‘…the grouse-shooting debate revealed some MPs’ enduring contempt for the masses. An orchestrated procession of tame Tories waxed lyrical about the joys of wild shooting.’
‘Charles Walker smeared the petitioner, conservationist Mark Avery‘
‘E-petitions are supposed to reboot parliamentary democracy but, on the evidence of this farce, they are another kick in its teeth. And MPs are doing the kicking.‘
Thank you Patrick Barkham!
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I consider it disgraceful that those MP’s have chosen to completely ignore the masses who petitioned against this barbaric ‘sport’.
Interesting that nearly all of the follow-up comments are about Patrick’s other topic, feral cats. It tells us something about the public psyche and, perhaps, the value of Henry to the campaign – he may have even more potential, perhaps?
“Interesting”
Not really, given that it was feral cats that were headlined. Who would have known that grosue were included? Or great big boats? Where were all the comments about having to widen the Solent?
“Where were all the comments about having to widen the Solent?”
I don’t know but Patrick Barkham was referring to the fact that Royal Caribbean Cruises has announced that its next generation of vessels will be smaller than the current ones so hopefully no further widening should be necessary to accommodate them.
Well feral domestic cats (i.e. any cat not kept as an exclusively indoors cat) are a massive problem in the birding community too. There is definitely an overlap between the ban driven grouse campaign and the banning outdoors cats campaign too.
Taking flack is an inevitable consequence of raising your head. It is by example that a good leader should lead and by standing up to be counted, Mark has set an example to all. No-one said it would be easy, but choosing a moral pathway, knowing that the inevitable fallout will be insulting, is compensated for by the knowledge that this war will be won. A shrewd person picks their battles and this is winnable.
It was interesting on scrolling through the comments on the Guardian article to find a contribution (pasted below) from Keith Cowieson who rather coyly fails to mention an interest in that he’s the Director of Songbird Survival. No mistaking that his sympathies seem more with gamekeepers than birds – a bit of a giveaway really. Hard to see how conservationists can build bridges with those so determined to tear them down either illegally or legally by obtaining permission to cull Buzzards.
“This is the same Dr Avery who incited his blog followers to smear all gamekeepers by running what was rather aptly termed a Gamekeeper ‘hate fest’ by an RSPB Skydancer Project volunteer (who was attempting to build bridges with same gamekeeper community), see here – https://markavery.info/2014/10/06/friends-gamekeepers-call/ and here – https://markavery.info/2014/10/07/gamekeepers/. He has never apologised to those whom were abused, en-masse.
It appears that being a doctor of ecology who has published over 50-plus scientific papers doesn’t necessarily prohibit some ‘conservationists’ revealing their enduring contempt for others and belittling their profession/vocation either”.
As the saying goes, you couldn’t incite me if you paid me. That passage, by the way, is thorough weird.