I hope sanity will prevail (From Gazette & Herald)

I hope sanity will prevail

I AM writing to you about the Hunting Bill which has just passed its Second Reading in the House of Commons. I have hunted - on foot - for the past 38 years, mostly in Devon, where my husband used to farm, and I am deeply worried about the possibility that hunting might be banned.

This concerns me, not just for myself, but for the people whose homes and livelihoods will be done away with. I spent the day in Parliament Square on Monday, June 30, and was struck by the youth of many who were taking part in the vigil there. These were not people whose husbands were coming up to retirement, they were young women with families, who through no fault of their own were facing ruin. All this is because a minority, some motivated by misguided compassion for animals, but many more driven by class hatred, have manipulated opinion in the House of Commons and caused backbenchers to overturn a Government bill.

I hope most sincerely that sanity will prevail in the House of Lords at least, and that the Government will not commit the folly of using the Parliament Act to force through a hunting ban when there are so many other issues crying out for its attention.

MARY BRILL

Kirkbymoorside

Updated: 10:28 Wednesday, July 09, 2003