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A March in March is not enough, Andrew Roberts, Daily Telegraph, 24th December
Historical experience suggests that if a large enough number of Britons are willing to go to great lengths in the defence of their way of life, they can prevail even against a government with a huge majority in the House of Commons. But if the commitment of the supporters of hunting extends solely to going on an enjoyable walk in central London with their friends on March 18, useful though that will be, it will not be enough. If they are willing to go further, however, hunting could indeed be saved.

In May 1974 the leaders of Ulster's trade union movement succeeded in "making Ulster ungovernable" through huge strikes held in protest at the Sunningdale Agreement and power-sharing. Within 10 days the Wilson government caved in. In 1990 the Thatcher government, with a huge Commons majority, found that the opposition to the community charge went so far as a willingness in some cases to go to prison as an alternative to payment. On March 31 a huge demonstration in Trafalgar Square turned into a riot, and Tory MPs fearful of losing their seats turned on their leader. They might have given "Europe" as their reason for voting against Mrs Thatcher, but the true reason was often sheer terror at the mass opposition to the poll tax. From the refusal by Oliver Cromwell's cousin, John Hampden, to pay the Ship Money levy in 1637, via the Suffrgettes' willingness to defy the law in the 1900s, to Mahatma Gandhi's desire to go to jail in the 1920s, civil disobedience has worked, and it can be made to work again in defence of the right to keep the status quo over hunting. Sustained civil disobedience and non-violent direct action by tens of thousands of people would very soon sap the will of this most PR-conscious of ministries to abolish an ancient British pastime.

The extraordinary nature of the 1997 general election landslide means that for the first time in decades there are several dozen Labour MPs sitting for rural constituencies that were always higherto represented by Conservatives. Many of them hardly expected to win in 1997, and now nurse tiny majorities, but the opinion polls suggest that they might have a chance of re-election. For such people 1,000 votes could mean the difference between another enjoyable five years on the green leather benches or looking for a new job. They must be left in no doubt about the cost to them of a vote against hunting. Similarly the Countryside Alliance should threaten to stand candidates against all the Tory anti-hunting MPs - the Tory "stinkers", as Auberon Waugh has dubbed them - who persist in supporting this most un-Tory of measures. If the Conservative Party is too cowardly to promise to restore the right to hunt with hounds when they regain power, it cannot expect special treatment from the countryside movement. A specific day should be chosen - long before March - on which every rural justice of the peace will go on indefinite strike. With no magistrates to try cases, the system of justice would speedily grind to a halt. The civil servants who so disgracefully, and in direct contravention of their duties of impartiality, leaned out of their windows in Whitehall to jeer at the pro-hunting protesters last week would very soon find that the country they believe that they run had actually become ungovernable.

When John Hampden refused to pay a mere 20 shillings of the - in itself perfectly reasonable - Ship Money, he started a movement of protest that ended in a revolution. When the American colonists refused to pay their taxes - which were a fraction of those being levied on their cousins back in Britain - they began a struggle that led to independence. When Gandhi refused to pay the Salt Tax - an imposition so low that it had never before been an issue - he helped the sun set upon the greatest empire the world has ever seen. It is probably not too fanciful to suggest that the willingness of people such as Steve Thoburn, a Sunderland greengrocer, to fight for his right to sell his neighbour bananas in imperial measures might one day be seen as the first nail in the coffin of the new Euro-empire being created in Brussels.

Those who ride to hounds regularly show their physical courage over hedges and ditches throughout the season. They could save their sport if they were to now also show the moral courage of their convictions by refusing to pay their taxes even to the point of jail sentences. The British people are slow to be roused, but once roused they are impossible to resist. This government will only back down when it realises how far people are willing to go in defence of their rights to enjoy the pursuits of their forefathers. London should be gridlocked by tractors, Parliament should be ringed by protesters, taxes should be with-held until the Treasury begs for mercy; the march in March will simply not be enough.

Hunt on the March, Somerset County Gazette, 22nd December
Somerset's rural freedom fighters joined thousands of blood sports supporters opposing the Government's Hunting Bill outside the House of Commons on Wednesday. The protest and rally which attracted pro-hunt campaigners from all over Britain, was patrolled by mounted police as the crowds massed in Parliament Square. The debate offered a glimmer of hope to hunt supporters as Home Secretary Jack Straw gave the first hint of backing a scheme to regulate the hunt rather than an outright ban. Diana Scott, joint master of the Devon & Somerset Staghounds and a member of Endangered Exmoor said, "Feelings are very strong and there's national outrage that the Government should use its freedom to take away the freedom of others. It's an infringement of human rights. This move by Jack Straw does show though, that members of the Cabinet are beginning to think with reasoned minds. Now all they have to do is convey that to those MPs whose bunny-hugging emotions are getting the better of them".
Hundreds of protestors from Exmoor and Taunton attended the rally before a full day's hunting on Exmoor and the Quantocks yesterday.
Jeanette Branton, Endangered Exmoor Chairman said, "I think Jack Straw is worried about what will happen in the countryside because feelings are running very high. We'll fight every step of the way and we're not going to accept a ban just like that. It's far beyond being a sport - it's a way of life for rural people".
The second reading of the Government's Hunting Bill, which should pave the way for a free vote of MPs in the New Year, showed a majority of 215 - 373 votes to 158. Three options are being put to members; an outright ban on hunting with dogs enforced by fines up to £5,000; compulsory hunt licensing supervised by a hunting authority comprising farmers, land owners and animal rights groups; or self-regulation by the hunting fraternity. Mr Straw, who has never voted one way or another on the issue, said he backed the scheme of licensing, but stressed it was his personal opinion. Taunton's Liberal Democrat MP Jackie Ballard, who is in Iran for Christmas, has already voiced her opposition to hunting, but Bridgwater MP Tom King, who represents much of West Somerset, is against a ban.

One man, no dog, a march, the police and an arrest by Robin Page, Daily Telegraph, 22nd December
It is because of my support for hard-pressed rural communities that I joined thousands of other demonstrators in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday. Our gathering was to coincide with the Second Reading of the Hunting with Dogs Bill, announced in the Queen's Speech. As a non-hunting, farming conservationist, animal welfare and civil liberties arguments have all been won, and confirmed by the Burns report (nowhere in it are the words "cruel" or "cruelty" used to describe hunting). There are two words that describe the current mood of traditional country people: "outrage" and "despair". With 450 farmers and farmworkers leaving the land each week, with farming suicides heading the league table of desolation, with rural communities falling apart, the Government's bigoted and vicious attack on hunting is the last straw. For country people in the beleaguered Lake District, on Exmoor or in Wales, it is hunting that gives them contact with neighbours and a sense of belonging - as was seen and appreciated by members of the Burns inquiry. For them, the attack on hunting is wounding and malicious.
At first, the Second Reading was to be held on Monday; it was suddenly switched to Wednesday, it is believed deliberately, to inconvenience protestors. I heard about the change by mobile phone. The message was a simple one: "Be there, we need you: we need all we can get." Contact with the police was being made - for permission to march from Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square, I was told. When I arrived in Trafalgar Square, many hundreds of people were already assembled. By the time we left, the crowd had risen to four or five thousand (the message manipulators of the BBC referred to "a few hundred" demonstrators). Several people had dogs with them. Sadly, my wonderful foxhound pup, Corset, stayed at home, since she was on heat for the first time. If I had known what was to happen, she would have been with me; she could have been arrested, too, and trailed every male police dog in London to Charing Cross police station.
The mood was good humoured. There were chants of "Tony Blair out"; there were whistles and hunting horns. Banners proclaimed: "Endangered Exmoor"; £1.1m Blair's Bribe" (a reference to the money paid to the Labour Party before the last election by wealthy animal rights groups); "Man of Straw". This last slogan was slightly inaccurate, as Mr Straw appears to be one of the few politicians to have addressed the actual issues during the debate. At first, police policy was to break the demonstrators up into small groups, and keep them to the pavements. Soon we had merged, and had blocked off half of Whitehall as we marched. At Parliament Square, we were herded behind police barriers off the road, despite the fact that police vans parked in the road had already restricted access for vehicles. Because of this, I felt that we should fill the road, to take our message closer to MPs. "Are any of you coming over the barrier with me?" I asked. Seven or eight people agreed, and I quickly cleared the barrier and headed for the middle of the road. Once there, I looked behind me; there was no sign of my colleagues. I lay down in the middle of the road, wishing that Corset was with me. Two burly policemen manhandled me to my feet, and frog-marched me to a van as the crowd cheered.
After I was taken to Charing Cross police station, telephones rang and there were signs of problems. Apparently, the protesters had by now occupied the whole road outaide Parliament, and were refusing to move until I was released. So by police car I was returned; the crowd cheered again. The police on the whole were polite and pleasant; all agreed that the countryside protestors were always the politest and most pleasant seen in London. Interestingly, some also said that they totally disagreed with the Government trying to criminalise a normally peaceful and law-abiding section of the community. One said: "It's a disgrace. They're just picking on you, since they see you as an easy target."

Yes, that is how the Labour Party sees the countryside - as an "easy target". As they dispersed, members of that target were showing signs of running out of patience. If they do, then 2001 could see a year of legal protests that would make the fuel disturbances look like a Sunday school tea party. Interestingly too, of course, the Hunting with Dogs Bill may be illegal anyway. I believe that under European Law, it is an infringement of minority rights. For once, something good might come out of Europe.

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