OI! WAKE UP, ARTHUR!

We spent the recent Bank holiday weekend in Somerset visiting many of the sites associated with the legend of King Arthur. Whilst visiting Cadbury Castle (a windswept hillfort and a contender for the fabled site of Camelot) I thought about a tale I’d heard back in Glastonbury; it spoke of King Arthur and his knights “sleeping under a huge mound of a green hill quietly awaiting the call to arms for their beloved country”. It would appear that the great king is quietly biding his time and, when England is at her greatest peril, he will rise up and save the land.

As I trod wearily (and out of breath) towards the summit I wondered if they were indeed sleeping quietly beneath my boots and cursed the fact that I hadn’t brought a copy of MP Nick Boles’ latest announcement on the future of England’s countryside with me to read aloud and possibly rouse them from their turf-covered slumbers.

For, according to Mr Boles (in a tone remarkably reminiscent to the environmental minister’s slamming of anti-badger cull protests as “sad sentimentality”), said “the sum of human happiness that is created by the houses that are built is vastly greater than the economic, social and environmental value of a field growing wheat or rape”.

STOP SLAUGHTER OF ICONIC ANIMALS

Today (16th May 2013) the Dorset Echo also printed my letter alerting readers to the proposed badger cull in Dorset which has been set aside as a reserve area.

MICROCHIPPING: THE BACKLASH

From the news pages of Dog World (27th February 2013)

In less than a week since my letter was published in Dog World, responses came in from four major parties involved in the pro-microchipping campaign. Interestingly, their defence was a regurgitation of meaningless (and later disproven) statistics and propaganda and failed to confidently answer my questions.

http://www.dogworld.co.uk/product.php/88727

DANGERS OF MICROCHIPPING

From the letters page of Dog World (22nd February 2013)

I am surprised at the widespread blanket acceptance of the recent compulsory microchipping announcement. It seems everyone from the Kennel Club to the Blue Cross and obviously the Veterinary Association welcomes the proposals with open arms. I found it strange that such a monumental move didn’t bring about any dissenting voices. Maybe, I thought, this was one of those rare cases where everyone was ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ but, with a bit of research, I discovered this wasn’t the case.

PROUD TO BE A NIMBY

From the letters page of the Bournemouth Echo (4th July 2012)

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/yoursay/letterstotheeditor/9796813.Aim_is_to_protect_greenbelt_land/

In answer to Mr Cole’s accusations of West Parley residents’ NIMBYism (Letters, June 28), I think they are displaying quite the reverse.

These people share a much wider view, a view that stretches far beyond their backyards – they are making a stand for this county and this country at large.