Pauline Kidner seems to believe because she loves badgers, that must take precedence. . I am sorry Pauline. We either stop culling everything; cattle also; start praying and wait for Mycobacterium bovis to do its worst; or we deal with the reservoir populations. . . Tell Simon, TB in badgers is self-maintaining, obviously increasing, and they excrete M bovis bacilli by the ‘bucket load’. . . . Until recently the NFU were in the government’s pocket . . . And collective ignorance about the potential of a TB epidemic proves nothing Phil. . . (vote on badger cull). Try asking if they want one of their children or family to contract it. . Or MRSA or C Dificile come to that. . . It can all kill you!

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

It was recently reported that an Institute of Education survey of London teachers and pupils concluded that “patriotism, i.e. love of country” was not a suitable educational aim, and claimed pupils shouldn’t be taught to love Britain.Either way, such a conclusion was a contradiction in terms since neither Britain nor UK is a country, both are unions of real countries, and who can be taught or wants to love a union such as the EU or the former USSR?

Love for the country in which one lives or was born is probably the most basic and collective human instinct after love of family.

The nation state (country) is the basis of democracy, but within a union real democracy is almost impossible because the self-interest of people for their own country is paramount and patriotic politicians will ensure it will always be so.

Within these islands the political structure of union has already been destroyed with 1999 devolution legitimising the political separateness of the countries Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and with England equally devolved by default, we have a disunited kingdom.

There are no longer any British or UK schools, hospitals, councils, environment, planning, housing, transport, industry, law and order - you name it, since all such political matters are now English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish entities.

With Westminster now only governing those matters in England, together with the few remaining non-devolved functions (about 15 per cent of its time), the political fragmentation of the Union is well advanced, with Britain or UK now little more than geographic identities.

Education ceased to be a British or UK political matter in 1999, despite Westminster’s pretence that it still governs a Union.

IoE teachers and pupils are equally divorced from reality since it is not Britain/UK that pays their bloated public sector salaries, feeds their families or provides pupil education, it’s the taxpayers of “their country” - England.

Their patriotism and thankfulness should be unconditional, having no limit for a country and its people who not only indulge them, but subsidise the rest of the UK and much of the EU.

R A Hopkins Cheltenham

The problem with politicians and teachers in London, is that they seem to believe ‘London’ is representative of the UK as a whole, when patently it is not; no more than Wolverhampton is. . The teaching profession needs a shake up. . There is a ‘real world’ out here that both teachers and too many politicians now appear oblivious to. . Both sets need to learn, ‘It is ‘he’ who pays the Piper that calls the tune’.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

We were interested to read R Tippett’s comments about how “Soaring water bills cannot be justified” (Your Say, March 17).

However, some of his comments are not based on fact.

Nobody wants to pay increased bills, but I am sure Mr Tippett’s water bill is lower than his bill for electricity, gas or council tax.

Our charges have risen to pay for essential improvements to the service customers receive from us and to protect their water supplies.

We do not believe our charges are “extortionate". Our average increase for unmeasured households is 8.7 per cent and the average for measured households is 7.5 per cent. Bristol Water’s average household increase in bills is 8.2 per cent to £151. That’s for a full year’s supply.

To put our bill increases into context - they are a fraction of the increases in other utility bills, with our average bill representing less than £3 per week. Meanwhile, 1,000 litres of one of the cheapest bottled waters would cost £134 - 1,000 litres of our tap water costs just over £1.

Finally, the suggestion that “if you fail to pay in full, we’ll come and cut your water off” has not been true for years. Water companies are legally barred from disconnecting domestic customers.

However, losing even the threat of disconnection as a last resort, which was all it was, has led to a huge increase in the number of people who won’t pay - not who can’t pay.

Jeremy Williams
Director of corporate affairs
Bristol Water plc

I have heard some lame arguments Editor, but this is really ‘Beyond the Pale’; though perhaps I ought to be using the word PAIL! . . What in the world has the cost of ‘tap water’ got to do with the cost of bottled water. . It’s not like comparing Milk with Water. . If the damned stuff that came out of the taps tasted better and had less chlorine and additives; and other impurities; bottled water vendors wouldn’t have a business. . Water has virtually been ’stolen’ from the populace and been turned into a nice ‘money spinner’ for the shareholders, with a captive market. The cost of our water has always been ‘nominal’. Water Rates like the General Rate were never a big issue. The new ‘owners’ have just exploited the forward thinking of the ‘founding fathers’ and the early government grants. Instead of making sure sources of supply continued to be liberally available on this ‘Island’ with high rainfall. They took our money and wasted our legacy.

