“My concern for Local Government is tragically apparent on such occasions, for I must look completely out of place, in a riot of good-will & doubtful expressions of “here’s to you Bill!” What is the future of my efforts, if any ?”
Eric Donovan 1956.
Yesterday, I went to Bridgewater to ask a question at the full meeting of Somerset County Council. My question related to SCC’s failure to take any action about the various law-breaking, procedure-skipping Boxing Day Hunt meets that occur in Somerset every year.
Put on the spot publicly, SCC had little choice but to say that they would be insisting the hunts follow all the normal procedures (road closures etc) for their meets, but quite frankly, that wasn’t much to ask for. All organisers of all events should be doing that anyway, and hunts should be no exception.
The very fact that it is PROGRESS to force SCC to force the hunts to abide by the same procedures as everyone else shows the depths of corruption, back-slapping and avuncular manipulation that goes on behind the scenes in councils. Without our intervention, nothing would have changed.
Put this “success” in the context of our other request (jointly with the League) to ban trail hunting on council land, which was rejected on very slim grounds indeed, and you can easily see the rest of the murky picture.
If you want to speak at a council meeting, you have to present your questions in advance and ask the chair’s permission. The email I received agreeing to my questions was addressed to “MR Donovan”.
To me, Mr Donovan was my father, and as he died in 1971, I wasn’t expecting him to turn up at the meeting.
My father had immense, unshakeable, integrity and as a local government officer (he was assistant borough engineer in the London Borough of Hounslow when he died) he professionally advised many councillors on many issues. He was also expected to go to social events, which he hated. In 1956, he attended the installation of a new mayor and he wrote to my mother about it. “My concern for Local Government is tragically apparent on such occasions, for I must look completely out of place, in a riot of good-will & doubtful expressions of “here’s to you Bill!” What is the future of my efforts, if any ?”
His words popped into my head yesterday, and I replied, “I get you, Daddy, I get you”. (I was ten when he died).
Thank you, Mr Donovan, for turning up and reminding me that I’m not the only one to look at some councillors with profound distrust, and despair.
SCC councillors: where’s your integrity? Did you not have a Mr Donovan to show you the way? Or did your integrity disappear along with your backbone the minute you became councillors?
Pip Donovan 24 November 2022
Integrity and the Local Councillor
Dear Pip,
I read with sadness your remarks about the honesty and integrity of our local counsellors.
My heart went out to you because you’re rhetorical question should be so easy to answer.
In fact, it is a very difficult problem that needs addressing. It doesn’t just need a little bit of courage to stand out against the majority, it takes a great deal of courage, and its toll can be felt on your family and friendships, on your ability to sleep at night and on your health.
It may be that the counsellors that permit the hunts to act illegally with their meets in town centres that don’t comply to any regulations, consider it to be a very minor offence, and that most people would not or should not object to the hunt giving a visual spectacular on Boxing Day to anyone interested enough to attend.
However, the councillors are failing to grasp that while they consider that, as fox hunting occurs out of the public eye, it is of little consequence if the law is broken, … that it is a huge betrayal of the standards they should have set for themselves.
Even on this issue, the failure to uphold the law contributes to the decline of standards and respect of our governing institutions.
If the Councillors are unsure where they should stand on the activities of hunts, let them build the case from basics:
The Fox is not Vermin. Vermin is defined by DEFRA and the Fox is not in their list.
The Fox does not die quickly with a quick nip at the back of its neck, which used to be the fairy tale that was told when I was a young man. The fox is overrun by the pack of hounds, rolled over and it is disembowelled by a pack of tearing, snarling hounds. This is a vile ending for any creature, particularly as it occurs just for the pleasure of a few.
It is not illegal to kill a fox. What is illegal is to hunt one with a pack of dogs.
Sheep farmers do not like Hunts, or suppose that they help keep the Fox population down and helps protect their lambs.
Sheep farmers are the silent sufferers who dare not stand up against the hunt because of their viciousness and vindictiveness. If the hunt does go through a field of pregnant ewes the sheep are very likely to abort and cost the farmer a great deal of money. Sheep farmers unless they themselves are hunters abhor the hunts coming anywhere near their fields.
Hunts often create artificial earths for foxes to occupy in order to ensure they have plenty of foxes to hunt.
Foxes are sometimes trapped and netted by Hunts in order to be released in front of the hounds to ensure the spectators have something exciting to watch.
There is much violence surrounding the hunts with their Terrier men usually being the main protagonists.
Finally if any councillors are associated with a party that believes itself to be the party of Law and Order then they (the Councillors) should be trying to uphold the law, not turning a blind eye.
The public Boxing Day parades just give oxygen to an immoral pastime, and perpetuates a lie that hunting is an honourable pastime.