The leader of Derby’s Labour group was left embarrassed after an article highlighting all the things his party had done for Derby got a frosty reception from readers of the leftwing blog “Labour List”.
The article that listed more public-sector jobs and a ban on foxhunting as key outcomes of Labour’s influence on our City was seen by many as unwise. One wrote in response, “Shame really then that the enormous budget deficit run up under Labour paying for all these things is going to force huge cuts isn’t it?”
Another commented, “If the quality of life is so great thanks to Labour why has the UK slipped now down to 25th place in that particular league table?”
In a swipe at politicians of all types one commentator wrote, “do you seriously believe that for voters in Derby, passing legislation about fox-hunting is anything other than self-indulgence by the political classes?”
My veiw is that this is getting beyond a joke. The public keep trying to tell the Labour party that we can’t go on like this but they just won’t listen. Here we have the leader of the Labour group in Derby wittering on about fox hunting and how great all the spending of the last twelve years was without a offering a single word on how he thinks we’ll get out of the debt crisis that his party has landed us in.
People want us to be positive and constructive Chris so let’s start talking about the future and how we can sort this mess out.
I am not a Labour supporter, but he has a perfect right to ‘witter on’ about fox hunting if he wants as it’s one of Labour’s achievements. If anything, the Hunting Act should be strengthened so that we can be sure that chasing and killing wild animals for fun is clearly and for ever unlawful and regarded by all with well-deserved revulsion. If they know what’s good for them politically, Cameron, Hague, Herbert & Co. should, at the very least, promise to let sleeping dogs lie, literally.
Thanks for getting in touch. Please see my comments below.
Well this Tory and many others won’t be voting for you Jack, thanks to your pro-hunt stance. If elected David Cameron will be the first leader in modern history to overturn an act against cruelty. You should be ashamed of yourselves!
There is no case for repeal. Hunt numbers are up all over the country. Drag hunting is legal. The sense of community, pageantry, heritage, and jobs are all still intact and yet these disgraceful people can’t manage to enjoy themselves unless they are terrifying and killing animals.
For those who support the hunting act, please get your names on the R.O.A.R. (Register Online Against Repeal), an ‘all party’ list at: http://www.campaignfordecency.org.uk
Thanks for both these comments. If this site is about anything its about getting the chance to find out about me and tell me what you think.
So, yes, I’m afraid I do not support the view that the Hunting with Dogs act was a major achievement. I believe that it was a poorly drafted bill driven by class warriors within the Labour party and lobbying from wealthy special-interest groups who are reported to have spent up to £30m in getting it passed! In my view, it has not reduced cruelty to animals but has resulted in yet another New Labour infringment on liberty and led to more uneeded burdens on our police and courts.
I’m more than happy to be disagreed with – that’s the nature of politics, but if you don’t believe me see what Kate Hoey (Labour MP for Vauxhall) wrote about the hunting bill recently:
“The one means of control that is selective and non-wounding has been outlawed. A process that emulates the way in which wolves hunt and targets the old, weak, ailing and injured animals has been banned. The only method that utilises a “search and dispatch” facility is regarded as unacceptable by the British government.
So what has happened to the welfare of the quarry species under the Hunting Act? Odd that not one penny has been spent by those determined to ban hunting to ascertain exactly what the welfare benefits are for our wildlife.
The limited evidence that is available indicates no saving of lives and an increase in suffering just as the scientific evidence presented before the Act said wildlife welfare would deteriorate.
That is why all genuine supporters of our wildlife, both hunter and non-hunter alike, should demand the immediate repeal of this bad law by whichever party wins the General Election.
It is a huge regret to me, as a Labour MP, that in the last 12 years the Government could not have shown as much energy and commitment on rural affordable housing, local services and rural business as they did on hunting.
Perhaps, if they had done so, the countryside would be a wealthier, healthier and happier place.”
Hunting is hardly an issue. The real barbarity is badger baiting which continues whilst our politically correct police ignore the people who inflict this cruelty.
I may dislike hunting with hounds but at least it is policed to some degree by hunt masters etc.
Jack,
You are hitting the bottom of the barrel by quoting the chairman of the Countryside Alliance for her views on foxhunting. That is like asking a child molester how he feels about the laws on child pornography.
