Cull Postponed

Yesterday Environment Secretary Owen Paterson announced in the Commons a last minute stay of execution for badgers in planned cull areas in south-west England (CLICK). The futile cull may now begin next year. It seems there are twice as many badgers in the cull areas than previously thought, too many for NFU marksmen to shoot at this late stage of the year. In fact it looks as though land mines and kalashnikovs will be needed to kill 70% of the many thousands of badgers in the two pilot areas. The BBC has become increasingly schizoid as the cull approached. On the one hand it writes propaganda such as this. "When it comes to a cull of badgers, it seems no amount of science will convince some people that shooting the animals is the right thing to do." This statement of glaring prejudice was subsequently amended to read "...no amount of science will resolve the arguments" (CLICK). On the other hand BBC News feels obliged to publish the latest scientific opinion that the cull is wrong. The Jimmy Savile scandal has shown that there is a conflict in the BBC between vested interests and its own journalists. It is time those vested interests were removed.