Op-ed: “Sick hunt saboteurs troll family of girl, nine, tragically kicked to death by a horse” This is the headline in just about every national media outlet in the U.K. alongside the picture of a sweet-faced little girl who looks so happy with her pony. Some of the comments are nasty beyond the point of all decency, and although the people who made those comments may yet be investigated by the police, that won’t take away the heart-stopping pain little nine-year-old Bonnie’s parents will be feeling right now, or help them to fill the void of losing an innocent and precious little daughter in the years to come. Bonnie Armitage was out on her pony with the Cotswold hunt in Miserden, near Stroud, Gloucestershire on Saturday, when she was kicked by a horse and knocked out of the saddle. She died later in hospital. A tragic loss of a young life; and why that should prompt any adult who professes to be a compassionate human being to choose to post such hateful comments seems as irrational as it is to be deplored. Cotswold hunt master, James Chamberlain said he hoped none of the comments would have been read by the family. He added that it was sad there are people like that out there. Sad indeed, and sad that the National press decided to run with the story in the first place. Hardened reporters feigning mock indignation whilst not caring that Bonnie’s parents might read the articles which would undoubtedly add to their pain. Without any supporting evidence whatsoever, whoever leaked this story, claimed it was the hunt saboteurs who made the comments. All of the comments from anti-hunting groups expressing sympathy and empathy have been ignored in favour of those which would cause most outrage. It is beyond sad that whoever leaked the story to the press decided that point scoring against the hunt saboteurs was more important than giving a grieving family peace and respect at such a time. It is well known that the Countryside Alliance has been trying for years, with little success, to discredit the saboteurs. Certain pro hunting factions on face book continuously troll anti-hunting pages looking for ammunition to use against those trying to protect wildlife from hunting abuse. It begs the question why did those people decide it would be better to blow the whistle to the press instead of reporting the commentators to the police? They chose instead to create a media circus in an effort to score points against a group of others in the hope it would further their cause for repeal of the hunting Act. Some horrid people have said nasty things and others are using those comments as weapons like it's some childish game. Meanwhile the family of a little girl is trying to come to terms with an indescribable loss. Some of us need to take a long hard look at ourselves. Bonnie Armitage, nine, died from cardiac arrest after being kicked by horse at Cotswold Hunt meeting. RIP Bonnie. Respect and deepest sympathy for Bonnie’s family. Anonymous
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Op-ed: Michael Dugher: The campaign manager the Tories can always rely on. I see Michael Dugher has been busy plotting against Corbyn again. Despite knowing how impossible it is for Labour to win 400 council seats after the high watermark of 2012, this is the bar he's set for Labour in the local elections. I'm surprised he hasn't come out and said Labour need to win back the council of Atlantis if Labour is going to prove they've made progress under Corbyn. Ok that's a tad farfetched, but only a tad. Dugher is so transparent, it's impossible NOT to see what he is up to. The higher the bar the bigger the fail. And it's a fail he craves. A big fail means he has grounds to call on Jeremy to resign. I can see it now - Dugher wearing his despairing face - the one he probably practices in a mirror at home - as he bemoans Labour's backward slide under Corbyn via TV interview after TV interview. What angers me most, is the impact Dugher's plotting might have on vulnerable people. As we know from the overly optimistic 2015 election polls, the expectation that Labour was in a comfortable position worked against Labour. Had the polls more accurately predicted a narrow Tory win, more Labour supporters would have been galvanised to vote. Similarly, if Dugher's overly optimistic predictions lead the voting public to expect an easy ride for Labour in May, thousands of Labour inclined voters, blind to a plotters rhetoric, will not bother to vote; and as Jeremy rightly says, a Labour council is the best protection against Tory cuts. Dugher's game playing could contribute to an elderly person sitting in their own faeces an extra thirty minutes because of a slashed social care budget, or a depressed mum having no library to take her toddler to, to break up a long lonely day. I know what Dugher would say to this - he'd say I have indulged myself by voting for a Labour leader who is so unelectable the Tories are certain to win again, with all the harm that will cause to people. But I genuinely believe Jeremy to be our best shot at winning in 2020. That's not to say I'm certain he will win. I don't possess the so called 'moderates' arrogance when it comes to predicting future elections, especially when the world appears to be suffering from 'post financial crash disorder.' I hope he will win, but I don't know he will for sure. But Dugher knows full well the devastating consequences Tory led councils will have for vulnerable people, so he has no excuse. Dugher is clearly very angry and bitter about Jeremy's leadership. Does his bitterness simply stem from a belief that Jeremy is the wrong leader? I don't think so. I'm inclined to believe it stems from his role as Andy Burnham's campaign manager in the leadership elections. Burnham was odds on to win at the start of the race. Had Burnham won, Dugher would have secured his place in history as the man who ran a successful leadership campaign. Not only that, his career would have flourished under a grateful Burnham's leadership. But it all went 'horribly wrong' when a bearded, sixty-six year-old left winger, who had never expressed any interest in being leader before, unexpectedly entered the race. But rather than blaming himself for failing to have his finger on the pulse of the membership, Dugher seems determined to blame Corbyn for standing, and the members for voting for him. We need to be punished. Maybe he believes Corbyn's failure is the only balm that will take the sting out of his own? Maybe that is true. Or maybe, the balm that will really take the sting out of his 'failure,' is if he turned his fire on the Tories and helped us defeat them, because at the moment he is acting like their unpaid campaign manager, and I fail to see any good that can come from that. By Chelley Ryan Find Chelley at the Morning Star online The following paragraph is an excerpt from an article that can be found here This morning a tragic and heartbreaking story appeared on my Facebook page. Perhaps you've seen it reported elsewhere? The picture, dubbed 'The Kiss of Judas' by the Spanish newspapers, almost tells the whole story. It shows the breeder of a bull, who had raised and cared for him. Once grown, the animal was sold for bullfighting. As he was in the ring being hideously tortured for the amusement of the sick and mindless spectators, he spied his beloved and trusted 'friend' in the crowd and hoping for help and relief, ran to him. The kiss was all he got. The perfidy was complete. The betrayal of this bull is poignant because of what the photograph captures. It is the precise moment when a helpless creature reaches out to the only being that he believes can, or would want to help him. Reading this, I was disgusted with the man, but even more with a society that condones this. Disgusted, and profoundly disturbed. How are YOU feeling reading this? We need to get together and stop this nonsensical abuse and torture of innocent animals. I believe it is absolutely intolerable. Join me in sending a clear message to this country's president, Mariano Rajoy, and let's boycott it as a destination for travel. Let's hit them in the only place they have ears: their pocket book. It is more than time that this barbaric treatment of animals ceased. 40000 bulls are tortured every year in this way in Europe alone, and 250000 in the world, in 9 countries. There are 42 bullfighting schools in Spain alone that teach children how to torture and kill Bulls. Please join me, and let's stop the insanity. https://www.change.org/p/the-perfidy-was-complete This petition will be delivered to:
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Yourvoice
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