Charles Henry

Also Editor; this is a reply I wrote to Chris Gail that you didn’t print. . Jeremy Williams would do well to read it and perhaps learn something. . . . . . . . . “During one of his recent ‘adventures’ into Pseudo-Science and Anti-farming propaganda, Chris Gale of Chippenham tried warn us all of the dangers of drinking cows’ milk; and the ‘reckless abuse that has been committed to the cows in their care by farmers’. . . . What I found very odd from someone who pretends to be so concerned about animal welfare is that he didn’t know that many animals will not drink water that is freshly drawn from the tap, so sensitive are they to the odour of Chlorine. . . What I am suggesting is that before he and his friends and any like-minded ‘researchers’ malign farmers and the product that has helped to keep our children healthy for hundreds of years; they first examine how poisoned we have all been by the Chlorine and other chemicals that are persistently pumped into our drinking water. . They might also examine how chlorine disperses; and why since the advent of the ‘daily shower’, so many people now suffer skin conditions that require lanolin or the ‘like’, to their lower legs and ankles.

Charles Henry

The Editor
Letters
Western Daily Press

Published 27th. March 2008

Dear Editor,

On the 18th. March, Robert Metcalfe; Director Brazilian Beef Information Service; wrote under the heading of ‘FACTS WRONG ON BRAZILIAN BEEF’, “It is a scientific impossibility for the FMD virus to be transmitted by this beef, even if it was there in the first place.” .

I believe this to be an inaccurate statement because a quote from DEFRA in answer to the question, ‘How is the FMD Virus destroyed?’ clearly states:

“It can be destroyed by heat, sunlight, low humidity, or certain disinfectants. However it may remain active for a varying time in a suitable medium such as the frozen or chilled carcase of an infected animal or on contaminated objects. Cold and darkness tend to keep it alive. Under favourable conditions it can survive for long periods.”

It troubles me greatly that it is left to someone like myself to draw this to public attention rather than the NFU or DEFRA.

Yours

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

It was Lenin who, prior to the Russian revolution coined the phrase “a lie told often enough becomes the truth".

It would appear that the Conservatives have taken this quotation to heart and are using it as a tool on almost a daily basis to criticise Gordon Brown. . . cond.

Tony Probert
Locking
North Somerset

More than a dozen years since Tony Blair and Gordon Brown launched their deceitful New-Labour ‘Spin Machine’ and this New-Labour ‘luvvie’ has finally lost it. . But more worrying the Western Daily Press has actually printed it!

Charles Henry

CIGARETTE PLANS MAKE NO SENSE

So the powers-that-be want all cigarettes to be kept under the counter, hoping that out of sight will be out of mind.

Have they ever worked in a small shop? Are they contortionists? As an ex-newsagent, I can tell them it wouldn’t work from a purely practical point of view. Distraction thefts of sweets and magazines would double or treble while the staff grovelled for a packet from the bottom shelf.

But wait a minute - the nation is facing an obesity problem. Having bars of chocolate on display, thus putting temptation in front of people, is surely counter-productive (excuse the pun).

The only solution is to black out the windows, and have the staff sitting in a little kiosk at the door, ready to fetch the goods, but only once the customer has filled in a form (like Argos) and produced an identity card, or a letter from mummy saying he’s allowed to have one small bar of chocolate at a time, but no more.

Yes, the nanny state would like that, I’m sure.

Bridget Bigwood
Exeter

People may be laughing at Bridget Bigwood; she ‘illustrates’ this madness well. But this is no longer funny!…The Big Brother ‘State’ is now completely ‘out of control’. . On the one hand we have MPs challenging the Freedom of Information Act and our right to know exactly how they ‘fritter’ our money on THEIR ‘Perks’ and on the other, a continuous ‘drip’ eroding all the freedoms our forefathers fought and died for; now culminating in the latest EU ‘Treaty’, BY DICTATE OF THE NEW EUROPEAN SOVIET. . All we ever VOTED for was the EEC.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . . . News

Police are probing David Cameron’s favourite fox hunt amid claims it was exposed illegally hunting foxes by an undercover BBC team.

Film-makers shadowed hunt monitors in the Cotswolds as they followed a number of different hunts. But the most explosive footage they and the hunt monitors captured involved the Heythrop Hunt, which includes a large swathe of rural Gloucestershire in its territory.

One man has been arrested and may face prosecution next week, and police are viewing footage filmed by the BBC programme, which is being broadcast across the region tonight. . . cond. .

And all this time farmers and many other country dwellers have had to put up with trailers, horse boxes and other equipment being stolen by itinerants and ‘travellers’; and the police refusing or ‘unable’ to go into travellers camps to redeem any of it. This is even when evidence of the whereabouts of stolen goods has been produced. . . Of course the BBC have no interest in reporting ‘real’ crime when we have a Labour government in power. . . As usual they just pander to extremists and try and make criminals out of honest country folk.

