, pork belly and other foods were cheap foods back 30 or so years. Not these days.
Never had intestines. Sounds unpleasant.
A mates ex wife is Jamaica . She once cooked a dish for us with pigs tails in. Cannot say I enjoyed them but the rest of the dish was banging.
Can we please go back to having anarchists who look like this?
Tracksuited twats, whether neon-Nazi or from the spontaneously self combusting community just look ghastly.
The money supply impact is on *asset price inflation* - so the cost of houses not the cost of food and other goods. At its simplest, if there is more money looking for investment but the same supply of assets, the nominal price of assets goes up.
(You can argue whether its asset prices or cost of goods that has the bigger societal impact - I’d say that asset prices are the more structural issue)
Such as living here.
Edit and correction. From a quick google appears it's still a going concern, though now more a takeaway than a restaurant.
Proper upland (or salt marsh) British lamb is a thing of beauty, though