Public opinion on the badger cull

Vaccination in Wales

It turns out that I correctly predicted what would happen in Wales in relation to a badger cull: that it would be replaced by vaccination (see below). That it took a year to make this decision is perhaps the most damaging part of it - wherever you stand on the debate. It always seemed to be the likely outcome and does nothing from detracting from the idea that bovine TB is "the political disease", as my NZ friends like to tell me. Indeed, the prediction I made was one I (and others) made last year pretty soon after the change in government in Wales last May.

After the announcement, I was on to BBC Radio Wales to talk about some of my research and what it said about the day's decision. You can hear it here:

  Bbc radio wales 20032012 by GarethEnticott

I'll have some more detailed findings of the survey of public attitudes of badger culling in Wales up soon.

But its also interesting to think about what the vaccination "project" - as its been called actually means in practice, as well as the way it was presented. On the one hand the Welsh Government were very careful to call it a project as opposed to a trial or a pilot. Yet at the same time, the minister talked about the ability to get evidence from the project about the wider effectiveness of vaccination. Its not actually clear what the aims of the project are, but judging by the reactions of the farming unions, one might be whether the Government are able to get onto farms in the first place to vaccinate badgers. More on this soon.

A Welsh Badger Cull? I doubt it.

Time for something different: thoughts on writing