Sunday 12 July 2015

Flushing Out

Barbara Ellen takes on the ridiculous "countryside" lobby in favour of foxhunting, a lobby that has absolutely nothing to do with the real interests, opinion or needs of rural England.

Tellingly, the final passage on grammar schools and foxhunting did not appear on the Mail's website when Peter Hitchens's column initially went up.

There is no more chance of a return to grammar schools than of a return to pre-decimal currency. That is just a fact.

Moreover, the Labour Leadership Election proves that there is no need. Even the claim that the comps are not as good as their commercial rivals is disproved by contrasting the two front benches.

Still, Hitchens directs us to an interesting general point.

Even the Government that was launching the Iraq War could sell itself as Labour merely by pretending to ban foxhunting.

Likewise, although this Government's Thatcherite credentials are in fact very strong (as were the Coalition's), it can nevertheless deflect criticism from the ultra-Right by pretending to relax what is in practice that nonexistent ban.

If it manages to do even that. Recalling the Commons majorities for a ban in the Major years, Wednesday's division is set to go to the wire. If the proposal passes, then it might very well pass on the vote of Kate Hoey.

1 comment: