The BBC report is very prim. ” Two people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a hunt supporter died when he was hit by a gyrocopter at an airfield.” But why so coy? Oh, NOW I understand, it appears the alleged killers were hunt saboeuteurs. Well, if you go hunting, you deserve all you get, right? Good old Auntie – can’t wait for Red Nose Day.
HUNTING SABOEUTEURS
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From the BBC report:
Mr Butler, joint master of the hunt, said he did not know why an aircraft had been in the area over the last few weeks.
Did he really say that? He must be pretty dim!
Not dim at all – as we all know, ‘hunting’ in its bad old form, as defined by League Agains Cruel Sports (who drew up the legislation, ignoring all advice from wiser heads that their wording was impractical and unenforceable), has been banned. So there’s no point harrassing hunts any more.
So what could these hooligans be doing in their microlight – apart from terrifying horses and hounds? Odd behaviour from ‘animal rights’ supporters.
Having said that, I think there’s an awful lot more to this story than has been printed so far. Let’s see how it unfolds.
Well the master of the hunt has described it as ‘tragic but fatal accident’.
and the League Against Cruel Sports never use aircraft of any description to monitor hunts.
and the two men have been arrested but not charged (as yet at least).
and it is unclear as to their identities
Perhaps the BBC is right in this case to use circumspection in its reporting.
I’ll bet it won’t unfold very far on the Beeb, Chuffer. Which is rather the point.
The Daily Mail seem to be the only news source claiming that the two men were anti-hunt protestors, and even then use the phrase ‘said to be’ – by whom?
No mention of this on:
Sky (http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Gyrocopter-Death-Two-People-Questioned-After-Aircraft-Hit-And-Killed-Hunt-Supporter-In-Warwickshire/Article/200903215238186?lpos=UK_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15238186_Gyrocopter_Death%3A_Two_People_Questioned_After_Aircraft_Hit_And_Killed_Hunt_Supporter_In_Warwickshire)
Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4964432/Two-held-after-huntsman-killed-by-gyrocopter.html)
Not even Horse and Hound (http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/278379.html) – though they do say that the copter had been following the hunt for weeks.
I don’t know, maybe, just maybe, the full details aren’t known at this stage, and the BBC did the right thing to not post a reactionary and completely unproven claim? Even the Mail hedge their bets with their language. Another waste of space David.
As someone who rode to hounds until a few years ago I know from first-hand experience how ingenious but also how violent the antis can be. I have a scar to prove it via a lovely gentleman with a nail in his baseball bat. A gyrocopter spy seems like a bit of genius on the part of one of the bearded weirdies.
The BBC was on the forefront of the campaign to ban even though 99% of them think that ‘countryside’ is the hedge at the end of the garden.
That’s right ipreferred – just like when the BBC had to be dragged spitting and screaming to report the Jaquie Smithh con, also revealed by the outrageously-non-leftwing Mail… Mandelsohn and the yacht… Ross/Brand affair etc etc. Strange how when the BBC DOES rush in to report certain dubious stories they always tend to be “US soldiers flush Koran down the toilet”, “British soldiers torture helpless Iraqis” or “Israelis fire on UN school”.
You’ve heard, of course about the dyslexic huntsman, who wouldn’t go near the garden centre? He was very wary of the hunt secateurs.
Anyway….
It must be terrible for the League Against Cruel Sports, having worked so hard and so long for their ‘victory’ to see toffs in red coats still riding across the countryside chasing after foxes. And they had run such a great campaign on a relative shoestring budget, earning great respect from a chum of mine who happens to be about as high up in the hunting/shooting/fishing fraternity as it is possible to get. And now, I gather, their membership is tumbling (after all, the ‘victory’ is won!), and I heard that headquarters is on the market.
Their huge mistake, as I said earlier, was to insist on their wording of the bill, refusing all help from ACPO and the CPS. the result is what we have today. Although the problem with anyone trying to make a watertight bill is that hunting is impossible to define.
And BBC Bias on this issue? Anyone who has followed the debate on the BBC will have seen what they think of hunting! Somewhere in the attic is my VHS of the Hunting march.
ipreferred | 10.03.09 – 11:57 am
The Daily Mail seem to be the only news source claiming that the two men were anti-hunt protestors
Oh yeah?
Times, Express and Sky do for starters:
A keen hunt supporter has been killed after being hit by a gyrocopter believed to have been monitoring hunts in the area….. It is understood that an animal rights group, Protect Our Wild Animals, has been monitoring the Warwickshire and the Heythrop hunts from a gyrocopter over the past three weeks. Masters of the hunt told The Times that one of the low-flying aircraft had been reported to the Civil Aviation Authority and the police about ten days ago, amid fears that it was upsetting animals. It was said to have been swooping in an aggressive manner over the hunt.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5877904.ece
Police are investigating the possibility that the incident might have stemmed from the activities of hunt saboteurs.
According to a spokesman for the Warwickshire Hunt the aircraft, called a gyrocopter, had turned up several times in the past few weeks and followed the hunt.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/88494/Murder-quiz-as-gyrocopter-kills-a-hunt-follower
Police arrested two people, said to be hunt saboteurs
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Gyrocopter-Death-Two-People-Questioned-After-Aircraft-Hit-And-Killed-Hunt-Supporter-In-Warwickshire/Article/200903215238186?lpos=UK_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15238186_Gyrocopter_Death%
Do try to be truthful when defending the BBC. I know it’s hard but …….
“Gyrocopters are known to take off and land very slowly and it is thought the victim was walking when the collision occurred.
No one else was injured in the incident, an ambulance spokesman said.”
Walking ? Walking you say ? Oh…and it was going very slowly, you say. Well I never. If that’s the case then clearly the dead man was asking for it. He was walking and gyrocopters go slowly.
For those who cannot read bbc subtext – the hunt sabs were not at fault. the hunting guy was asking for it.
Tom: more details have emerged, yes, in fact the BBC has updated it’s story too. I was posting based on what was available at the time, which showed no bias.
While we’re on foxhunting bias • compare and contrast –
BBC:
Confusion over Otis Ferry charge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7933396.stm
First Post:
Police drop charges against Otis Ferry
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people,2071,police-drop-charges-against-otis-ferry,76723
Guardian:
Otis Ferry ‘witness nobbling’ charge dropped
Rock star’s son spent four months in custody after being accused
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/09/otis-ferry-charge-dropped
Evening Standard:
Judge attacks Otis Ferry charge as ‘nonsense’
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23659709-details/Judge+attacks+Otis+Ferry+charge+as+%27nonsense%27/article.do
Best thing one can do with hunt saboteurs and other animal botherers is hunt them down with dogs. They never put themselves out for a fox, they only put themselves out for themselves.
Watching this item on the BBC 1 O’clock news I’m confused, as Beeboid anchor talking to beeboid at crash site talked gibberish. I gathered after a while (I think) that ‘members of the hunt’ had noticed a gyrocopter following them (when they were hunting or during normal activities?); that a ‘member of the hunt’ was killed by the gyrocopter when he walked across the airfield. (What was he doing at the airfield?)
Not once did they mention the possibility of anti-hunt activists being in the gyrocopter
David, the BBC report on the news last night, and on 5live this morning, referred to the gyrocopter crew as hunt-saboteurs, so I am not sure what you consider is wrong with the coverage? It is not bias just because the internet article you linked to uses different words to the TV and radio reports.
Not to mention, that you are implying that the BBC feel the hunters got what they deserved. YOU implied that David, that is YOUR opinion, not that of the BBC. Don’t try to read the mind of an entire news organisation. Reading between the lines in the way that you have done is fine for your opinion, only you attempt to present opinion as fact.
A slow-moving gyrocopter landed on a hunt supporter who was strolling across an airstrip?? I can hardly wait for the Youtube footage.
IPreferred
“reactionary claim”, ha? How on earth do you distinguish between a “progressive” claim and a “reactionary” one?
Pray, tell us. Is it some kind of a sacred knowledge?
note to beeboid trolls, it was the blatant anti field sport bias of the bbc reporting, which turned thousands of otherwise completely law abiding individuals into bbc refusenics. Any one remember the beeboid attempt to airbrush the Liberty & Livelehood march, the largest ever political protest in this country, from our TV screens !
Ipreferred:
“reactionary claim”, ha? How on earth do you distinguish betwee a “reactionary claim” and a “progressive” on? Is it some kind of sacred knowledge? Pray, tell us.
“Chuffer:
You’ve heard, of course about the dyslexic huntsman, who wouldn’t go near the garden centre? He was very wary of the hunt secateurs.”
You’ll be getting a call from the Joint Initiative on Humour Against Dyslexics (JIHAD).
Off topic, but similar, is the way the BBC reported an anti-war protest in Bedfordshire at a parade to welcome home 200 soldiers from Iraq:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/7935049.stm
No mention is made of the fact that the vile scum who protested were Muslims. You’d only get a fleeting impression of that if you watched the video clip. Indeed, the still they use on the video player before you hit ‘play’ is carefully chosen to hide their identity. No such cover up in the Mail’s reporting of the incident.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1160958/Fury-Muslim-anti-war-protesters-hurl-abuse-British-soldiers-homecoming-parade.html
Feline: goodspot. It’s ipreferred innate, or shd we say “institutional” bias coming out. If it was a “progressive claim”, that would no doubt get top-billing on our awareness-raising BBC
Preposteroso:
Best thing one can do with hunt saboteurs and other animal botherers is hunt them down with dogs. They never put themselves out for a fox, they only put themselves out for themselves.
Thanks for your contribution to the debate. Keep it to yourself next time you’re tempted to type.
I trust the police to investigate this incident, and it’s ridiculous people trying to make political capital out of it.
Like most British people I oppose fox hunting, and I also trust the police.
Preposteroso:
Best thing one can do with hunt saboteurs and other animal botherers is hunt them down with dogs. They never put themselves out for a fox, they only put themselves out for themselves.
Thanks for your contribution to the debate. Keep it to yourself next time you’re tempted to type.
I trust the police to investigate this incident, and it’s ridiculous people trying to make political capital out of it.
Like most British people I oppose fox hunting, and I also trust the police.
Thanks, John, for your comment which has beautifully, perfectly and precisely given us EXACTLY what the whole hunting debate is about:
“…. and it’s ridiculous people trying to make political capital out of it.”
It’s not about animal welfare; it’s ‘political’. It’s a ‘totemic issue’ for the Labour party, which, of course, makes it a good old-fashioned class war affair. It’s the Politics of Envy in its purest and most spiteful, face-twisted form.
Thanks again, John.
Well at least those in the gyrocopter weren’t greens!! This must cause a bit of a problem to the BBC though.
Sorry, John, only trying to be helpful. You see, if you hunt down animal rights botherers with dogs they might then get an idea, first hand, of just how much a dog loves to chase a thing down and bite off its head. Too late for them then to just stop spoiling the poor animal’s fun and robbing it of its animal rights.
John | 10.03.09 – 9:54 pm
Like most British people I oppose fox hunting, and I also trust the police.
Well, I don’t like off-track betting shops. And if you gave me the propaganda resources of the BBC for five years, I guarantee I could deliver a majority of opinion in favour of closing Joe Coral etc. down.
But that wouldn’t make it the right thing to do.
and John?
as a photographer I don’t trust our gallant boys in blue any more than I could comfortably spit a dead rat.
http://ministryofparanoia.com/2008/my-arrest-story/
Probably some decent officers but far too many PC pratts and thugs for my liking.
Secondly as a motorist I would support any party that ends the war on the motorist.
So no I don’t automatically support our police and would think twice about coming to the aid of an ossifer (even a wpc) struggling with a crim.
The BBC in its general countryside reporting shows all the time its lack of knowledge and a complete misunderstanding of how the countryside works . I wonder how this story would have been reported if an Anti had been kicked to death by a hunt horse ” Hunt Kills Bystander ” or similar i am sure ! Oh and there were 2000 plus pro hunting folk at our boxing day meet all avid supporters of britain and its proud heritage , thank god there are some of us left.
Funny how B-BBC posters all rally behind typical tory issues – ie. fox hunting.
Gus Haynes:
Well, if an organisation is bent to the left say, then most people would have issues with ‘tory issues’ don’t you think?
You really are an incredibly thick bstard.
That’s before I even start on fox hunting being a ‘tory’ issue. The MAJORITY of the people DID NOT want to ban it. If that means the MAJORITY are tories then give us a tory government now. Better still, give us a government who will pull out of the EU like the MAJORITY want. And even better give us a government who will cut the benefits system so people like you will have to go out and get a job. A proper job.
Gus says ‘All’ and tory – I personally oppose fox hunting, I have never yet voted tory (though who knows in future) and I can’t stand Cameron, Osbourne and most particularly Davis.
I may or may not be on my own.
Who cares, its about BBC bias, not tory hunters, typical liberal always tries to make a straw man saying everyone over there is ‘like that’.
If some here are tory pro hunters so be it, why is that an issue for you, its not a party political here you know.
So up yours and your all.
You really are Colin Chase in disguise aren’t you.
its only ‘bent to the left’ from the viewpoint of the far right – where I guess you sit.
the vast majority of people in the UK have no problem with the BBC becuase they are not sat on the right looking that way – they are centre, centre left or centre right. and to them, the BBC is just an ordinary news outlet like all the others. it only appears left to those of you seeking to find a new pariah for your cause.
show me evidence of the BBC being left wing? and by evidence, I don’t mean a DV post claiming bais simply cos the BBC disagree with his/your viewpoint.
Blimey, Gus is in scattergun posting mode tonight.
‘Funny how B-BBC posters all rally behind typical tory issues – ie. fox hunting.’
Not really, Gus. The BBC is fundamentally left wing, so those who complain about BBC Bias will almost inevitably be right wing.
And fox hunting was only made a ‘tory’ issue when the left made banning it their main policy!
who is colin chase?
i love the way you find it hard to beleive there can be more than one person opposed to the crap on this site…
gus
colin chase
same one who tries the pathetic measure of claiming all posters to a blog are all the same to suit his straw man arguments
he did it
you do it
he was a troll who just kept saying the bloggers were one crap whole, the blog was crap and a waste of time, but just kept posting and posting here more than anyone disproving his own argument as he typed
seeing a pattern yet…
again , the fact that you think only one person on earth could disagree with the views expressed here tells us all a lot about your state of denial.
I call BS on any and all defenders of the BBC on this thread.
The Beeboids know perfectly well who these alleged murderers are. It’s obvious from the report that not only do they know/suspect what the guys were up to…
Sam Butler, of the Warwickshire Hunt, said a gyrocopter had recently been following hunts in the area.
…but scrambled to come up with an alibi for them:
Mr Butler said it was a “tragic but fatal accident”, but he did not know why an aircraft had been in the area over the last few weeks.
It is thought the gyrocopter, a privately-owned aircraft similar to a small helicopter, had landed at the airfield to refuel.
So, a gyrocopter had recently been following the hunts, but this particular one had merely landed in the area to refuel? The BBC is making a deliberate effort to disassociate the alleged murder weapon/craft with the one previously following the hunters around.
Andrew Marr says the BBC is liberal. What does he know, he was only their top political reporter, only chairs several shows still.
Anthony Jay says the BBC are hopelessly liberal. What does he know, he was only worked there for years.
The Director General says the BBC is very biased on certain issues. What does he know, he is only the boss.
Jeff Randall says liberal bias is systemic at the BBC. What does he know, he was only their top industrial reporter.
Lots of other people with experience of the BBC admit to the bias. What do they know – all they have is direct experience.
It is of course Gus who is the expert, the seer, the guide.
Troll
I never said this wasn’t murder – my original point was that its funny how you all seem to take uniform right wing/conservative views. I can see the predictable responses coming a mile off. People try to pigeonhole me here, but they are wrong because I am not left nor right wing. I am in independent thinker, which many of you (JohnA especially it seems, idiot) are not.
Gus, you remain a total troll. Quit all your scatter-gun questioning and try answering some questions yourself. You are the one that is predictable.
A predictable troll.
You fail to answer the charges of bias at the BBC made by the BBC’s own people. Either they are lying – or you are.
ask me a question then, go on. lets have it out here, or are you worried you’ll be embarassed?
Gus
Track back and answer the many many questions you skulked off to avoid. You have not even answered the one immediately above – why is it that top BBC people say it is biased but you deny it. Their judgments are based on hard and long experience.
That is – you evade even the most direct question.
But there is one question you may care to address – why are you so arrogant, with patently nil to be arrogant about ?
I have plenty to be arrogant about. Show me the original quotes of randall, marr and co and we’ll talk. I’m not debating something if youve taken it out of context.
For goodness sake – are you blind ?
Look at the quotes at the right hand side of this blog.
Quit trolling.
People who weren’t there, and have only read reports are quite prepared to pass judgement.
Was it an accident? Was it murder? I don’t know, and neither do any of the posters here. What you think about hunting is irrelevant. I do trust the police to investigate this serious incident appropriately.
The law should protect everyone, whether or not you support their actions and activities.
Interesting that this should pop up on the BBC News front page.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/7936812.stm
Interesting in two ways. Listen to the choice of music that has added to scenes of hunting: Tarantino…sadistic killers…drug takers…
And also intesting because I can’t find any balancing argument on the front page. No bias there, then, Gus.
Hunting is not right or left wing that idea is a total joke.
It is true that more on the right support it and more onthe left oppose it.
I think its clear that the majority in the country oppose it but not so strongly, but the minority that support it tend to be more fervent in their views, particularly as it more of them that are directly affected by any ban.
The majority that express a view on this blog seem to support it, I personally oppose it, but it has nothing to do with being left or right wing.
In my opinion the ‘ban’ iself is a joke as from what I can see there is as much hunting going on now as there was before the ‘ban’.
As with certain other areas, such as the Holy Land, climate change, Londoncentrism, Northern Ireland, Christianity, and Islam the BBC has a blind spot on hunting and sees things in a biased way from nearly all one way.
It is strange how there are lines of bias from the BBC about certain areas whereas with others they are near paragons of virtue (giving the oxygene for fire for some of the BBC’s supporters).
In fact I can see the bias being all one way on some things even when it is something I agree with in principle and I still think it is wrong for the state broadcaster to do.
End the licence fee which is a poll tax and end the status as state broadcaster and remove unfair BBC monopolies and I probably wouldnt feel strongly enough to post about any BBC biases.