How nice to see the front page spread in the Journal last week about the various local hunt meets over the festive period.

I am glad that hunting is ever more popular since the traditional form of it became illegal.

Strange though, isn't it, that when the Hunting Act was being debated we were constantly assured by the Countryside Alliance and other hunting supporters, of the dire consequences if the act was passed? Thousands of jobs will be lost', we were told; The countryside will never be the same again'.

Perhaps they were being just a little economical with the truth? Surely not?

As the legal form of hunting is so popular now I can't help wondering just what it is that hunting supporters are complaining about.

They can still have a good day out following the hounds and as we have just seen, the traditional spectacle of the meet can still be enjoyed.

The only things they cannot do are the things that made hunting with dogs so controversial in the first place; chasing a wild creature for miles and watching a pack of dogs tear it to pieces, digging foxes out of the ground, blocking up badger sets etc.

Or can it be that it is these things that the hunting fraternity really miss?

Alan Meadows, Oddington, Moreton in the Marsh