A Tangled Web

Vulpine and Supine



Britain in 2004 is a country with an appalling health service, record levels of illiteracy, pot-holed and overcrowded roads, ridiculous levels of illegal immigration, and unprecedented levels of criminality and anti-social behaviour. Notwithstanding this worrying cycle of decline, Blair has promised that banning foxhunting will be a central theme of his re-election campaign. Thanks Tony! It's so comforting to know that, as your policies continue to drag this country to its knees, you wish to concentrate on the oh-so important matter of hunting.



Foxes are classed under law as 'vermin'. They have never been afforded protection because they are not an endangered species. Any farmer will tell you of the devastation foxes cause to certain types of livestock, and any hunter will tell you that dispatching a fox with the use of hounds - no matter how unpleasant such scenes may be to namby-pamby Lefties and the insane animal rights lobby - is a far more humane method of killing than shooting a fox with the strong possibility that it will slowly bleed to death.



Fact, quite naturally, plays no part in the equation. Blair's backbenchers view the abolition of foxhunting through a prism of class warfare. Banning an essential part of rural life will, for them, symbolise nothing more than petty pointscoring over people the Loony Left regard as upper class twits. After all, country folk are not very well disposed to the urbane schmaltz of New Labour, so penalising them and their way of life won't matter a jot.



One of the fiercest advocates of a ban is the Newham MP, Tony Banks. I would like to ask Mr Banks whether he thinks it is ever-so-slightly hypocritical to ride roughshod over people's right to hunt when representing a constituency packed to the rafters with Muslims? You see, Islam decrees that meat consumed by its adherents must be 'halal'. In other words, for the sake of Islamic theological observance, an animal must be strung-up by it hind legs and then endure a slow death by having its throat cut. I think allowing an animal to bleed to death is a bit more cruel than killing a fox with hounds, Mr Banks. Then again, your insane standpoints prohibit you from doing or saying anything that might upset the Muslim fraternity, eh. By contrast, trampling over the rights of country folk is another matter entirely.