Bird Watching
‘WHAT have pheasants ever done to you?
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| ‘I always found Phil to be a pheasant plucker’ |
That is the question being directed towards the royal estate at Sandringham by a 10-year-old girl, who remains anonymous, probably for fear of dreadful reprisals.
The Telegraph sees another letter from one of the pupils at St Georges Middle School, situated about a mile from the Queens Norfolk home.
I saw birds spiralling our of the sky and being carried off in the mouths of dogs, it reports. Some of the birds were left badly hurt to die.
Another letter, fully reproduced in the paper, runs: We are disgusted that hunters were out shooting wildlife in front of our eyes at playtime…It is not right that schoolchildren should have to witness this unfortunate event.
The unsigned letter is underscored with pictures of four crayon-drawn faces smothered in tears and rage.
The missives do contain a few well-made points (and gold stars for the use of disgusted, unfortunate and spiralling), and have thus achieved their goal.
The response from Sandringham says that the estate is sorry for any distress and that the likes of Prince Philip, who was on the shoot, will not fire their guns during the childrens playtime.
And as for the question as to what pheasants have ever done to you, ask more what you, dear letter writer, can do for pheasants.
And then ask what Tony Blair thinks…’
Posted: 14th, January 2004 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
