We’re not quite sure whether it’s a poor attempt at countering out hugely popular ‘Image of the Day’, but the Countryside Alliance have now being publishing a daily quote on their blog. They’re aged quotes from pro-‘liberty’ columnists such as Polly Toynbee, on why they think banning hunting would be a bad idea.
The problem for the CA is that aside from those on the Dreary Telegraph, most of the columnists who once wrote of their opposition to a ban now support the Hunting Act. That’s why they’re using old quotes.
The Countryside Alliance should know better than most that just because someone once said something, doesn’t mean they necessarily think it any more. After all, they employ Jim Barrington who used to be a hunt sab, then worked at the League until 1995 and now works for both the Middle Way Group and the Countryside Alliance!
League Against Cruel Sports 
notoharecoursing said,
March 16, 2010 @ 11:33 am
I have an MP who is against the hunting ban on libertarian grounds. I suppose that he and Polly Toynbee would agree that paedophiles ought to be free to do their stuff on liberal and/or libertarian grounds. There are limits, even in a liberal society, Ms. Toynbee!
auntykill said,
March 16, 2010 @ 5:02 pm
“I can think of better things to do on a Sunday than rein in a ton of horse that thinks it’s at the last bend at Aintree. But I would defend to the end the right of anyone to carry on doing it”
If that’s all it were then no-one would dream of spoiling their pleasure, they can ride their horses until they drop for all I care, but once they start exercising their “right” to chase terrified wildcreatures to exhaustion and unspeakable deaths then it becomes offensive to any decent person and they have got to be stopped.
auntykill said,
March 16, 2010 @ 5:02 pm
PS I can hardly wait for tomorrows words of wisdom…ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…snore.
acriticalfriend said,
March 17, 2010 @ 10:57 am
Here you go auntykill, just for you…
“Having spent 13 years of my life leading a professional campaign against hunting, I know just how easy it is to mislead people, compared with the difficulties of informing them. It is very easy for the League Against Cruel Sports to say “it is wrong to kill an animal just for fun”. People who are not conversant with farming, wildlife conservation and nature will, of course, readily agree with such a statement.
“It is a lot more difficult to get the truth and the facts through ears that do not want to hear, and eyes that do not want to see. But after 13 years of discussing and debating this issue I found it impossible to ignore the truth and facts about hunting.
I have come to despise the League Against Cruel Sports, even though I was its Chairman and Chief Executive, simply because these people know as well as I do that the abolition of hunting will not make any difference to the welfare of foxes, hares or deer. Mankind will always be at war with creatures that damage or destroy. Just as people in towns and cities will not tolerate rats in their houses, farmers cannot be expected to tolerate foxes in hen houses or deer in wheat fields.
“To abolish hunting is to say: “You must not kill pests by the relatively quick kill or escape method of hunting but you can kill by other methods that cause a lot more real pain and suffering. When one asks “Why?” the only truthful answer is “Because I do not like the fact that you get some enjoyment out of it.” Frankly, it does not matter whether a man in a slaughterhouse enjoys his job or hates his job. Normal people enjoy their Sunday roast and their bacon for breakfast. It really is as simple as that.
“I still have a concern about animals suffering pain. So do most hunting people. They do not go hunting for blood and guts and pain. They simply know that foxes have to be killed and they also know that the quick death in the jaws of a dog is preferable to hours or even days in a snare.
“Moreover, there could not be any hunting if the quarry species were exterminated. Therefore, hunting people make sure that there is quarry around for the next season. The fishermen and game-shooters do the same. But if we take away their incentives by abolition we will lose much of our wild life and that is what real conservation is all about. It is the difference between idealism and reality. It took me 13 years to accept that point, not 13 minutes of reading misleading and professional propaganda.”
Richard Course, formerley Chief Executive and Chairman of the League Against Cruel Spports, April 1988
auntykill said,
March 18, 2010 @ 5:52 pm
How kind of you criticalfriend to show me those words (again, I wish I had a fiver for every time that old chestnut has been wheeled out). it’s quite true I don’t see why anyone should get pleasure from killing an animal. I don’t see why animals should be killed for that matter, natural selection works for me and guess what else….. (“QuoteNormal people enjoy their Sunday roast and their bacon for breakfast. It really is as simple as that.”) I’m not a normal person because I’m a vegetarian and in fact I’d rather put a red hot poker up my backside than eat the produce of a slaughterman so how am I ever going to view the killing of animals by a pack of yahoos on horseback as anything other than pure evil?
annethomson said,
March 18, 2010 @ 6:09 pm
Well , Thank G-d that Richard Course did leave the LACS with those views.
Well Mr Dick Course with your apt name how can you ensure the quarry is there. Surely you are not finally admitting to breeding the foxes to then torture. Is you brain so sloshed with Countrysside Alliance proper gander that you feel tearing a fox a part is human. I wonder why vets don’t do that or maybe Switzerland could open a clinic .
The foxes are the same as the birds you breed to kill for fun. It’s nothing to do with the farmers and the chickens. Just stand up and say “I love to hunt and kill”. There does that make you a man .
That’s the second lucky escape that LACS have had.
Best keep your comments to the unlightened on your own
mhayworth said,
March 18, 2010 @ 6:21 pm
acriticalfriend,
Richard Course’s story would not be so ridiculous if the hunts weren’t encouraging the breeding of foxes (through artificial earths among other methods) in order to pretend they are carrying out some form of pest control.
We know many hunters, ex-hunters, ex-terriermen etc. who have told us the truth about hunting in great detail and it is quite the opposite to Mr. Course’s comments which I’m sure were well paid for as always by the hunting lobby. Many of our campaign supporters have hunted themselves in the past and later come to realise the cruelty involved. Perhaps you’d like to enlighten yourself by reading a story from a real huntsman (rather than a disgruntled executive) below:
http://www.huntinginquiry.gov.uk/evidence/pellow.htm
M. Hayworth
http://www.campaignfordecency.org.uk
cnitallb4 said,
March 19, 2010 @ 7:35 am
Most hunting people have ‘concerns’ about an animal suffering pain ? Don’t make me laugh ! You can’t pretend that huntspeople didn’t enjoy dressing up,whooping,the horn blowing and the hounds baying as they chased the animals they have ‘concerns ‘about suffering pain. How concerned they were at watching the animal torn to shreds and children ‘bloodied’
I think not !
Did they have ‘concerns’ about peoples pets their hounds tore up and the property they damaged ?
I think not !
Hunting is BANNED, decent people don’t want it back, it’s consigned to the history books where it belongs.
And no, not all of us look forward to our Sunday roasts, unless of course you mean roast mushrooms, which are not slaughtered horribly like the animals huntspeople are so ‘concerned’ about.
Leave Nature alone, she managed nicely before people ‘concerned’ about animals came along and decided to have their thrills by abusing them.