Our (there are very nearly 19,ooo of us) e-petition to ban driven grouse shooting has just received a government response.
I’ll write a few words about it tomorrow evening – but you can see for yourselves that it isn’t very7 good.
More on this tomorrow.
Nobody could find this response the least bit convincing – and so there is even more reason to sign this e-petition calling on government to ban driven grouse shooting. Wouldn’t it be great to see this debated in parliament?
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Mark this is the second petition on driven grouse isnt it? Would be worth highlighting this because we tend to think we’ve already signed.
The first one got lots more sigs?
Er, or am I making this all up…….??
Interesting that the link to the Moorland association http://www.moorlandassociation.org/economics3.asp from the DEFRA answer to the petition comes up with:- Page Not Found (404)
That is political bullshit if ever i saw it, a mouthpiece for the shooting lobby. But that is what is written on the tin.
The only hope is Corbyn and the new breed of people’s politicians which there signs may be emerging.
“When carried out in accordance with the law…” as it falls at the first hurdle, let’s just ban it now.
As a policy wonk, my first reaction is that Defra has opened up a rich vein of potential Parliamentary Questions – just what a new shadow team need as ammunition to bombard the Government.
Typically of the present Government, the response verges on the contemptuous and is so badly researched – and therefore worded – it leaves a host of avenues open: probably central are the beginning and the end ‘when legally’ and the celebration! of 6 pairs of Hen Harrier. As the science shows, the two simply don’t go together. Following the first Jeremy Corbyn PMQs it will be interesting to see how the generalised waffle the Government has relied on fairly effectively stands up a forensic, real life approach: I for one was not impressed when the response to a hard working, low income family was that ‘we have to cut the welfare budget’ do we ? So much so that we have to raise the inheritance tax threshold because it is so unfair on people worth up to £1 million ? The Corbyn approach may not have much impact on the Conservatives, and it won’t entertain the lobby journalists, but hopw will it play with the ultimate arbitors, the voters ? And how will this Defra response play with people who are fed up with the continuing slaughter of Hen Harriers ?
I have just read the full response to the petition. Put very simply I cannot believe what I have read, am I living in a different world? Sorry, I am too upset and angry to respond further.
I am sorry but this response is the biggest insult to the intelligence of a dim witted red grouse imaginable! Every point made is based on falsehoods and it provides enough flannel to cover several grouse moors.
It’s a shame we cant go to IPSO on this one too! Can DEFRA provide substantiating data? They really must do better than to simply go to the CA and YFTB for a stance – but then again no surprise it’s the grouse shooting industry behind it all.
Mr. Angry has steam emanating from the ears!
Well, I’m tempted to ask if you spell b……ks with one L or two ( and don’t really expect you to publish this bit), as a Blogger, I wouldn’t!
It seems hypocritical in the extreme that they don’t nett off their figures of the value generated by the industry taking account of the subsidies received for management of designated sites, as a majority of grouse moors are and the abysmal failure of owners to manage to support the species upon which which these sites are designated. Lost for words, feel both desperate and disappointed. This is little more than a repeat of the response I got on the Licensing petition.
keep battling away , Mark!
Mark, apologies for the near incoherent comment submitted previously. Please tidy it up, but I still anticipate a pretty dismal evening!!
john.
Did anyone expect different? The economic stuff underlines the fact that it’s all about the money. The point can not have been missed, so it’s a smokescreen. Next stage is debate, hopefully not as farcical as the Badger Cull debate. Keep on keeping on! Without consulting history I expect Hansard would tell us that slavery and female emancipation got similar response. I read on your facebook that anything that’s been going on for donkey’s years must be OK. This view is the problem really, isn’t it? Mind you, driven grouse shooting, although it’s been about for a bit, is not really that old in it’s present form. It’s all about the money, just like the slave trade. It depends on individuals thinking about something else and if they do then saying so. I do and here I am saying so.
Where can I see the response? I may be missing something staring me in the face but I can’t see the actual response. I would love to read it. And despair…
I received a copy of the response automatically from the “petitions team”
Jiva Jane,I got the by clicking on,”Ban Driven Grouse Shooting”and then clicking on Government response and then more,hope that works for you.
Pretty predictable and a measure of the job in front of us. I had a reply from the Scottish Government which has many of the same passages. So the Tories and SNP not that different! We just have to see it as part of the journey-these people are not going to give up easily. But there are reasons to be positive as the backlash against CA and their Mr Packham mistake shows. I did ask Mr Corbyn to raise the question re wildlife crime in PMQs but I guess he would get some stick if this had been one of his first questions.
Keep the faith-the tide is turning,albeit slower than we would all like.
There are a lot of embarrassed people in the DEFRA office today. The shame of this guff ridden CA press release is that right thinking professional people have been made to swallow their pride and issue this drivel.
Lets e-mail JC some questions to ask….
I suspect that none of us are, in reality, really surprised by what codswallop has been thrown together by a junior in defra? Then again, maybe it is what a Minister or the SoS wrote?
No matter, they were offered an opportunity to present a considered reasoned response.
Up the ante as they say, and carry on campaigning. Responses like this will simply fuel the determined ….
Well done on all counts Mark.
petition now over 19,000.
We are surely these peoples bosses as we pay there salary and pension.
Hard to believe when they spout such bullshit.
No suprise there really .If they think we will swallow that Utter Garbage ,and everthing is Hunky Dory in the Uplands.And our Hen Harriers are doing fine and Dandy !! This Utter Crap that passes for a Government Response just makes us realise what we are up against .We must move swiftly onwards and upwards .Sheer People Power will get this Ban Enforced,we must use this as Motivation to drive us on ,and all pull together,we know it won’t be easy ,but we will see this through .
Take this response as a warning to all of you. Consume too much lead in your diet and you to will spout rubbish!
“When carried out in accordance with the law, grouse shooting for sport is a legitimate activity … The Government’s position is that people should be free to undertake lawful activities should they wish to do so.” (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/104441?reveal_response=yes)
This informative response is apparently from the Assistant to the Secretary to the Director of the National Committee for Stating the Bleeding Obvious. However, I am grateful that government is not currently considering rescinding our right to undertake lawful activities.
Looking forward to Mark’s response.
Cicely – welcome! Exactly!