I’ve been in London since the evidence session on Tuesday and have met or been in touch with many MPs. The strong message comes back that the grouse shooting industry is rattled and on the back foot because never before has it faced such public scrutiny. We have posed the questions when will wildlife crime…
Category: BAN DRIVEN GROUSE SHOOTING
What next?
Yesterday – evidence session Today – written evidence from the four witnesses who were called to give evidence in person published In the next few days hundreds of written submissions received by the inquiry will be published I will submit supplementary evidence to the Committee I believe that option is open to the public too…
Every grouse moor needs a Magritte
No, grouse shooting isn’t a rich man’s thing. No, we aren’t subsidising it as taxpayers. It’s an every day story of grouse-shooting folk. First buy your grouse moor – Muggleswick, 13,000 acres, for £7m. Not enough? Buy another, East Allenheads, another 13,000 acres, for £10m. That’s more like it. Buy a Magritte…
All change – Portcullis House on Tuesday
The evidence session on Tuesday will take place in Portcullis House – opinions differ as to whether this is the ugliest building in London or just one of them. However, inside it is very nice, and modern – although lacking the charm of Sir Charles Barry’s and Pugin’s masterpiece over the road. The evidence session…
NE use at all?
Just as Defra did not submit written evidence to the inquiry into driven grouse shooting – nor did Natural England. The fact that NE have been spending our taxpayers’ money on a detailed study of ranging behaviour and mortality of Hen Harriers since 2002 has not led them to think that they might have anything…
What Defra would have had to admit
After cogitating (aka as delaying) for a month, Defra finally told me it wouldn’t answer questions about its response to our successful e-petition on banning driven grouse shooting (123,076 signatures). The House of Commons Petitions Committee will hold an evidence session, jointly with the EFRA Committee, on this subject next Tuesday (see here and here)…
How Defra might have come to NO COMMENT
Comments Off on How Defra might have come to NO COMMENT
Defra have felt unable to answer the questions that would put them on the spot over their inadequate response to our e-petition. I can understand why – their response, signed off by Rory Stewart, was hopelessly biased. They should now face questions from MPs over their position. This is a wholly fictional account (think Yes…
Scorched earth season in our National Parks
It’s the burning season in our National Parks. This scene is from the Peak District National Park, on an SSSI and in a Special Protection Area for Birds and is upstream of the Rivelin Reservoir where Yorkshire Water is spending £24m to improve Sheffield’s water quality (see here and here). Much of the catchment draining…
NO COMMENT from Defra
I emailed Defra a month ago to ask them some questions ahead of the grouse shooting inquiry. There were quite a lot of questions and Defra were clearly rattled by them as they waited until the very last minute before replying yesterday (see below) with the biggest ‘no comment’ I’ve ever seen. As I have…
Evidence session
A week today, between 215pm and 245pm, I’ll be giving evidence to a joint inquiry into grouse shooting by the Petitions Committee and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. It’s not a long time, but we’ll see how it goes. You can see how it goes by attending in person or by watching on…