HT - you have really disappointed me - in the main your posts are informative and often very funny. But you DON'T have the sole right to any moral high ground - nor do you have the right to determine what my conscience level should be regarding my personal attitude and participation in some field sports and farming - that's for me to determine, not you!
This thread is utterly pointless anyway - as Archie says, it simply isn't an important issue in the grand scheme of things.
What does annoy me, though, is fanatical zealots who have a viewpoint that they insist on imposing on others - the word 'tolerance' just doesn't feature in their vocabulary. It appears in evey facet of our existence.
I couldn't care less about whether or not someone wants to be a veggie, vegan, carnivore or whatever - that's their choice and a matter for their conscience. As long as they conduct themselves in a caring and kind way to their fellow human beings, their eating habits are an irrelevance, as long as whatever they do eat is humanely produced!
So far, this government has firmly said it won't pursue any other field sports than those already banned - hopefully, they will keep their word but unhappily, on present performances, that's unlikely. But the general public will do well to realise that those who actually do the hard labour in creating the sort of countryside environment that the public harp on about preserving will only do so while there's something in it for them, either financially or in enhancing their way of life and if you keep removing large chunks of it (hunting/shooting/fishing/and even animal husbandty if HT gets his way!), then I predict we won't like the end result....
