There is a very good Website,
www.red-star-research.org.uk, which is the best single source of information on
the Blair government, its financial supporters and networks. This pamphlet is a
kind of spin-off from that site - the previous Revolutions Per Minute pamphlets
can be read there.
The pamphlet does just what it says on the cover: there is a
section on fox-hunting, and one on who owns the land in Britain. These are
adequate, if imbalanced: the section on fox-hunting gets almost three times as
much space as 'Who owns Britain?' - 28
pages to 10 pages. It is the third section on the Countryside Alliance which
matters: as far as I am aware this is the first attempt to do any serious
research on that organisation. You will not be astonished to discover that
those running and funding it are largely rich, mainly men and virtually all
Conservatives. Still, rather to the chagrin of the British left generally and,
I suspect, the author or authors of this pamphlet, the Countryside Alliance
have organised the biggest demonstrations seen in the UK since the miners'
strike. The Countryside Alliance may be run by a group of the usual suspects from
the British ruling elites but they can get 250,000 people off their butts to
support them. There is nobody and no body on the British left which could do
this. The author/s of this pamphlet think the Countryside Alliance is
essentially a front for the hunting lobby; the numbers at their demos suggests
that there are other items on the agenda, not least, I suspect, falling
agricultural incomes caused by the strength of the pound vis-a-vis the euro.
Last | Contents | Next
