Hunting Bill

[juliet]

(information from arkady - can't yet find anything online & don't have a radio/TV here)

Update: Below does not seem to be accurate after all, according to folk watching it on Parliament Live. Bother. So back to keeping thumbs crossed....

Further update: Hurrah, it has now passed after all. Yay.

The Hunting Bill has passed with a majority of 182.

Hurrah.

(though it's not over yet, etc - I *assume* it was passed with the 18 month delay in implementation, but it's likely that the Lords won't pass the Bill which I believe means it would go back to the original 3-month delay in implementation. And that's assuming they use the Parliament Act, though I can't imagine that they would go through all the kerfuffle of bringing it back & then *not* use the PA).

Still hurrah :-)

Comments

[vigornian.livejournal.com]

I have to say I won't hear anything against anybody's right to protest their own point of view around Westminster, in particular on something on which there's clearly a whole range of valid opinions. It's difficult enough in general for some people to make their voice heard when they're in a minority or when they see themselves as disenfranchised from the modern urban thrust of the political mainstream. It's even more difficult if those in a similar position - even if on an issue which others might funamentally disagree with like we have here with the pro-hunters - are not seen as having a right to protest.

[only slightly /trolling]

[azureskies.livejournal.com]

Meh, I wouldn't call that trolling. It's a fair point. Reason would agree with you. But reason's not something that comes into play with regards to a lot of people's feelings over this issue.

And bursting into the House of Commons like a prat certainly isn't a useful or valid means of protest. That just doesn't help either side.

[vigornian.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realised they'd done that (I'm so half past twelve...). I agree, what twats.

[juliet]

I fully agree. But I definitely disapprove of both charging into the Commons & getting into scuffles with MPs/ushers; and throwing bottles & fireworks at the police.

(I'm also far from keen on bringing the M25 to a grinding halt, which I understand also happened yesterday, with a 5mph procession of horseboxes. I'm *sure* that ought to be some sort of driving offence).

[sbp.livejournal.com]

But do you support Reclaim The Streets?

[juliet]

Depends on where & how. Impromptu blocking of entire street - no, don't think so. Planned/agreed blocking of street, or stuff like the no-traffic-day Shoreditch is having this month - yes (just as I'm happy with planned marches etc which stop traffic). I don't believe that yesterday's convoy was agreed in advance - that's certainly not the impression I got in the news.

A better comparison, actually, might be Critical Mass (the bike ride thing), which at least in the Mayday version, wound up delaying a fair amount of traffic. On the other hand, that was partly cos the police insisted on just stopping everything else (like with a protest march) - I believe that wasn't the plan. I don't know how the monthly rides work (whether it's deliberately-slow-down-traffic or just lots of bikes going along at a normal pace & asserting their right to use the roads). OTOH, Critical Mass is *about* cyclists' right to use roads without being shoved off them, so asserting that right *on* the roads makes more sense.

It's also bloody dangerous to do that sort of thing on the motorway - much more so than in cities where everything's moving more slowly anyway.