People who inflict cruelty on others will do anything to hide and protect their activities. Check out the arguments from the pro-slavery lobby leading up to the emancipation act, and you will find them chillingly close to those of the pro-hunt lobby today. They also felt that slaves were somehow ‘better off in their care’.
Even the farmers have started a lobby group against hunting. There is also a Tory petition online now. What is it you people just aren’t getting?
Kate Hoey is all hooey!
See Jack. There are some really decent Tories out there. Unfortunately their leadership doesn’t speak for them anymore.
http://conservativesagainstfoxhunting.com/id3.html
You know I can’t see the value of an act that is unenforced. It makes a mockery of the law.
The key issue for me is to get the police enforcing our laws and not selectively!
As I’m proving here, anyone can post comments on a blog, so it would be incorrect to suggest such posts are from ‘Labour Bloggers’.
The ban on foxhunting is a fantastic achievement for Labour. Do you not support it?
If not, you show yourself up as a party for the primitive past – not the future!
A valid point – anyone can comment on a blog but one would expect LabourList to be read and commented on by a largely labour supporting audience just as ConservativeHome has a broadly Conservative readership.
My thoughts on the hunting ban are as outlined below. If you can show me any evidence of an overall benefit to foxes, or a single abuser of animals that has been put away by this legislation alone or any act of cruelty that has been averted, I’ll happily change my mind. However, I suspect that the Labour party like it not because they think it’s good for animals but because it’s bad for a type of humans they dislike.
This is the kind of hypocrisy and obsession with legislation that has landed us in the overly-legislated, overly-centralised, overly-bureaucratic, under-producing state we’re in and exactly the reason why we can’t go on like this and need change.
So let me get your stance completely transparent, you would support the law to end disgusting blood sports (for the upper classes) if it allowed the police to enforce the law and not infringe on your people’s fun at seeing a defenceless animal mauled to death? Also I deciphered from your response that you are for breaking the law when it comes to fox hunting?
Personally I think you are completely missing the point. It’s the mindset that its humane and acceptable to allow blood sports to continue that the law is trying to change, do you not agree fox hunting is unnecessary and wrong?
I will be watching you closely as I’m very interested at how far you will get in this campaign, but I do hope that the rhetoric that is spewed in your last paragraph above can be translated in some meaningful response to the question posed.
The most important thing that could be done for animals is to force labs to share test data. They don’t now resulting in animals being subjected to the same test at different labs.
I’m sorry and I disagree with foxhunting but animal lovers have allowed this to become a distraction when in proportion other animal welfare issues are just being ignored.
I agree with you that there are many other issues regarding animal cruelty that need to be addressed, I also think that the fox hunting ban is at least making the issue of animal cruelty visible for all, so personally dont think its a distraction as such but bringing these issues to the fore, which has to be a good thing.
Labour don’t really give a damn about foxes, this is all about their pathetic class war and the huge chip they carry on their shoulders.
Come on Tim! Stop talking in sound bites and elaborate if you want to build on the discussion about mr perschke’s stance on fox hunting. Second, as I said its not about foxes as such its about the savagery and bararity of watching an animal ripped to shreds that any normal person would take issue with. Finally what is wrong with class war?? It aids social mobility for those that aspire to be better britons in the journey to progression, what I dont understand is how someone like yourself can spport the upper classes, whats in it for you? What chip are you talking about? Making our civilisation better to live in?
Hi Jatinder
Why don’t you come up with an issue which is important for Derby South. Stop beating around the bush and show us your real colour. The truth is you have nothing other than just opposing Jack because he has what it takes to represent Derby South. Derby south needs fresh ideas and not more of the same.
Respectfully Mr Bola im within my right to oppose any candidate that I want, if you have read my posts you can see that ive not opposed him at all I want to hear more from him before i make my mind up…my vote my right. He has not even nearly shown he has what it takes yet, quite the opposite, I get quite weary of a candidate that is from the south and has never been involved in the politics of derby before and has next to nothing in common to me or many people I know in Derby, nevermind even showing his opinion on the things that are happeining in Derby. As a young briton I want more debate and more information about the specifics of what my candidate will do for me. Why should I just accept sound bites as enough, the british public deserve more and to be honest its why so many of my collegues are so turned off by politics. All I want is some response from jack to my posts…which is a justifiable request.
