Welcome Back ?

A welcome return for a group of hinds. There've been many stags around over recent weeks but these are the first hinds I've seen for a long time.

But it's a bit much that I only have to go away for a few days and the whole of our democracy descends into farce and chaos and much gleeful muck raking in the media. Now where do I start to clear up all the mess? Blacka has its share of new muck. No welcome back for those who left this behind.

Cattle are once again on the moor doing what SWT keeps claiming is an essential job - maintaining the heathland. These conservation people will not let up. In trying to persuade people that they are doing something useful they hardly begin to persuade themselves. The fictional basis of the project can be exposed again and again but the more unsure they are of their case the harder they dig in their heels. They have no criteria to measure the success or failure of the cattle grazing and no intention of submitting the plan or the results to independent scrutiny. They will draw comfort from the current national scandals as will other manipulators. If parliament itself abuses power, ‘the system’ and public trust, many others will feel quite comfortable doing the same. The fraudulent basis of conservation management here will seem pretty small beer.