Sun Pundit Countryside Fail

After getting so much else totally wrong recently, but with lots of time on her hands, a big mouth to shoot off, and access to social media, there are never too many opportunities for (thankfully) former Tory MP Louise Mensch to make a fool of herself. So after the alleged “British Bill Of Rights” failed to materialise, off she went on one over the possible repeal of the ban on hunting foxes with packs of dogs.

(c) Doc Hackenbush 2014

Now, here on Zelo Street there is no particular strong opinion on this one: I’ve heard both sides of the argument many times, but what is all too obvious is that Young Dave and his jolly good chaps have better things to do than waste Parliamentary time with the issue. The electorate might also take a dim view, given around 80% of them would like to see the ban remain. But in has waded Ms Mensch, to prove how much she doesn’t really know.

“The Hunting Ban is the worst kind of vicious hypocrisy. Attack conditions in abattoirs not the natural deaths of hunting. Or cosmetic tests”. No thanks, I don’t want to look over there. Try again. “And by the way I can't ride a horse and I have never been on a hunt in my life. I just hate both double standards and anthropomorphism”. Whatever.

“Here is what happened with the Hunting Act: Tony Blair wanted war in Iraq. He didn't have the votes. He traded the HA for those votes”. Bullshit. “That is an historical fact and it shows you how the left are motivated not by principle, but by sheer hatred of people not like them”. It’s only “an historical fact” in Mensch land. “The Hunting Act is not about animals it is about fifth-raters prioritizing an attack on country people”.

She’d know all about “fifth-raters”, of course. What about foxes, anyway? “Chickens run terrified. Foxes kill them for fun. They don't eat them. Just kill them … more than half the time there is no kill. I despair at the low to zero level of knowledge on hunting by townies”. But there are other ways of disposing of foxes, aren’t there? Er, she’s thought of that one: “Also, the hunt ban morons seem to think that farmers won't control the vermin that are foxes. They will. With deadly gas”. Eh? Sure about that?

“A gassed fox can take days to tie”. Might even take days to die, too. Or perhaps they don’t use gas: “the entertainment derives from the chase not the kill. Otherwise we'd just watch poisoned foxes”. So they poison them? I’ve heard enough: time to put Ms Mensch straight. And as my witness, I call not some namby-pamby liberal townie, but an ardent Thatcherite well versed in all things Countryside, who also knows how to ride a horse.

Step forward Melissa Kite, who is also a Proper Journalist (tm). Ms Kite wrote a Comment Is Free piece for the Guardian back in July 2013, titled “A short guide to the country for townies – as requested by David Gower”. Here, she describes (I thought it was hilarious, but if you’re squeamish, well, you’ve been warned) how her local gamekeeper had been called out to deal with a fox. He shot it. No gas, no poison. Bang. No hunt required. Dead.

Louise Mensch not only talks twaddle about how the Hunting Act came into being, she has bugger all knowledge of the countryside. Townies? That is exactly what she is. End of.