Political work in the chambers of power is just some of the work which I greatly respect and applaud the Angling Trust for.
I’m going to make a political comment now but one that is very pertinent to the point in that you only have to look at what Labour did when they held power and were lagging in the polls… Namely throwing the doors open to immigration knowing full well that those who came in would likely vote for them in future elections.
Don’t take my word for it, Labour have admitted it themselves and look where that has all ended up.
Now envisage a not too unlikely scenario where another political party is lagging in future polls, maybe a closely fought general election and one way of “reaching out” for those crucial extra votes would be a proposal to ban Angling?
In the immigration case the politicians did what was best for them and their craving for power, not what was in the best interests of the country and I have no reason to believe that it would be any different should Angling fall under the spotlight as it would only take one anti-Angling MP or sharp eyed vote campaigner/grabber to set the ball rolling.
That is one big reason why we as anglers need effective representation at parliamentary level.
My apologies to Martin if that sounded cynical and in no way was is it directed at him personally but that is what happened and you can bet your last breath that is what will happen again be it with Angling or some other issue where the politicians can get a broad swathe of opinion on their side in order to pick up a few extra votes.
As the Corbyn debacle was mentioned in that article, you only have to look at the rebel MP's to see that they are hypocritical enough to try and oust a DEMOCRATICALLY elected leader to get their own way.
Democracy swept aside for their own individual interests, namely their insatiable ambition for power which sees them lose sight of the basic principles and the kind of politics that to me is akin to watching a bunch of scrabbling nursery kids fighting over a burst bag of sweets.
There’s no point either in trying to say that Angling is too big an industry to ban, the then government scrapped an NHS IT project and condemned it to the bin after spending ten billion quid... The annual turnover of the Angling industry is worth a fraction of that amount.
Which brings me to the “but”…
In addition to this political work the Trust also need to show results on the bank and it’s my opinion that this simply isn’t happening with reference to the paddler issue.
It was a number of years ago now that Richard Benyon announced that paddlers cannot assume PRN’s yet the situation on the rivers remains unchanged.
Unchanged is not really the right word as it has actually gotten worse, there now appears to be far more paddlers armed with an ever hardened militant attitude.
So what are the Angling Trust going to do about it?
I’ve asked the question openly and invited them to an open debate yet I can’t even get a reply from them which not only puts my back up but also makes me suspicious of if there really is anything they can do.
To me it’s as simple as recruiting a willing riparian owner to make the initial complaint, coordinating with the EA to have a launch on site at any one of the problem areas along with a couple of PCSO’s on dry land and getting these militants off the river where their details can then be verified and processed to await the due course of action from Fish Legal.
Once word gets around the paddling world I’m pretty certain it would have far greater effect than the current strategy which appears to be telling them not to do it because it’s naughty.
You don’t have to take my word for that either, I have filmed them and their openly declared F**K You attitude, let me know if you would like a copy of the clip.
So…
In the absence of any reply or willingness from the Angling Trust to engage in debate over the issue can I direct the issue to you Martin, as one of our caring Angling MP’s, to offer a response as to what is going to be done over the issue of militant paddlers?
To the Angling Trust themselves...
I think we all appreciate that no one gets it right all of the time but a refusal to engage or even comment by way of a reply is simply not on.
You claim to be fighting on my behalf so show me some fight, not silence!