Written by Douglas Batchelor, the retiring CEO of The League Against Crtuel Sports charity 
on 12 August, 2011 :
‘Writing my last blogpost for the Twelfth of August seems appropriate given the history of my postings. What I want to do this week is three things. First I want to say thank you all for putting up with me for so long. Second I want to give an explanation of why I feel the way I do about our issues and lastly I want to touch on the very real threats that will have to be faced in the years to come by our supporters, the trustees, staff and my successor Joe Duckworth.
I was privileged to become the Chief Executive of the League at a time when 75 years of work had already been done. The hunting issue had been debated in parliament many times, and had at long last become a manifesto issue for the Labour government following a Private Members Bill in 1997.
It was clear that in 1999 there was a will and a majority in the House of Commons for a bill to deal with the hunting issue, but it was equally clear that there was a blocking majority in the House of Lords that would stop any bill designed to ban hunting for sport. The Labour government delayed and dithered because they did not want their other legislation held up by a House of Lords determined to use the hunting issue as a parliamentary roadblock. It was clear that it would eventually take the use of the Parliament Act to break the log jam.
It was the pressure on MPs and ministers from League members and supporters that made all the difference. MPs postbags were filled week after week with demands for action. The pressure was increased by the newly created Scottish Parliament in passing an Act which banned hunting with dogs for sport in Scotland.
But ultimately we made the progress that we did because we had the general public on our side. The members, the supporters, the staff and the trustees all made my job possible through the work they did, the time they gave, and money they contributed. So thank you all for what you all did; it made it possible and together we got there.
The other huge thing that we achieved over the last twelve years was to take the League from being an unincorporated association with less than 5,000 members to becoming a registered charity with the support of over 98% of the voting membership and now well over 60,000 active supporters. All of this has been done with your support and help, and thank you so much for letting me help along the way.
On the days when I was tired or upset about something at work, like anyone else I used to ask myself why am I doing this? I suppose when I look back it must have been in part at least because of my childhood experiences of being bullied that instilled in me a strong sense of right and wrong and an abhorrence of violence to people and animals. In those far off days of my childhood where might prevailed before right, no matter that there was no logic in the arguments of the mighty, I felt strongly that violence to either man or beast was never the right answer to any problem.
In hunting and shooting, where people chase and kill for sport, those who would be mighty are being violent to animals for their own gratification. As the League’s conference in Oxford showed, there are clear links between animal and human abuse. The League campaigns are not only about whether animals suffer at the hands of the people who would be mighty and enjoy killing, they are also all about whether those individuals should be free under the law to be cruel to animals for sport. I feel passionately that no one has or should ever have, the right to be cruel to an animal or a person for their own gratification.
I think that it has been my sense of fairness and propriety that has been my driver. I can recognise a bully and a thug by their behaviour, I can see the way they seek to dominate, intimidate and abuse people and animals in pursuit of their power and gratification and as a result I took the decision to stand against them. I think that most League members and supporters feel the same way that I do. The playground bully, the thug, the person who uses their physical prowess, social or financial position and or plain intimidation, to get their way over others is our common enemy and it is our duty to stand against them in protection of those people and animals they would seek to intimidate, abuse, kill and be cruel to because it amuses them to do so.
The hunting and shooting communities like to call our opposition to their cruel abuses ‘classist’ or simply try to patronise and dismiss us by calling us animal rights activists. What they refuse to recognise is that the vast majority in our society disagree with them and object to their violence to animals and people for sport.
One of the things that brought the severity of the levels of abuse and intimidation meted out by hunting and shooting enthusiasts home to me, was the evidence that people gave to Lord Burns’ inquiry about what they had suffered at the hands of the hunting and shooting community. The inquiry panel members told me after the evidence sessions that they were truly shocked at what had heard had gone on. From the dumping of dead animals on cars and doorsteps, to threats of violence and rent reviews, through to people being beaten up, there was a shocking record of violence and abuse of people opposed to hunting and shooting.
I felt that it was my duty to stand up against the bullies and the thugs and to give voice to peoples fears and their concerns. That is what I have tried to do in my time at the League and will continue to do in my retirement. I hope I have lived up to your expectation of me and that I have represented your views and concerns correctly.
Finally I know that the hunters and the shooters have not given up. There is a public and a political understanding that hunting and shooting for sport are now socially unacceptable and cannot be made lawful again. There is no significant political appetite for a simple repeal of the Hunting Act. The danger that we face is not a simple repeal of the Act, it is a sideways attack on the Act through other legislation.
What the hunters and shooters will try to do is to use the government’s ‘red tape review’ to call for a review of all the legislation which impacts on wildlife and the countryside. They will then demand a rolling back and a simplification of the legislation and a new law which allows for hunting and shooting as methods of countryside management, population management and pest control. They will argue that there should be a new body established to license countryside managers and so-called pest controllers. This new licensing body will be staffed by hunters and shooters who will quite simply license their chums to do what they have always done for sport, now rebadged as countryside management.
What the hunters and the shooters recognise is that hunting and shooting for sport are socially and politically unacceptable, but that won’t stop them trying to carry on under a different banner. Please don’t be fooled and please do all you can to stop them.
Whatever the blandishments, as a retired chief executive of the League I will not change sides like some of my predecessors. I will remain resolutely opposed to those who want to chase and kill for sport. I will remain opposed to pro-hunting and shooting bullies and thugs and I will continue to oppose those who seek power and dominion over others by dog, gun and violence.
In retirement I will continue to blog on issues that concern me and I hope you as well. From the end of September you will be able to follow me on my own website, too.
Thank you again for all your support and with my best wishes,
yours sincerely,
Douglas’
