I get quite a lot of people who want stuff from me – they don’t all get it.
Some of them are students and some of them seem, almost, to want me to write their essays or projects for them! But on the whole, I try to be helpful, particularly if they approach me in the right way.
And so this morning I was talking to a young lady who is doing a project on the future of grouse shooting. She lives in the north of England and she told me that she had read Inglorious already, which put her in my good books straight away.
I’d suggested that she phoned, as that is a test of the motivation of the person wanting my time – will they get around to phoning or not? – and it’s also often easier to find out what someone really wants in a conversation than a string of emails. So we talked and she did seem pretty clued up, and persuaded by Inglorious so I suggested that she ought to contact the ‘other side’ of the debate. She hadn’t tried the Moorland Association so she will probably do that now but I was surprised that she said that GWCT had refused to talk to her. A bit surprising – if I can talk to her then surely a charity with the resources and expertise of TCWG can find the time. Oh well! She went away, it seemed, happy with my side of the issue…
