Revolting Tories: Badgering Bullshitter Dave Cam

Country boy - Essex stylee - Iain Dale is actually getting a bit of a kicking over his gung-ho attitude to, unsupported assertions, and superstititious twaddle on badger culling. Including from at least one farmer who is dead set against culls on their land.

As far as I can recall one of the small farmer USPs that gets trotted out all the time to justify extension of subsidies, even an application to join the public sector pay roll, is the old "guardian of the countryside, creator and saviour of animal habitats" one.

Clearly there is some - probably modest - connection between some badgers and some bovine TB, and some cows and some badger Tb for that matter. More so though between land and stock management and more bovine TB.

Spending some time most weeks walking and running over farmland all over these fair isles with my dogs I can assure you Iain that the quality of the boundary fences and stock management varies wildly.

If you have bovines grazing near badger habitats you need very good fences and to stop badgers sharing your cattle's water, rations, straw etc.

Obviously Cam is an upper class twit who is full of bull. His mate George is the same, but with more deliberate mendacity in my view. But culling our dear badgers mercilessly is not the answer to any sensible question.

What Iain Dale's post actually represents is not so much a superstitious attack on badgers so much as a renewal of hostilities from the Davis camp - which included Mr Conway and Mr Dale and Mr Fawkes? among others - on the toffee nosed twittery of Cameron, Osborne, Johnson and the other Cuddly Nu Tory forces.

UPDATE: A reasonably even-handed review of cow-badger relations from wildlife online, also the source of the photo.