Charles Henry

A man of his time. A great mind. He tried to warn us all, but is it too late?

Did Edward Heath condemn us?

The ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. The name taken from the line, “Like the Roman, I seem to see ‘the River Tiber foaming with much blood’.". . . A travesty.

. . Enoch Powell 1912-1998

Here is the full text of Enoch Powell’s famous speech to the Annual General Meeting of the West Midlands Area Conservative Political Centre, Birmingham, England, April 20, 1968.

“The supreme function of statesmanship is to provide against preventable evils. In seeking to do so, it encounters obstacles which are deeply rooted in human nature. One is that by the very order of things such evils are not demonstrable until they have occurred: At each stage in their onset there is room for doubt and for dispute whether they be real or imaginary.
(more…)

Courtesy HEALTH CANADA

NAME: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis

SYNONYM OR CROSS REFERENCE: TB

CHARACTERISTICS: Gram positive rods, non-spore forming, non-motile, slightly curved, forming strands and cords, acid-fast staining, aerobic, slow-growing.

SURVIVAL OUTSIDE HOST: Guinea pig carcasses - 49 days; carpet - up to 70 days; dust - 90 to 120 days; cockroaches - 40 days; manure 45 days; paper book - 105 days; sputum (cool, dark location) - 6 to 8 months; clothing - 45 days.

HEALTH HAZARD

PATHOGENICITY: Initial infection usually unnoticed, tuberculin sensitivity appears in a few weeks and lesions commonly heal; may progress to pulmonary tuberculosis (fatigue, fever, cough, chest pain, hemoptysis fibrosis, cavitation) or extrapulmonary involvement (miliary, meningeal) by lymphohematogenous dissemination; serious outcome of initial infection more frequent in infants and children; infection with bovine bacillus rare; drug resistant strains can cause irreversible damage in the lungs

EPIDEMIOLOGY: Worldwide (important cause of disability and death in many parts of the world despite downward mortality and morbidity rates); higher in males, among poor and in cities; in low incidence areas, most tuberculosis is endogenous (reactivation of initial latent foci); long exposures of some contacts leads to high risk of infection (25-50%); epidemics in enclosed areas.

M. bovis infection encountered where disease in cattle has not been controlled and raw milk is still used; 11.8% of the isolates are drug resistant, 1.2% being multi-drug resistant

HOST RANGE: Primarily humans, cattle, primates, other animals (rodents)

INFECTIOUS DOSE: 10 bacilli by inhalation.

SOURCE / MODE OF TRANSMISSION / COMMUNICABILITY :

* Inhalation (aerosols or droplet nuclei)
* Ingestion (infected milk, drinking water & feed?)
* Excretion (sputum, mucus, faeces, milk, urine, vaginal and uterine discharges)

MODE OF TRANSMISSION: Portal entry is the lung; pathogen is carried as airborne particles (droplet nuclei); exposure to airborne bacilli from sputum of infected persons; direct invasion of mucous membranes or breaks in skin;bovine tuberculosis from exposure to infected cattle (airborne, ingestion of raw milk or dairy products); medical personnel at risk while performing autopsies, intubation, bronchoscopies or by dermal innoculation

INCUBATION PERIOD: From infection to primary lesion or significant tuberculin reaction - 4 to 12 weeks; risk of progressive pulmonary or extrapulmonary tuberculosis is greatest within 1 to 2 years after infection; may persist for lifetime as latent infection

COMMUNICABILITY: Communicable as long as bacilli are discharged in sputum (may be years if untreated); extrapulmonary TB (except laryngeal tuberculosis) generally not communicable

DISSEMINATION

RESERVOIR: Primarily humans; in some areas, diseased cattle, badgers, swine and other mammals are infected (M. bovis)

ZOONOSIS: Yes - inhalation of infected droplets; direct contact with infected animals or tissues of infected animals

VECTORS: None

VIABILITY

DRUG SUSCEPTIBILITY: Sensitive to combination of antimicrobial drugs - isoniazid, rifampin, streptomycin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide

DRUG RESISTANCE: Isoniazid (INH) and rifampin; multi-drug resistant isolates are resistant to first and second-line antibiotics

SUSCEPTIBILITY TO DISINFECTANTS: Greater resistant to disinfectants and require longer contact times for most disinfectants to be effective; 5% phenol, 1% sodium hypochlorite (only if low organic matter and longer contact times), iodine solutions (high concentration of available iodine required), glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde (longer contact time) are effective

PHYSICAL INACTIVATION: Sensitive to moist heat (121 degrees C for at least 15 min), light.

THE LETTER THE WESTERN DAILY PRESS DIDN’T WANT TO PUBLISH IN JANUARY.

