 |
|
 |
||
NATIONAL
COURSING CLUB |
||||
|
|
|
||
NATIONAL
COURSING CLUB |
||||
News |
|
Changes to Fixture List 4th October - Sportsmans - cancelled 14th October - Cotswold - cancelled 26th/27th December - Old Yorkshire now 29th/30th December LORDS DEBATE Coursing supporters should be sceptical about press claims that a law to ban hunting with dogs will be “on the statute book by the next election.” The Hunting Bill receiving its Second Reading in the House of Lords on 16th September was just one more skirmish in a long war. The Bill received its Second Reading by being nodded through without a formal vote, the Lords tradition for bills which appeared in a government manifesto. The real battle will begin in the Committee Stage which cannot start until 21st October at the earliest. It is not inconceivable that the Committee will still be going through the Bill when the Parliamentary session ends in November. Then the Government will have to bring it back again in the new term. Lord Mancroft, summing up against the Bill, promised that the Bill would be suitably amended at the Committee Stage to produce a proper instrument to regulate hunting. Our supporters will seek to bring coursing and stag-hunting within the regulatory process, and the importance of the role of hunting sports in encouraging conservation of a species will be recognised as a qualification for their continuance. A number of Lords spoke up specifically for coursing. We owe a vote of thanks to Baronesses Mallalieu, Trumpington and Thomas, and to Lords Mancroft and Hoyle, Viscount Allenby, and Earl Peel. We were not forgotten. Lord Whitty, leading for the Government, puffed considerably about the Parliament Act, and that the Lords should not stand in the way of the Commons. As it is an open secret that the remaining hereditary peers are to be sacked, the Government hasn’t much of a stick with which to beat them. In fact some might feel their opposition to the hunting ban could be their last defiant hurrah. Even Lord Whitty admitted that as far as the Parliament Act is concerned, “We do not wish to get ahead of ourselves on this matter.” He is right to be cautious. All the contitutional experts sit in the House Of Lords, and the Parliament Act may well fail to operate as the cure-all that some MPs take it for. Lord Kimball was able to quote the sections of the European Convention on Human Rights which the Bill at present infringes. Don’t forget the Russians in 1812. They lost every battle but they won the war! Charles Blanning 17.9.2003
|
 |
| The Dogs |
Past |
Present
| The
Hares | Brief Guide
| 10 Lies |
News | Fixtures List | Results | |
 |
16 Clocktower Mews,
Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 8LL |
||
