Hunting issue far from over

As MPs last night voted overwhelmingly to ban fox hunting and hare coursing, the nation got a glimpse of what is likely to follow.

The scenes - outside and inside the House of Commons - were not those which should accompany the law-making process in a parliamentary democracy.

Whatever your views on fox hunting, few will believe that the actions of a small section of the demonstrators accurately represent the attitude of the vast majority in rural areas.

That said, the fact that so many turned up to demonstrate peacefully, is also an indication of the strength of feeling this issue generates.

However, those who felt strongly enough to get involved in violent clashes with police or invade the Commons floor are, obviously, not now simply going to fade away.

In the same way that anti-hunt protestors have waged a decades-long campaign to outlaw the practice, hunting supporters will either find a way around the law or simply ignore it.

Much has been said and written about this issue in the run-up to last night's decision.

Very little has been said about how effectively it will - or can - be enforced.

In the same way hunts were disrupted - despite being legal - by those campaigning to change the law, those hunters who now find themselves on the wrong side of it will not simply sell their horses, put down their dogs and do something else.

The parliamentarians may now feel they have "decided" the hunting with dogs issue - even if it has still to be steered through the Lords.

The fact is that, on the ground, it is far from decided. That much was obvious from the scenes in London yesterday.

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Gold star for the Government

So the controversial national tests for seven-year-olds are to be replaced with a less stressful system.

The new system will put more emphasis on teacher assessments - following a catalogue of complaints that formal exams in English and maths were too stressful for such young children.

The announcement was made yesterday by Schools Minister Stephen Twigg who also took the opportunity to underline the fact that there were no plans to extend the reforms to the testing regime for 11 and 14-year-olds.

Not exactly a "line in the sand" statement and it is hard to see how disquiet over the whole test regime will not be further refined at some stage in the future.

That aside, the new system, tested in South Tyneside and Durham appears to have much to commend it - not least that it appears popular with teachers and parents. That is vital to the success of any education system.

The Government appears to have heeded the concerns of parents and teachers and it is to be hoped that the new system will be given time to "settle in" before anyone else decides it needs to be tinkered with.

It is however hard to escape the feeling that none of this would have been necessary if the concerns of education professionals and parents had been heeded from day one.

But in its headlong quest for statistics, data and league table information, they were ignored.

As school reports used to say: "Must pay more attention."

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