Published: Thursday, 26th June, 2008 15:00
More likely to see a badger than David Davis
By Maurice O'Brien
Comments (0)
Print Article
Maurice O'Brien
ONE evening last week I watched a bloke on BBC2’s Springwatch programme in an army surplus camouflage suit, a pack on his back, pedalling his mountain bike into the twilight.
Abandoning his wheels in a hedge, he yomped for what seemed like miles across fields until he reached a copse.
His voice transformed into an increasingly breathless whisper as he emptied his backpack of a shopful of observation equipment, and a green and brown camouflage blanket of the type used by professional snipers.
Disguised as a lush patch of scrubland, his whisper became more and more laboured until, bingo, a family of badgers appeared from the mouth of their sett and frolicked nervously in the eye of the camera until a sudden noise sent them scampering back below ground.
Some two hours later in suburban Tilehurst, wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt and casual trousers, I ventured from the kitchen door towards the wheely bin and halted abruptly.
In the light from the open door a large badger, alongside a smaller companion, was snuffling around the base of the bird table. Whether aware of my presence, they both ignored me and carried on snuffling for a good five minutes. It was only when I got bored and took a step towards the bin that they looked up and scuttled off.
Bill Oddie & Co, eat your heart out!
- DAVID Davis became something of a household name for a few days in most parts of the nation.
Curiously, despite providing a desperately needed distraction from the Government’s various torments, the Quixotic Mr Davis didn’t appear last week to have fully pierced the consciousness of the Labour Party in our part of the world.
What other reason could there be for Richard McKenzie, erstwhile Reading councillor and distant non-favourite in the Henley by-election, to refer in one of his campaign press releases to someone named David Davies?
Then, curioser and curioser, when Reading West MP Martin Salter’s Westminster Diary column arrived, there in the last paragraph of a defence of 42-day detention, was another reference to David Davies. Naturally, in the interests of accuracy, we corrected Mr Salter’s slip of the pen before going to press.
Then, damn me, two days later I’m reading the scribblings of Mr Salter’s old henchman John Howarth, former Labour stalwart and IDR revisionist, in another newspaper, and there it was again; David Davies being criticised for eccentricity.
Coincidence? Or do our Three Musketeers share the same ghostwriter?
- IN THE continuing vilification of Ireland, EU Constitreaty apologists like Denis MacShane sneer that only 53.4% voted ‘no’ on a 53% turnout.
Clearly, that’s nowhere near as democratic as the 500 or so moth-eaten members of the Commons and Lords who voted ‘yes’ on Britain’s behalf.
Further Details