Be aware that Chris Williamson also used to be chairman of the League Against Cruel Sports, so he’s using his political influence to push his own agenda.
Chris Williamson will push whatever agenda he believes in, which is his right as a citizen, at least he’s getting up and doing something. Also the fox hunting ban was national legislation and he is a local councillor. I think your interpretation on the links with him being the chairman of the League Against Cruel Sports are a little cynical, he obviously has a stance and is fighting for this stance by being a chairman addressing the issue, why should I “be aware” of this. His stance is pretty clear, which is commendable as he is showing continuity and not flip flopping like so many other politicians, so I don’t get how that is bad, even if there is (which I really don’t believe there is) a conflict of interests. Maybe I dont understand your point, maybe you could clarify.
You really are a bunch of chumps. Anyone can post on Labourlist, just as they can on here. The comments were written by people who are commonly known as Tory trolls. Do some research before posting spurious rubbish,,,,oh, I forgot, you like doing that….crime stats….wrong….teenage pregnancy stats…wrong.
Glad to see that we’re getting a good debate going here.
JOAT – think you raise an interesting point about the statistics here. The fact that The Conservative Party, with all its resource and specialisation, finds it hard to get accurate and clear statistics out of government really demonstrates how opaque this government has been.
Transparency is one of the critical elements of our approach to government and it’s something that, despite well-meaning attempts from this government, the Labour party have utterly failed to deliver.
Like so much of the history of the last 12 years – good intentions have just not been enough. Foxes are no better-off for the hunting act, government is no more open for the freedom of information act, the poorest are more disadvantaged than ever despite huge investment, inequality is at record levels despite countless missed targets, having promised an end to boom and bust we’re desperately trying to struggle out of the deepest and longest recession in 60 years … oh, and we’re trying to do so whilst coping with the highest levels of debt since the war and a budget deficit double that which saw the last disasterous Labour government go cap-in-hand to the IMF.
We need a new, energised and united government to get us out of the mess Labour have landed us in. The people of Derby have a chance to deliver that change and I desperately hope they’ll take it.
Jack, you keep spewing all of this rhetoric about how bad things are and never go in to specifics and I’m starting to think that you are candidate with no substance, all talk and not an ounce of care for the constituents of Derby. You haven’t even cared to comment on the Derby budget (a cardinal sin in my opinion), did you even know a new one had been proposed? You really don’t seem in touch with Derby politics and I’m starting to think that you are a candidate that wants to tick the box of becoming an MP rather than representing the Derby south constituents!
at least he has had the guts to hold a full time job and stand to try and make some change!
And you ??
And me? I’m not standnig for election, just yet, im a little too young. I also hold down a full time job having graduated last June and have felt the full effects of the recession as well as being involved in Derby politics since a very young age, im currently 22 for yor reference, I dont understand what your point is, are you questioning my integrity or think that I dont work hard to fight for my beliefs? Debate and discussion is the best thing about our political process, lets get some good debate going here!
I have to say that I personally am on the fence when it comes to fox hunting. I have friends in both camps and have listened to the arguments continue in circles over the years. I find it disappointing that people would base their political allegiance on this topic alone (as many do) and not take into account the many many other influences on politics. I would like to congratulate Jack on addressing everyone’s concerns whilst remaining objective. I would also like to say that it was great to be given the opportunity to speak with him personally out and about on the streets in Derby… so refreshing to see someone who truly cares and is untainted by the recent scandals of parliament.
Your political inexperience is telling.
‘The Conservative Party, with all its resource and specialisation, finds it hard to get accurate and clear statistics out of government really demonstrates how opaque this government has been.’
The statistics that the Tories got wrong are from independent organisations. The crime stats are independently found. As fir the teenage pregnant rates…Tory high command said that over 50 percent of teenage girls in deprived areas become pregnant, however, someone failed to put a decimal point between the 5 and the last number. It just goes to show how out of touch (ory high command is, that they thought the figure was correct.
‘Transparency is one of the critical elements of our approach to government.’
Lord Ashcroft…need I say anymore?