The Editor
Letters
Western Daily Press

Not Published

Dear Editor,

It was Tony Probert’s Messiah, Gordon Brown who turned the whole principle of financial probity on its head by creating an atmosphere where getting ‘one up’ on another in the property market became the foundation for many people’s prosperity, rather than producing something. . . . Property values historically have always eventually followed inflation. . Not the other way round. And property ‘Bubbles’ historically have always created as many losers as winners. . The Banking problem has only really occurred since they started replacing ‘Vaults Full Of Gold’ with ‘Land Registry Computers’ and deceiving everyone as to the ‘Real’ interest rate they were paying when they gave independence to the Bank of England. . . ‘Black Monday’ when world stock markets crashed and Norman Lamont was abandoned by the French and Germans to prop up the pound alone; in the days of the ERM; may yet seem like a walk in the park by comparison.

Yours

Charles Henry

That’s the point ‘Errol’. . . It is just plain deception. . . The initiated taking advantage of the not so bright. . . .

. . Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity)

Yes ‘Errol’ you could well be right, but as you rarely attended school I don’t think we will ever really be sure. . .

You can count quite well. . . I wonder what that tells us? . .

. . Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity)

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

Please could I ask any reader who supports a badger cull to answer two points I would like to bring to this emotive issue.

If, for example, there is still TB in cattle in countries where there are no badgers, the Isle of Man for one, how so?

Secondly, the farmers here have been muck-spreading with many species of birds wallowing in the filth then flying away in all directions - could this spread disease?

I asked Defra to clarify its position but was sent a letter of stupefying cliches, which doesn’t help either side of the debate and cannot help to inform the public as to the best course of action.

Jennie Cook
Minehead
Somerset

Jennie; mycobacterium-bovis (just one type of TB. There are several, and many different strains) exists in many species in the wild all over the world; even in elephants! Our domestic pets can harbour it. That is why it must never be allowed to become too widespread or overwhelming. The methods of infection still leave many questions unanswered and it can take many years to develop; that is why there have been so many arguments. It is a very complex pathogen. It is important to keep dairy herds clear because we have always consumed milk and dairy products; an obvious risk. And cattle can give it to each other very easily. The thing the badger groups can’t accept is that we once conquered this problem by clearing badger setts and culling any reactor cattle. The national herd was clear of disease and all herds in the UK were officially designated ‘Brucellosis Free’ in October 1985. . That is ‘all such pathogens’. . With anti-biotics, the Tetracyclines and other drugs; we had beaten tuberculosis and all the sanatoriums had long been closed. . . Then some bright spark decided the risk from badgers was ‘now’ minimal. So John Major decided he could garnish a few cheap votes at the 1992 election with animal rights activists, by protecting the badger. . It was an election the Conservatives should never have won. . They got stuck with the 1992 very painful recession and we got stuck with the ERM and ‘Europe. . It paved the way for this Labour Government, and we have been paying the price ever since; although some have; and many still are; doing very nicely thankyou. . . . The badger groups argument is solely based around their belief that Mycobacterium-bovis is not a threat to mankind. . Many disagree. . The Government’s Chief Scientist is now one of these, so make up your own mind. . I know I have.

Charles Henry

Mr Henry, That was wonderful to explain about the TB, could you please talk to Mr Benn etc. I was ill with it for many years from a baby, Spinal TB. As one gets older you are left with lots of aches and pains; also more info on the Isle of Man please. Wonder which one I had !!! Thank you.

Toots, Wells, Somerset

Official Manx documents from the Department of Agriculture (at least they still have a Department which even mentions ‘Agriculture’) describe 5 cases 2001 - 2003 and a total 12 cases from 2000 - 2007 - all of which proved to be ‘unrelated’ after culture spoligotypes were received, and most were ‘likely to be the result of importation’. Result: less than two cases annually over the last seven years and all found by post-movement skin tests.

Giles Bradshaw, Rose Ash

Toots; it is quite possible you had mycobacterium-bovis, but more likely you had mycobacterium-tuberculosis; but only your physician can be sure. It would depend on your age now and how you were treated; but more particularly how you reacted to the mantoux test. The vaccine is m.bovis based. The badger groups seem to only concern themselves with the lung infection as experienced more commonly by cattle or humans. But as you are obviously already aware it can ‘migrate’ to anywhere in the body, more likely in the lymphatic system; Scrofula. . I believe spinal tuberculosis is one of the oldest diseases affecting humans. . Thankyou for speaking up. . Keep well.

Charles Henry

March 2008

Copyright by Charles Henry 2008

Well da Ides a March uv bin an bleedin’ gone. . . I’n jest glad I ain’t got no shares. . An now da French is buying aw ar nuclear power stations ! . . . Deys got nerly aw ar bleedin services! . . . . I don’t no why we wurries abowt terrerists? . . . Da bleedin’ guverment jest keeps sellin’ us down da river anyow’! . .

