Whether you love or hate him, I do like how oddly transparent and frank some of 'A Journey' by Tony Blair is. Here's a segment in which he admits that he didn't really want to ban fox hunting, which is why the resulting ban was a bit rubbish and not well-enforced. www.amazon.co.uk/Journey-Tony... - ThreadSky

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wight1984.bsky.social • 59 days ago

Whether you love or hate him, I do like how oddly transparent and frank some of 'A Journey' by Tony Blair is. Here's a segment in which he admits that he didn't really want to ban fox hunting, which is why the resulting ban was a bit rubbish and not well-enforced. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Journey-Tony-Blair-ebook/dp/B0040GJJUW/

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francish.bsky.social•59 days ago

It was deeply illiberal and a sop to the anti-hunting extremists, which he knew.
The anti hunt people continue their ghastly protests to this day (revealing their true class-based motivation)

wight1984.bsky.social•59 days ago

Blood sport bans are admittedly not the easiest thing to justify banning under liberal ideology, and I probably wouldn't make it a political priority (if it was down to me), but I can't say that I'm sad that most blood sports are illegal in the UK, nor am I glad that fox hunting is the exception.

francish.bsky.social•59 days ago

I’m as urban as they come. I don’t want to ponce around on a horse. But foxes are a menace in rural areas and you’re allowed to shoot them so I suspect the real issue is something more to do with humans

wight1984.bsky.social•59 days ago

Killing animals as pest control, or as part of a cull, or to butcher for meat, are all accepted legal practices.

Blood sports are treated differently because the idea of making sport of entertainment out of killing animals is considered abhorrent (I don't disagree).

wight1984.bsky.social•59 days ago

If I had a rat infestation problem, I could make my peace with use of lethal poisons to solve the problem (if that's what it took).

I wouldn't capture them alive and make them fight for my amusement though, and I wouldn't be friends with someone who did.

francish.bsky.social•59 days ago

Sure, people feel strongly about these things.

wight1984.bsky.social•59 days ago

On the next page of 'A Journey', Tony Blair basically admits that the fox hunting ban was intentionally limp, and there was a deliberate decision to not vigorously enforce it.

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