Far be it from me to put people off any petition against driven grouse shooting but I don’t think I’ll be rushing to sign this one. I’m not sure its timing is wise, and as far as I know it has not had the benefit of any ground being prepared so that it might be supported.
In any case, there is still the Wild Justice petition on the same subject to be debated in Westminster Hall. The GWCT was confidently predicting that would happen in April – it won’t. Life is too short for anyone to want to correct errors of fact or interpretation of GWCT. The Petitions Committee is in touch with Wild Justice about this petition,
… and indeed the Badger petition…
– both are in the system but are still some way from appearing in Westminster Hall.
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I was wondering where the GWCT statement that it would be debated this month came from as I couldn’t find anything on the Petitions Committee web-site about it (in fact its hard to find the petition there at all as it is accessed via ‘archived petitions).
It is worth noting that GWCT plan to bombard MPs and journalists with ‘briefing packs’ so it will be important to ensure that this is countered by accurate information from the confirmation side. Does Wild Justice have plans to disseminate material to MPs for this purpose? It would perhaps also be a good idea to publish some guidance on what supporters of the petition may choose to send to their own MPs ahead of a debate whenever it eventually happens. Last time around there was a disappointing turn-out from MPs who were not active supporters of driven grouse shooting so hopefully this time we can chivvy more of our MPs into showing an interest.
Great. Another politically ignorant idiot hindering the movement. We’ve already had one complete tool do this, for the sake of trying to boost their own career to boot, and now whomever is behind this. We had a successful petition, thanks to Mark, but any petition now which does not exceed Mark’s signature level [achieved through massive effort] will only hinder the cause, because it will instead reassure politicians that interest level is falling and thus the issue can be safely parked.
It is so monumentally misjudged, you could wonder if they were a member of the shooting fraternity out to deliberate muddy the waters.
Now, if they were to launch a petition to make drive through takeout joints print the customer’s car registration plate on every bag; that would be worth signing, in order to tackle littering.
Any petition should have its originators name up front before anything else.
Funny, me and a neighbour were on about this idea for takeouts just this week, fed up of it by the roadsides, then again we get stuff from the farm shop chucked out as well.
People.