Western Daily Press. . . . Features/Letters

Yet again Chris Rundle fills his column with sweeping statements without research to back his argument.

Foxes and badgers have never moved into towns but towns have grown and taken over their territory. Foxes have adapted easily due to the negligence of the humans in the disposal of kitchen scraps and the resulting rubbish from fast-food companies.

Badgers also adapt as houses with gardens and sport facilities allow them short grass which is so important to their foraging for earthworms.

Both these species are fed irresponsibly by people who put food out in their gardens in such large quantities that it allows more animals than the territory could support, creating a problem that is man made.

So foxes, Mr Rundle do not carry disease ? Saracoptic mange is one disease/parasite that foxes carry that can be caught by dogs and also, I mention through bitter experience, humans, too.

Hedgehogs carry ringworm, garden birds carry salmonella and which animal carries more disease than any other in the world? The human being.

These ever-present diseases carry no threat if people are sensible about personal hygiene and have a healthy immune system.

Farmers work constantly with animals, dealing with their excreta and care, and they are known to be the healthiest population that we have in the country.

The fact that there has never been a case of bovine TB contracted from badger contact or excrement and there is probably more risk from faeces of dogs and cats, perhaps gives an indication that this is a scaremongering tactic to gain public support. .

Pauline Kidner
Secret World Wildlife Rescue
Somerset

Oh-dear Editor! . Pauline Kidner is just simply in denial. . There is really no point having a conversation with her. . . Here is a quotation from Nature Medicine. . “The articles in this issue of Nature Medicine explore these matters in greater depth and report on recent advances in both our understanding of the complex biology of this pathogen, and in our attempts to limit its spread within the human population.” . . . . . . . David G. Russell, PhD. . Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine,. Cornell University,. Ithaca, NY 14853. . . Here is another quote from the Welsh incidence. . “In the last 3/4 years, eight or nine children, not including this little one, have had treatment for enlarged neck glands. This has involved either a 6 month course of antibiotics, or operations to remove. Veterinary Surgeons will tell you these are classic m.bovis legions; but they are euphemistically referred to by ‘Doctors’ as “Atypical tuberculosis from a non human source". They have just been telling these children that they picked it up on the ground. . . . . Up to 300,000 Mycobacterium bovis bacilli have been measured in a millilitre of badger urine. . If I was a dairy farmer; in the light of the chief scientist’s recent conclusions; I would now be making a substantial claim for ‘damages’.

Charles Henry

I am absolutely appalled by Pauline Kidners argument. I simply can not believe that she does not know that she is communicating misleading information and half truths. It is stupid to think that we believe her when she states that foxes and badger do not come into town, but that town grows and encroaches into their territory. Park Street, in the centre of Bristol has been urbanised since the 17th century so perhaps she would like to explain why it has a growing population of foxes? Recently travelling to the Wills building in the middle of the day I had to swerve to miss a fox happily walking up the centre of the road. Clearly in poor condition and suffering from mange, this fox was a clear candidate for euthanasia. If we do not manage our fox and badger problems it is only a matter of time before we will have a serious human health risk.

Shaun Freke, Gloucestershire

Contrary to Charles Henry’s suggestion that badgers might be behind the very rare cases of bovine TB in people, the Health Protection Agency says that bovine TB poses a “negligible” risk. In a recent paper*, de la Rua-Domenech explains: “In the period 1990-2003, between 17 and 50 new cases of human M. bovis infection were confirmed every year in the UK. This represented between 0.5% and 1.5% of all the culture-confirmed TB cases, a proportion similar to that of other industrialized countries.” So, the levels of bovine TB in humans in the UK are similar to those in other countries with lower rates of TB infection in cattle. He goes on to say: “Most cases of zoonotic TB diagnosed in the UK are attributed to (i) reactivation of long-standing latent infections acquired before widespread adoption of milk pasteurization, or (ii) M. bovis infections contracted abroad. Since 1990, only one case has been documented in the UK of confirmed, indigenous human M. bovis infection recently acquired from an animal source.” This has been attributed to drinking unpasteurised milk. The author concludes: “A significant risk of M. bovis infection remains in certain segments of the UK population in the form of (i) continuing on-farm consumption of unpasteurized cows’ milk, (ii) retail sales by approved establishments of unpasteurized milk and dairy products and (iii) occupational exposure to infectious aerosols from tuberculous animals and their carcases.” So farmers are at risk from their own livestock and unpasteurised milk, whilst abattoir workers might be at risk from carcasses (although we know of no such cases). But no-one is at risk from badger urine. As for Shaun Freke being ‘appalled’, whilst it is true that there are high population densities of foxes in towns, this is because foxes have adapted to these environments and thrive there. They are not moving in from the countryside. Nor are badgers. Harris and Baker (Urban foxes, 2001) explain that Bristol had one of the highest densities of foxes until mange struck the population in 1994 and reduced it by 95%. The authors, from the University of Bristol, believed in 2001 that it would take years for the population to recover and the sighting reported here indicates that mange remains a problem. However, the authors say that it is “unclear” why mange became a

