WE HAVE had a series of incidents recently where the tail has been wagging the dog. Where socially or financially acceptable practices have been stymied by the petty actions of officialdom.

First off, we have the cancellation of the Moffat sheep race – a normally well-attended, fun-filled event for tourists and locals.

Now, because of a campaign by desk-top anti-agri-terrorists (AAT), the event was cancelled when the local council bowed to the pressure and asked for a 'performing animals' certificate. What utter nonsense.

This event has been going on for some years, with no more danger to the sheep than a sheepdog trial – which, heaven forfend, I have just alerted them to.

Another was with regard to a petition got up by the specialist ATT group, PETA. It had been trying to block a plan for a farmer's legitimate planning application for a free-range hen unit, with the argument that animal welfare will be compromised. Does this mean he will have to bang them up in cages again?

PETA allegedly had gathered 2500 signatures against the plan. I suspect it will be along the lines of surveys which purportedly showed that millions of pounds poured into the economy of Mull, for instance, as tourists travelled there specifically to see sea eagles, when the actual questionnaire asked: 'Do you hope to see sea eagles on Mull' or the like.

We all know there are ways of skewing almost every survey every carried out, but the blatant cowing of officialdom, which lives by the mantra 'give in, don't cause any offence', is weighing heavily on the majority who don't take part in targeted surveys.

Someone needs to stand up for the countryside and common sense – and I can't see the abysmally anti-farming bias from Countryfile doing that!

TB troubles

WHY SUCH secrecy surrounding the supposed TB outbreak on Skye?

What everybody on the island and with any links to it wants to know is: Was this a home-bred animal, or bought in. In these days of double tagging, cattle passports, BCMS and traceability, why all the tight-lipped 'we're carrying out further investigations'?

At the very least we should know where the animal came from. That shouldn't be too difficult – or is there something to hide?