I was posting some (free!) copies of Inglorious to various points of the compass where Hen Harrier Day events are happening and the lady in the post office and I had the following exchange:
Her: What is in the parcels?
Me: Books
Her: Are they valuable?
Me: Priceless! I wrote them and have signed them.
Her: More than £20?
Me: No – not that priceless admittedly
Her: What are they about?
Me: About why we should ban grouse shooting
Her: I thought that was traditional
Would that punchline have happened in many other countries, I wonder?
Is a much-repeated error better than a new one? Are serial killers somehow better than one-off ones? Is a character fault better than a momentary lapse of judgement?
So our conversation went on:
Me: You mean like slavery was, and women not having the vote, and sticking kids up chimneys to clean them?
Her: Good point! But what’s wrong with it?
Me: You should read my book.
Her: ‘smile’
Me: Well, it puts up people’s water bills and home insurance costs…
Her: How does it do that?
Me: You should read my book!
Her: ‘smile’
And so I gave her the 30 second precis of the book, as the posting machine wasn’t very quick.
This is one reason I wrote the book. Many people are affected by driven grouse shooting who know nothing about it. A few thousand sales of a book, and a few reviews in the newspapers won’t turn that around immediately but it is pushing at the door. Push! Push!
If you want to know why we should ban driven grouse shooting then either be on the other side of a post office counter when I am posting books or buy Inglorious – conflict in the uplands.
If you are already convinced then please sign this e-petition and talk to your friends to get them to do so too. We’re heading to the 10,000 signatures that trigger a government response (9,300 in just two weeks) and we may get there by Hen Harrier Day. Ban driven grouse shooting.
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Surely everybody knows “Tradition is the enemy of progress”
“Tradition”- was the thousands of years before the invention of driven grouse shooting…before people were forced off the land to make room for a rich persons playground… before biodiversity collapsed.
I’m tired of listening to the ‘compromise and negotiate’ brigade. I’ve not seen one sign of compromise from the shooters; I want to see more strong legal protection of wildlife BEFORE I pass on, thanks.