Trevor Lawson, Badger Trust, London

Luckily the government’s Chief Scientist doesn’t agree with Trevor Lawson or others similarly disposed. . I find it quite extraordinary that these people can care more for badgers than they do for even one child; let alone the general population. . I am sure Donna Jones of South Wales whose four year daughter developed bTB feels exactly the same way. . The culpability of people, whether in government or elsewhere can no longer be in any doubt. . Time waits for no man. . . The clock is now ticking.

Charles Henry

Trevor Lawson’s remarks must surely call into question both the ability or the desire of the Health Protection Agency to tackle the returning threat from Tuberculosis; particularly in rural areas.

Edwina, Dorset

I would really like to know the results of the online poll on whether badgers should be culled. You ran it last week. When I voted it 96 per cent of people were against a cull. Could you please let your readers know. . Thank you.

Alyson Stoodley PR and Communications Manager Somerset Wildlife Trust. . . Wellington

Certainly Alyson 99% of those involved with badgers will be against a cull. But if you ask people if they want to risk one of their family or close friends contracting an antibiotic resistant strain of Tuberculosis, you will get a different answer. . .

AIDS didn’t used to be a problem; nor did Methycillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, nor C-Difficile come to that. . And we all thought we had Tuberculosis well beaten. . It is not a pleasant disease Alyson. . It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.

Charles Henry

HUNTING TO EAT

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

The picture of the sparrow hawk with a starling at its mercy in Saturday’s paper (1st. March), showed once again just how ‘cruel’ life often appears to be. . But I don’t think anyone should see Mr Carrier as ‘cruel’ for seizing the opportunity of capturing the dramatic scene, and the cold eye of the sparrow hawk on camera; however it does raise questions.

Should birds of prey be employed to reduce the excessive numbers of pigeons and seagulls, or just men with 12 bore shotguns? . . Does this not demonstrate just how speedily the fox meets his end by comparison, when caught by the hounds?

I do not think those who spend days waiting to capture hours of film footage of “nature’s slaughter” for home ‘entertainment’ or those who then watch it all, should be criticising or objecting to fox hunting. I know I certainly couldn’t do the job. . Hunters go out to achieve a ‘kill’ to prevent other livestock being killed; not to ‘watch’ a kill. . In fact for those who ‘go hunting’ to follow the hounds, actually witnessing a fox’s final moments is the exception not the rule.

Charles Henry

In reply:

Charles Henry again seizes an opportunity to justify fox-hunting by using the dramatic picture of the sparrowhawk finding food. It is a wonderful photo of raw nature at work, as opposed to a bunch of men and women on horses with dogs chasing an animal they don’t want to eat.

Now is Charles Henry a right Charlie or a wrong Charlie, I ask myself?

Ed Russell
Bath

Well I’m a ‘C’ programmer as well Ed, if that helps ! . . But are you really a ‘Dick’? .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Best Charles.

Charles Henry

Well yes. . . I know that is difficult to believe ‘Errol’, . but it seems increasingly likely; . even though he does come from Bath.

. . Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity)

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

It is time for farmers to take notice of all the scientific surveys carried out in Britain and Ireland, instead of calling for mass badger slaughter. Where is their scientific evidence?

Scientists have already proven that 80 per cent of the spread of TB is caused by cow-to-cow contact and culling of badgers will not solve the problem.. . cond.

Says Tony Dean, Field officer, Gloucestershire Badger Group

Recently, a TB outbreak occurred in the Isle of Man - there are no badgers there.

A mass spread of TB occurred in England/Wales immediately after the foot- and-mouth years - almost certainly caused by mass movement of untested cattle.

The TB testing regime is full of loopholes and weaknesses, with the result that cattle are spreading bovine TB throughout the national herd. For example, the skin test is missing around one-third of the infected animals, leaving the disease to fester in herds and spread to others. We are delighted the Select Committee has called on the Government to tighten up that testing regime.

In Northern Ireland, a tighter focus on cattle testing has virtually halved the incidence of the disease in just three years.

The same is achievable here, provided the Government acts quickly.

There can now be no valid chance of a badger cull being implemented. The dwindling number of livestock farms do not control enough land and lack the financial resources, time and co-ordination to implement a cull over large areas for long periods of time.

Moreover, the massive badger extermination policy in the Republic of Ireland, initiated in 2002, has failed to control the disease. In 2007, the number of TB reactors was virtually the same as in 2002, despite five years of snaring and shooting there. Culling is a waste of time.

