Who To Believe?

I like to think of myself as a logical person. I'm a reflective. I take time to think about issues, weighing up the pros and cons. But there are also times that I trust my gut, making judgements based on what feels right. The Badger Cull has recently been exercising both branches of my decision-making tree.

Badgers are iconic creatures. In literature, they are never the villain, always the wise, sometimes elderly, friend and counsellor. As the producers of BBC's Spring and Autumn Watches can testify, they are illusive, unpredictable and therefore captivating when seen in the wild. Emotionally I am very pro-Badger. My gut opposes the cull.

But when I am faced with a really complex dilemma, I tend to rely on logic; fact; scientific proof, if there is any. It is a fact that farmers lose many cattle to bovine TB. It is a fact that this costs those farmers, and our country, thousands of pounds that they and we can ill afford. And, by the way, some farmers get very emotional about losing part of a herd that their families have taken years to build. It is not only capital that they have invested in their farms.

So what bothers me is, that with all this at stake, why hasn't the research been done to conclusively prove how bovine TB spreads. Why can't our government be bothered to even attempt to convince us that the Badger Cull is the right thing to do?

And that's why I was in Leeds City Centre this afternoon, with a kaleidoscope of folk, listening to Lawrie and others give my feelings and logical questions a good airing.

I came away with a lot of answers, but more importantly one more, big question. Why are the anti-cull campaigners far more eloquent and so much more convincing that the pro-cull lobby? On that, I leave you to make up your own mind. Will I see you on the next march?