dog owners

[thebish]

and there are plenty in Britain wishing to see the return of this great 'cultural' pursuit of the uneatable by the unspeakable.

including the current PM... it'd be interesting to see how the seams of the Con/dem coalition might creak if he tried to bring it back...

As one raised on a farm, and as a guy that's seen first-hand just exactly what a fox is capable of, I'll still never, ever support the barbaric pusuit of hunting foxes with dogs. Somehow, the control of foxes and fox-hunting has become confused. At our place, when foxes started becoming a problem they would be shot perfectly between the eyes as they came to collect the dead hens that were left for them. I know that it's awful, but that's control. It's not sport and nor is it fun. Horsebacked wankers with dogs that claim to be helping the issue are so deluded that it defies belief.

My politics have absolutely nothing to do with this. In exactly what way is this a political issue?

my post suggested it might cause strain in the lib-con alliance - which must qualify for political on some level at least! who are you - the thread-relevance police!

[TANGODANCER]

In England we had bull running and baiting exactly as in Spain for over 1,000 years until it was banned by Parliament in 1835. Most countries of Europe had similar festivals, the chickens killings were common in England, Italy, Belgium and Germany. In Eastern Europe, pig and chicken killing festivals still exist. The tragedy is that most countries have banned such cruelty, Spain has revived it.

No so much revived it as been slow to come to terms with modernity. It's a well known fact that Spain has many times been claimed to have been dragged reluctantly into the twentieth century, never mind the twenty first. It's wrong however to classify Spain as a whole with these things. Bullfighting is admittedly still active in several areas, but certainly not the collective pastime of all Spaniards it's made out to be. Like Flamenco music, a music that spread from Andalusian Gypsies mainly and has been a stereotype music more in the minds of foreigners rather than the Spanish, a lot of whom, like with bullfighting, care little about it or have no connection with it at all.

Bull breeding and rearing is a southern industry that must eventually die away, but it's been a lucrative employment for many down there for a lot of years. You can pay seventy-five quid for a seat in the shade at the bigger arenas. It's also in the rural village area that atrocities took place, although Madrid served roasted sparrows as Tapas until that was banned some years ago. Much of rural Spain still clings doggedly to its past; only last week a goatherd and his hundred charges stopped the traffic by the side of a railway near my brother's place only half a mile inland from a tourist resort

I've spent a fair amount of time in Spain and admit I've been to a couple of bullfights in the past, but now just the thought of one sickens me. I also have a scrap-book a couple of inches thick of photos of museums and arenas visited etc .The matador is the one who gets the plaudits, but the picadors on armour-padded horseback are the ones who do the killing, weakening the bull with lances till it's neck muscles are severed and it becomes helpless and easy prey for the matador. I've stood amongst the horses, which are heavy charger type animals and seen the dead bulls dragged away. I have no wish to ever see any of it ever again or, in retrospect, am I proud of any of it. Times change and we with them. The Spaniards are still behind lots in many things.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

including the current PM... it'd be interesting to see how the seams of the Con/dem coalition might creak if he tried to bring it back...

I can't imagine DC feels strongly enough about this to take the risks that putting it back on the agenda would involve. Any idiot can see that it wouldn't be good for the party and Government's 'positioning'...

Do you really think it would arouse enough strength of feeling in the other direction amongst Lib Dems to threaten the coalition though?

[thebish]

including the current PM... it'd be interesting to see how the seams of the Con/dem coalition might creak if he tried to bring it back...

I can't imagine DC feels strongly enough about this to take the risks that putting it back on the agenda would involve. Any idiot can see that it wouldn't be good for the party and Government's 'positioning'...

Do you really think it would arouse enough strength of feeling in the other direction amongst Lib Dems to threaten the coalition though?

I suspect it would make the lib-dems very very uncomfortable - indeed - the lib dem conference will be mildly interesting next time round...

Caneron DID say he would hold a free vote on the issue should he gain power... not that this is an accurate guide to what he will actually do...

he went on to say... 'I'm a country boy, I was brought up in the countryside and I love walking in the countryside and riding in the countryside, and every aspect of growing up in the countryside,'

so - DC - country boy then?

[Lord Kangana]

I reckon we should kill all the foxes, and then we can get onto important issues such as anything but the status of f*cking fox hunting in this country.

[Dujon]

Oh, I say, old chap. Wonderful idea doncha know? Perhaps we could then start culling all those 'aristocrats' cluttering up the place (as well as dog owners, of course)?

[thebish]

I reckon we should kill all the foxes, and then we can get onto important issues such as anything but the status of f*cking fox hunting in this country.

fire away LK - introduce us to an important issue....

[Lord Kangana]

Perhaps I should have used the word 'everything' rather than 'anything' to make the thrust of the post clearer.

[thebish]

Perhaps I should have used the word 'everything' rather than 'anything' to make the thrust of the post clearer.

ok LK.. what do you make of Father Nicholas Gruner?

[Lord Kangana]

An intricate wood carving of the infant Samuel at prayer.

[Prufrock]

Perhaps I should have used the word 'everything' rather than 'anything' to make the thrust of the post clearer.

ok LK.. what do you make of Father Nicholas Gruner?

Nice



Spot the deliberate mistake

[thebish]

An intricate wood carving of the infant Samuel at prayer.

that'll be his cousin McAdder!

[thebish]

I think we need a larger picture pru!

[Prufrock]

I think we need a larger picture pru!

Whoops! Swapped it for a smaller one. At least there's no fecking sideways scrollbar now!

[TANGODANCER]

Perhaps I should have used the word 'everything' rather than 'anything' to make the thrust of the post clearer.

ok LK.. what do you make of Father Nicholas Gruner?

ZULU......

[thebish]

Perhaps I should have used the word 'everything' rather than 'anything' to make the thrust of the post clearer.

ok LK.. what do you make of Father Nicholas Gruner?

ZULU......

you told me to raise it somewhere other than the book thread!

and - Zulu won't fall for that - I'm still a tenner up!

[TANGODANCER]

Perhaps I should have used the word 'everything' rather than 'anything' to make the thrust of the post clearer.

ok LK.. what do you make of Father Nicholas Gruner?

ZULU......

you told me to raise it somewhere other than the book thread!

and - Zulu won't fall for that - I'm still a tenner up!

Nope, I said start a Gruner thread and I don't know any dogs of that breed.

[thebish]

Perhaps I should have used the word 'everything' rather than 'anything' to make the thrust of the post clearer.

ok LK.. what do you make of Father Nicholas Gruner?

ZULU......

you told me to raise it somewhere other than the book thread!

and - Zulu won't fall for that - I'm still a tenner up!

Nope, I said start a Gruner thread and I don't know any dogs of that breed.

Gruner had a dog - a huge Weimaraner - ergo - dog thread.

[TANGODANCER]

ok LK.. what do you make of Father Nicholas Gruner?

ZULU......

you told me to raise it somewhere other than the book thread!

and - Zulu won't fall for that - I'm still a tenner up!

Nope, I said start a Gruner thread and I don't know any dogs of that breed.

Gruner had a dog - a huge Weimaraner - ergo - dog thread.

Ah, you'll be telling me next he went to mow a meadow.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Who the feck is this Gruner chap anyway?