In 2002, there were 28,930 TB reactors in the Republic of Ireland. In 2007, there were 27,703. Yet there are 7,000 fewer herds and, in 2007 alone, the number of cattle fell by 200,000 - a 13 per cent rise in infection.

Our Government/Defra must bring in the Gamma Interferon testing of cattle and dispose of the skin test which we all know is missing at least 30 per cent of infected cattle in herds.

Post-movement testing of cattle should be looked at as in Northern Ireland and, last but not least, we must have a vaccine for cattle and badgers. But what do we then do with TB-infected deer?

All that Tony Dean’s protestations confirm is his ignorance of this disease and the length of time it can take to develop, both in cattle and humans. . He conveniently ignores the fact that after the 1967 FMD outbreak, before the badger population ‘explosion’, cattle movements caused little increase. . . Tuberculosis was first recognised in cattle in 1840 and was a major problem during the 19th century. . Bovine tuberculosis has always been extremely difficult to eradicate. Not only did it prove difficult to identify but, other species acted as reservoirs for infection, and cattle might not react to the diagnostic test but still infect others. . Nevertheless, all herds in the UK were designated ‘Officially Brucellosis Free’ in October 1985. . I believe the badger groups are just refusing to accept the virulence of this particular pathogen in a species with no natural predators that spends so much of its time underground in overcrowded conditions. The fact that male badgers cope less well than female badgers with Mycobacterium bovis may also cast some light how this pathogen is spread and the time it takes to develop in badgers compared to dairy cattle. . .

Up to 300,000 Mycobacterium bovis bacillus have been measured in a millilitre of badger urine. . If I was a dairy farmer; in the light of the chief scientists recent conclusions; I would now be making a substantial claim for ‘damages’.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . Features/Letters

I Would be against a badger cull, and I fully understand the serious issue of bovine TB."Farmers do not want badgers eliminated,” Chris Rundle says. “They merely want the diseased setts to be cleared and a healthy sustainable badger population safeguarded” (Comment, February 28). Does he not know other badgers take over empty setts. You would have to wipe out the badger.

Where is the vaccine now promised decades ago? It should be to protect the cattle. How many times must it be said?

Please can your paper press for this.

Pamela Dean, Stroud, Gloucestershire

Like the curates egg Pamela’s argument is good in parts. Quite clearly this government and DEFRA have no intention of refining a usable and cost effective vaccination in the foreseeable future. Now here’s the rub. Of the incidents of TB in cattle throughout the UK in 2007 over 80% is in the west of England (DEFRA’s own statistics). In fact in the east of the UK it is nearly non-existent. What does that mean for the badger? Assuming we carried out a complete cull in the west and a monitored cull throughout the rest of the UK, there is a possibility that the badger population would regenerate to acceptable healthy levels within 10 years. Carry on as we are and not only will it bankrupt the countryside but could well mean a complete UK cull is required.

Shaun Freke, Gloucestershire

I don’t think it’s a question of mal-intent Shaun. . I think if they could they would. . As I understand things, producing a usable vaccine is an enormously complex task that scientists around the world have been struggling with now for many years. . Research will tell the thoughtful that the efficacy of Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine against pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) varies enormously in different populations. The prevailing hypothesis attributes this variation to interactions between the vaccine and mycobacteria common in the environment, but the precise mechanism has so far not been clarified. . This is in humans! . Even before anyone begins to seriously try to find one for cattle. . . There is no alternative to a Badger cull in the foreseeable future. . The governments chief scientist clearly did not come to the conclusion he did lightly. Pamela’s concerns are valid. Setts would have to be sterilised, but I don’t see how it will be possible to eliminate the bacterium. Some believe that TB is a much greater threat to mankind than terrorism even.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . News

Liberal Democrat West MP David Heath was effectively sacked from his party’s shadow cabinet yesterday after reb- elling over a key vote.

The Somerton and Frome MP lost his job as justice spokesman after he voted for a referendum on the controversial EU Lisbon Treaty, while two of his colleagues also went.

Highly-regarded Mr Heath pointedly said Mr Clegg had “asked him to resign” - which is Parliamentary code for a sacking. . cond.

Congratulations to Mr Heath on standing by his principles and his party’s 2005 general election manifesto. His “leader", Tricky Clegg, has however proved he cannot be trusted. Judge a man by his actions not his words.

Colin McNamee, Baltonsborough

I am in agreement with Colin McNamee. . Hopefully our ‘unelected’ House of Lords will have a greater respect for the electorate and love of their country than our so-called, ‘elected representatives’. What ever it is in that ‘trough’, they just don’t seem to be able to get enough of it.

