Tim Bonner

Rod Liddle is wrong about badgers

The latest of Rod Liddle’s diatribes will come as no surprise to anyone who recalls how he was sacked as editor of the Today programme after a gloriously chippy rant about our supporters in his Guardian column. But the distortion of opinion research needs to be exposed.

Firstly he claims that ‘badgers are rarely cleanly shot’, which is untrue. But if he believes it, how does he justify his support for the hunting ban? The case for the ban was made (without any evidence whatsoever) that shooting foxes was preferable in terms of welfare than hunting them. If he is now persuaded that shooting medium-sized mammals is inherently cruel, will he join us in campaigning for the end of the ban on the humane use of hounds for fox management?

Secondly his claims about hunting, badger culling and the general election are supported only by those who think Twitter provides an accurate cross-section of public attitudes.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in