Badger cull falters

 

Is animal-baiting Minister James Paice cracking up.

He was the object of ridicule on Thursday on circus animals. Now farmer Jim has angered other farmers by not attending the Devon show. Tonight there is a report that he cast doubt on a badger cull going ahead in an interview on the BBC South West Politics show. The Telegraph report,  Badger cull may be called off following minister's admission that 'question mark' hangs over the plan, says he "suggested that cull may not take place at all. He also disclosed that ministers were concerned that legal challenges could be mounted to delay the mass shooting of badgers".

Pro-Badger campaigner Chris Gale reports that the anonymity promised to English farmers who slaughter badgers will not be necessary. He writes "Here in Wales anonymity for any landowner - pro or anti cull - is a redundant concept as there is no choice whether to participate in the proposed cull or not. All land in the Intensive Action Area is subject to the Order and powers to enforce access. Many landowners are worried that badger baiters could take advantage of the situation. It won't be easy to check or challenge as cull contractors will be anonymous and little or no advance notice given'.

Predictably the first meeting of the Assembly was dominated with moans about the downgrading of the agricultural minister.  If the English cull is cancelled, Wales cannot be shamed by going it alone in a futile act of animal cruelty.

 

What secret?

The ultimate futility of the super injunction was heard this morning by the millions of Today programme listeners. As interviewee said 'If Ryan, oops!' So that limits the short list to top football players whose first name is 'Ryan'. That's a hard one.

Oiling revolving door

Tomorrow's Mail on Sunday has an interesting new Revolving door story that has everything, secrets, Iraq, war and oil. It should be a cracker.

 

Comments

[Junican]

For heaven's sake! These badgers are no different from cattle and rats! They are just ANIMALS!

Your sentimentality amazes me, Mr Flynn. As an intelligent MP, you cannot possibly believe what you profess. If you do, then you are not fit to be an MP.

The hysteria of MPs never ceases to amaze me. It can only be a result of the lack of personal responsibility for the decisions that the administration take on behalf of MPs. There are so many hysterical 'frighteners' (eg. salt intake) being promoted by NHS jobsworthies that it is hard to see why MPs are incapable of seeing that these 'frighteners' are just a nice, easy way for certain people to keep themselves in a nice, easy, unquestioned job.
I never cease to be amazed.

[patrick]

In two generations we have devastated the natural world with chemical pollution, urban expansion, land drainage, road construction and industrialized agriculture.

Whilst our native biodiversity has been reduced to a fragment of it's former glory where have been the howls of protests?

How many MPS have done anything whatsoever since 1945 to prevent the chemical onslaught of the countryside?

Considering the most 'intelligent' animal on the planet is busy destroying it's own habitat it comes as no suprise.

The real tradgedy is not the present culling of a percentage of one controversial species, but the systematic Government sponsored destruction of over 60 years.

So bright is our society that in 2011 we are having to manufacture pollinators.

[Paul Flynn]

Just animals Junican? The way that we treat animals is a good guide to the way we treat human beings. Indifference to gratuitous suffering is a step than breeds indifference to human suffering. Today there is good news that public opinion might force the Tories into a u-turn. See this quote

"The polling – by YouGov for the League Against Cruel Sports – comes as farming minister James Paice said in a television interview that the cull “may not happen”, casting doubt on expectations that the government were to announce a cull this month.

Animal welfare campaigners were concerned that the plans to license the shooting of free-running badgers would leave many seriously injured badgers and ‘introduce a new rural bloodsport’'.

[Paul Flynn]

Fair points Patrick. We should heed them and not compound past mistakes with new follies.

[patrick]

'New follies' should be written on a plaque above the doors of the EU.

They certainly learn by their mistakes, NOT!

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/farmers-may-use-animal-byproducts-in-feed-again-2287441.html

[Junican]

Yes, Mr Flynn - just animals. Much the same thing as the slugs in your garden which you kill with slug pellet - unless you want your plants to be decimated. Badgers are just animals - like race horses which have outlived their usefulness and are turned into glue, or are exported for food. They are just animals - they have no intelligence - just animals. If we wish to retain them, then we can do, but they have no particular right to exist. They are no different from rats. Why should one think otherwise?

[patrick]

Well done Junican for displaying exactly how far humanity thinks it has seperated itself from the jumped up apes that we are.

Just as well that we were all made in the image of a mythical being that also created everything in six days.

We have nothing in common with animals. We are clever and have intellect. They are stupid and should be destroyed unless of course they have have anthropomorphic features, give us food, milk, purr or are cuddly.

You are a pathetic example of an animal with no intelligence but nobody is either questioning your right to exist or suggesting we cull you.

[D.G.]

"Why should one think otherwise?"

Because, as anyone other than the most rabid sociopath could attest, it's fundamentally immoral to destroy life unnecessarily.

Your comparison with rats and slugs is false - rats and slugs are a proven threat to our health and/or food supply.

The lack of scientific evidence that badgers are responsible for the spread of TB in cattle (or if they are, that a cull would make any difference) is one of the main arguments against the cull.