Not much to say about this because nothing much is happening.
Three e-petitions - how do they compare?
| Position | Signatures | Signs in last week | Days left | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gavin Gamble | Ban | 48,174 | 0 | closed |
| Jane Griggs | Pro | 15,183 | 8 | 24 |
| Ed Hutchings | License | 16,159 | 399 | 45 |
6 Replies to “Petitions update 30 April”
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For all the RSPB’s pushing the Licensing Petition in Nature’s Home and on Facebook and Twitter there are still approx. 1.2m members sleepong peacefully! I’m still expecting a personal email from Mike Clarke asking for my signature.
Point well made. Why should we not expect such an email? By disposition I am a supporter of the RSPB in this debate, an ‘apologist’ if you like. I understand their, as it were, utilitarian desire to do the best for birds and for nature overall, and the balance, in this political world, they must therefore strike. And they have hardly neglected the hen harrier. But yet to have a public position in support of licensing and to do so little to give voice to it smacks of uncertainty and lack of confidence. Why didn’t they publish their policy on the uplands? It’s a significant part of the area of the UK, very important for birds, exceptionally badly mismanaged and, for the most part, simply for ‘sport’. The longer the RSPB remains muted on these issues, the greater will be the concern that they are fearful of speaking truth unto power. Their ability to do in future so will corrrespondingly be damaged rather than enhanced. The shooters are beginning to split. Let’s see the RSP exploiting this.
I have written and asked him to send such an e-mail to me and everyone else who has ‘opted in’ to receiving communications from the RSPB. Still waiting.
I really can’t make my mind up as to whether the lack of a bounce for the Licensing Petition from the RSPB backing it is due to apathy from the membership to campaign on this topic or similar, or because of the methods the RSPB are using to promote it, or because the membership, who are interested, are minded to want a ban rather than licensing (I’m in that category). Maybe a combination of all three. Maybe one day the RSPB will change it’s mind and back a ban then we might find out the answer.
Shaun – certainly partly all three, but mostly, in my opinion, because of the lacklustre approach by the RSPB to promoting something that they say they believe in passionately. Flaccid campaigning.
Mark – I agree that their campaigning could be much better. Worryingly, if they ever do back a ban then their current style of campaigning won’t make much of an impact on any future ban petition. I think that many of us had hoped that if the RSPB backed a ban petition then it would push it to way over 100k signatures, maybe even 200-300k but I now very much doubt that their backing would produce the result that many would like to see.