Charles Henry

TORIES STARTED THE CLOSURES

While we can all agree that our post offices should stay open, we must never forget who started closing them down. . cond.

Christopher Inge, Wells, Somerset

To NOT rationalize the Post Office services in the face of modern technological advances would have been dereliction of their responsibilities. It was not the same as the virtual total closure of the network that was being contemplated by the urban-biased Labour Party, until they realised the cost in their right-minded core support.

Charles Henry

ROUND-THE-CLOCK DRINKING DISASTER

Twenty-four-hour drinking has been an absolute disaster, but this arrogant Government doesn’t have the humility to admit a major mistake in trying to impose European culture on the UK.It hasn’t worked. . cond.

Simon Icke, Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire

It pains me to have to say it, but in defence of this New-Labour Government; for people to keep harping on about 24hour drinking is a nonsense. . Virtually nowhere does that actually take place. Licensees now just open and close at a time convenient to them or their customers. . Any drunkenness and bad behaviour is the fault of the new undisciplined generations that have been breeding since they abandoned corporal punishment in schools.

Charles Henry

Western Daily Press. . . Features/Letters

In 2006, the shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, made promises to help the poor. Well, that now seems a complete sham, as the special Conservative Party task force set up 14 months ago to tackle poverty met for only the first time in January, 2008.

This gives an indication that the Tories aren’t serious about helping make our country fairer.

Mr Davis had pledged in December 2006 to bring in policies to help the most deprived families.

Well, I wonder how the readers feel now that the Charity Commission has started to look at the issue of “public benefit” in relation to the charity status of many public schools, places such as Eton College, where both Captain Farquhar and David Cameron came from. Shall we see strong opposition from the Tories for these modernising moves towards a fairer society?

Many of these public schools were set up to promote educational opportunities for the poor and the relief of poverty.

These public schools have now been hijacked and subverted by the upper classes.

I understand that Eton College has accused the Charity Commission of “flawed reasoning", and Harrow School has said that the Charity Commission has “misinterpreted charity law".

These are almost the identical arguments that the hunting fraternity have used to undermine the Hunting Act of 2004.

I suspect it’s the same privileged group of our society that is involved in both hunting and in public schools.

It will be very sad if the decision on these arguments is left to judges who are predominately derived from the public school system.

To let the educational opportunities of our children depend solely on the wealth of the parents is grossly unfair.

We are already seeing that in the selection of our Olympic athletes - about 60 per cent are from the public educational system and that is expected to rise; could it be about 80 per cent for our 2012 Olympics Games?

Graham Forsyth, Chard, Somerset

Graham Forsyth is becoming like one of the original left-wing bigoted Dinosaurs. . He is starting to give the Labour Party an even worse name than it already has. . He now epitomises the inferiority complex that so many of that ilk always used to have. . After the education ‘reforms’ the Labour party is planning to put in place regarding access to the school of your choice, I wonder how he will explain the rush into private education by ordinary working people that this will inevitably cause. . It is time for Graham Forsyth and any others like him to grow up. . The ‘Class War’ is over! . And in the countryside there wasn’t ever even a skirmish. . It has always been more about what you could ‘grow’ or ‘breed’ and how well they were produced, not who you were or where you went to school.

I wonder if he will ever learn that what the intelligent and the wise always try and do is improve standards and so gradually drag the overall standard upwards; not keep dragging the best downwards and so leveling downwards.
In his world eventually noone would be able read or write or add up.

Charles Henry

No ‘Errol’. . Some of them call themselves ‘Liberal-Democrats’ and just want the Queen to abdicate and for the UK to become a series of off-shore regions of Europe. .

. . Charles Henry 1945-(diuturnity)

The Editor
Letters
Western Daily Press

Published 5th. March 2008

Dear Editor,

The picture of the sparrow hawk with a starling at its mercy in Saturday’s paper (1st. March), showed once again just how ‘cruel’ life often appears to be. . But I don’t think anyone should see Mr Carrier as ‘cruel’ for seizing the opportunity of capturing the dramatic scene, and the cold eye of sparrow hawk on camera; however it does raise questions.

Should birds of prey be employed to reduce the excessive numbers of pigeons and seagulls, or just men with 12 bore shotguns? . . Does this not demonstrate just how speedily the fox meets his end by comparison, when caught by the hounds?

I do not think those who spend days waiting to capture hours of film footage of “nature’s slaughter” for home ‘entertainment’ or those who then watch it all, should be criticising or objecting to fox hunting. I know I certainly couldn’t do the job. . Hunters go out to achieve a ‘kill’ to prevent other livestock being killed; not to ‘watch’ a kill. . In fact for those who ‘go hunting’ to follow the hounds, actually witnessing a foxes final moments is the exception not the rule.

Yours

Charles Henry