Scottish Parliament bans foxhunting

People who used to hunt foxes can still go rushing about the country and have lots of fun. I remember doing a temp job where my boss was an animal rights fanatic who had shouted some abuse at some horsemen in Kirtlington, Oxon only to find (to her embarrassment) that they were simply doing point-to-point.

Personally I think the poufy straight hair is a bad idea. Has the Princess Diaries taught people that curly hair = el doggo? I hope not.

Why not hunt moles? You don't have to run very far.

Apparently, lots of last minute amendments yesterday to the Scottish Bill, which is why some pro-hunters are saying the Scottish law as passed is full of loopholes and is all set for the courts. I suspect Blair will insist on seeing how things bed down north of the border. Moreover, I think the next Westminster Bill is going to have to follow the Scottish Act at least reasonably closely and this will take a while to draft. For these reasons, I'm not holding my breath for a Bill to appear quickly (more's the pity).

Sterling and Kris: what it is is that a small but vociferous minority of hunting enthusiasts who actually represent a tiny fringe of rural opinion (rather like the far-right in some parts of the rural US, I guess) have succeeded in convincing parts of the media that they actually represent the single most important aspect of non- metropolitan British life and actually seem to have scared the Labour government far more than it needs to be over the issue of banning hunting. Most supporters of hunting also support the Conservative Party, which there is a strong consensus on these boards against among the UK members. Despite the removal of the vast majority of hereditary peers from the House of Lords by the current government in 1999, there is still a majority of opinion in the Lords in favour of hunting, while the House of Commons, with a massive Labour majority (165 more Labour MPs than all other parties combined, and members from several other centre-left parties and even a few Conservatives share the general Labour belief that it is time for hunting to end), is slanted against hunting, as is public opinion (even in the most rural areas the majority have consistently been proven to oppose the practice over the last decade or so). This is why the government would almost certainly need to invoke the Parliament Act - a rarely- used legislation which enables the Commons to overrule the Lords, which Labour used a couple of years ago to reduce the gay age of consent to 16 when the Lords wanted it to stay at 18 - to ban hunting in the rest of the UK, outside Scotland.

Jeff: of course we need a Bill, and indeed it will take time, but I would still suspect that foxhunting will have ceased in the whole of the UK by the time of the next election (which could well be 2005, but could be as late as June 2006, depending on when Blair chooses). The solution MarkH suggests - of getting trained marksmen to humanely shoot foxes in certain circumstances - is the best answer IMHO: as a supporter of animal rights who nonetheless thinks that the extremist fanatics have done a lot of harm to a credible and serious cause (vets putting animals to sleep when the animals are incontinent and generally incapable of getting anything more from life is in my view *quite right*) I'd second his comments.

The idea that all foxhounds would have to be put down seems like a classic red herring, incidentally: when you look at the way former hunting breeds like springer spaniels have become popular pets and successful working dogs in other fields, you have to conclude they're exaggerating the case greatly.

My point = political furore (in both cases) not actually about what it seems to be about, and furious intensity of feeling on both sides relates to symbolic rather than concrete matters (for example, of farm management).

As in: foxes don't kill chickens, chickens kill chickens (= v.dry critique of battery framing)

I'd still oppose hunting on grounds of cruelty (though I think it's far from the cruellest thing we do to animals) even if it wasn't practiced mainly by Tories who consider their marginal opinions to be representative of what every single person in rural Britain thinks and promote them as such, but I wouldn't hate it as intensely.

I just posted this is 1 pWN 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 'cos I'm a fucking idiot and is there really no general Scotland thread?

Anyway more banning needed.

Congrats on Jason on his gold medal 🥇 goat here in Scotland on Islay. A unique hunt, email lar✧✧✧@detailcomp✧✧✧.c✧✧ for more information ! https://t.co/QMgPTxedR4 pic.twitter.com/rBqvY1Muh7

— Larysa Switlyk (@LSwitlyk) October 23, 2018

She also appears to have shot a sheep. What is wrong with these people, etc.

🙌 that curl ~ having the time of our lives hunting Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🙌 https://t.co/0jDLamADi6 pic.twitter.com/hLSkWPSZoS

— Larysa Switlyk (@LSwitlyk) October 16, 2018

it was a goat. a semi-tame goat.

there is plenty of furor over it, and the first minister has even commented about it on twitter. they were likely doing nothing illegal however, and it's not anymore grotesque from the trophy hunting of deer that takes place all over the aristocratic estates that blight scotland

That second one's definitely a sheep.

sorry, had just gone off article id read which mentioned the company that provides the goat hunting experience pfft. imagine thinking you've done a good bit of hunting killing either of those animals for fuck sake

Seen them getting hit by golf balls a few times.

imagine thinking you've done a good bit of hunting killing either of those animals for fuck sake

Yeah, all that bollocks about the thrill of the chase and, you know, actually hunting something kind of goes out the window when they wandering around you eating heather.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-45967845

Islay MSP (also Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary and head of Constitutional Affairs) Mike Russell is upset about the goats but delivers a fuck you to deer.

Also worth correcting the basis of the thread, because the foxhunting 'ban' is PR spin.

https://greens.scot/ban-fox-hunting/faqs-on-fox-hunting-in-scotland

(Actually I remember this from a couple of years ago from Cameron's fox hunting proposal which was to weaken England and Wales' legislation to match Scotland's. The SNP ended up staying they would vote against - after previously agreeing to abstain as the legislation didn't affect Scotland - in a brinkmanship stunt over EVEL.)

tbf they don't need to weaken England & Wales legislation, it's not enforced anyway, and the police do fuck all when hunters assault hunt sabs on camera