I went for a walk on the moors yesterday. The grouse-shooters were out, so I took their photo. I don't think they were very pleased. They probably thought I was some sort of animal rights nutter.
The tactics employed by grouse-shooters are tried and tested. They set themselves up in a line of little dugouts (the technical name is butts, but let's not go there), and employ people with sticks (the technical name is beaters, but let's not go there either) to walk through the heather, driving the grouse towards them. The low-flying grouse are literally sitting ducks. (I use the word literally in its non-literal sense.)
I had no desire to witness the impending blood-bath, so I continued my walk.
Then I got to thinking: what a shame our lads didn't employ similar tactics on the Somme. How many British lives might have been saved had our chaps in the trenches employed beaters with sticks to drive the Hun towards them? It really could have been all over by Christmas. Instead, there were to be another two years of mindless carnage.
It kind of makes you think.
Animal rights? They obviously don't know your record concerning cats!