This week's article is written by Charlie Breese

DESPITE all our efforts, demonstrations, petitions and marches it would appear that there are still folk with authority in London hell bent on destroying one of our last remaining traditional English sports.

The bugle has been resounding around our lands for centuries and it is standing in grave danger of being made extinct forever by city folk who just have no working knowledge of the countryside and the way in which it survives.

The question I keep asking myself is why has fox hunting become such an intensely emotive issue in this country?

There is hunting in France, Ireland and the United States; there are Animal Rights Movements in those countries also; but in none of them is there any serious political challenge to field sports. It is only here, in good old England, that hunts are disrupted by protestors and only here do MPs queue up to introduce another bill to ban hunting.

The MPs at the front of the queue are people like Mike Foster, a Labour MP backbencher, who admits to being one of the 4m people in this world who enjoy coarse fishing. Another man in the queue is the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn, who, when speaking on the radio about the difference between hunting and fishing, said that the difference was obvious: foxes couldn't be eaten !

I would have thought that even Mr Milburn might be expected to know that most recreational angling in this country is for inedible coarse fish. Competition angling has neither gastronomic nor ecological excuse and is seen by some as pure sadism, with aversion even by trout fishermen.

However, it is the sport of 4m people, against that of the 270,000 who enjoy hunting. With this in mind, I question whether a ban for hunting is being put forward on the right grounds.

I believe that the Burns report is now available to the public and I hope that the nation does not believe that there are only 6,000-8,000 jobs that will be lost should hunting be banned, which the report suggests. It is not just people directly related to hunting who will be affected but also whole communities who depend on hunting and the trade which it brings to small businesses such as pubs, hotels and suchlike.

Hunting is obviously not just about killing foxes. If it is banned, have the opponents thought about the future of activities such as point-to-points, pony clubs and agricultural shows regularly sponsored by local hunts? The knock-on effects are clearly going to be catastrophic.

The future of hunting with dogs, as far as I can see, lies in the hands of those in London. I believe that in the Queen's Speech at the next session of Parliament, a bill will be put forward which will allow for the future of hunting to be decided by an open vote in the Commons. If this goes through, it will then go to the Lords. Should it get cleared through there, I fear, with the feelings that there are against hunting at the moment, a bill will be passed to ban the sport quicker than you can get to London to protest.

Having said that, I see that the Countryside Alliance Board is on the case and currently rallying round supporters, individuals and groups, and is putting them on stand-by.

A "Call to Arms" may come at short notice and this will certainly require time, dedication and commitment, but it should lead to the biggest peace-time march that London has ever seen. Be prepared and polish those marching boots.

It is desperately sad, in this day and age when there are so many other problems in the world, the headline news is the banning of fox hunting; a sport which does so much good for the local communities, is enjoyed by so many and damages so little.

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A year or two ago, the Gazette printed a comic menu and recently, the following update was passed to James Stephenson by Peter Beckett which I thought might amuse:

MENU OF THE FUTURE

BEEF - (not available due to BSE)

LAMB - (not available due to scrapie)

PORK - (not available due to swine vesicular disease)

CHICKEN - (not available due to Hong Kong flu)

FISH - (not available due to lead & aluminium poisoning)

VEGETARIAN DISHES - (not available due to G M soya)

CHEESE & PATE - (not available due to listeria)

EGGS - (not available due to salmonella)

WATER - (not available due to fluoride & e. coli)

FRESH FRUIT - (not available due to gamma irradiation)

OSTRICH - (not available because I can't catch the rascal)

Customers are reminded that they are allowed to smoke before, during and after their meal - provided they live that long!

SORRY! We do not serve vegetarians as it is now proven beyond doubt that their excessive methane emissions are making the hole in the ozone layer bigger.

ENJOY YOUR MEAL!

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I read with delight, together with a sense of relief, that more and more parents are now wanting their children to be given meat in their school lunches more often, according to a survey by the Meat and Livestock Commission.

From a poll of parents whose children eat school meals, they found that 75pc thought that prime cuts of meat should be included in school menus on a daily basis, with 89pc saying they would be prepared to pay extra if this were to happen.

Together with this, the only Welsh local authority to continue its ban on British beef in primary schools is also to lift its veto. This authority was one of only 12 left in Britain to retain a ban because of the concern about BSE. The decision follows the lifting of all school bans on beef in Scotland.

Let us hope with the bans in Scotland and Wales lifted, this provides the incentive that some English authorities need to do likewise and I pray that they will follow their neighbours examples by removing their bans. There are ten English authorities remaining, mainly in urban areas, that still have total beef bans in their schools. Wake up and taste the T-bone!

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I see now that proposed EU beef labelling rules could cost the British meat and livestock industry as much as £50 per animal in lost efficiency, according to the Scottish Association of Meat Wholesalers. The EU council wants all beef to include on its label the country of origin and the type of animal from which the meat has come. This will require heifers, steers and bulls to be kept separate through the slaughter and meat processing chain.

These suggestions seem totally absurd. I can't help thinking that Nick Brown should be opposing these plans rather than standing in a long queue of MPs trying to pass a bill to ban fox hunting!

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The market in Malton on Tuesday was a more cheerful affair than the last week or two had been and most noticeably in the cattle sector.

With John Cundall under the weather and Michael Harrison away, Philip held the hammer for the 270 forward in this department and reports a firming of trade.

There was a good show of 113 bulls which met with some genuine interest and this can be seen with the average across the board at 93p/kg. The top beast of the day came from Alice Thompson which made 113p/kg.

Clean cattle were even livelier and anything with a bit of shape was not hard to sell. Well shaped butcher-type heifers were deservedly popular and John Sturdy's smart Simmental heifer reached the dizzy heights of 127p/kg which is encouraging.

Intervention type bullocks were well sought after also and those which were FABBL registered were making 5-6p/kg more than those which weren't.

Bullocks averaged 98p/kg throughout the market with the top price coming from a heavyweight produced by John Hodsman which made 111p/kg.

Sheep trade seems to have slipped a bit and the lamb average of 95p/kg reflects this. Philip sold the 791 in the market and the top pen came from R & J Wainwright making £45.50.

There was a smaller show of pigs than expected, however, producers showed on Tuesday that they were satisfied with the prices achieved. The cutter- weight pigs, which were the majority weight offered, averaged over 80p/kg and the overall average was just under 80p/kg.

We now must hope for these levels to be sustained.

Top price of the day was shared between Fred Horsley and Messrs Harrison & Johnson for two excellent pens of gilts which made 84p/kg.