The ragwort season's upon us again and with it we have a surge of the usual anti-social behaviour encouraging ecological damage by exaggeration or telling plain untruths about the plant to scare people or force people in other ways to control the plant. It is one of our most ecologically important plants.
We are seeing tweets pointing people to their notorious Ragwort Toolkit. True to form the British Horse Society are telling an untruth about the law. They have form for this. The Advertising Standards Authority took action over their joint leaflet with Warwickshire Council some years ago, but it hasn't stopped them.
Let's get it straight. The Weeds act 1959 allows for orders to be made to control certain weeds. There is no obligation on the government to make orders and unless you are subject to an order there is no requirement to do anything.
It is crystal clear. I cover it on my website.
But the British Horse Society tell this falsehood in their Ragwort Toolkit.
They tried some years ago to get the law changed with this in a Private Member's Bill in parliament, which originally said:-
The BHS's tactic seems to be to keep telling people the law says what they wanted it to say, regardless of the truth and they are doing this via their Ragwort Toolkit.
The BHS's and their officers have a long history of putting out dodgy information. One of their specialisms seems to be the rigged survey. I cover the story they used for one of them where they falsely portrayed that a vet could just turn up to see a horse and just diagnose ragwort poisoning on my website
Then there has been the man who has been their Scottish Chairman, Professor Derek Knottenbelt. He claimed that it was a problem in South Africa. It isn't!
It took a lot of work, reading papers, and books, but eventually the experts in South Africa were able to tell me that it had never been recorded there!
I've also covered his awful article in a magazine. I document seventeen problems. Including his crazy, mad claim that ragwort is responsible for the decline of the Cinnabar Moth. It is its main natural foodplant!
Now let's get it straight. Being a professor doesn't make him right. Only the evidence does that. Also he isn't a moth scientist. It is blindingly obvious or he would not say such daft things about them.
It is not unknown for people to criticise me just for going against a professor. Well I am really entitled to do this. Nonsense is nonsense never mind who says it. I tend to view such people, on the evidence, as not the brightest and that is being kind about it.
We are seeing tweets pointing people to their notorious Ragwort Toolkit. True to form the British Horse Society are telling an untruth about the law. They have form for this. The Advertising Standards Authority took action over their joint leaflet with Warwickshire Council some years ago, but it hasn't stopped them.
Let's get it straight. The Weeds act 1959 allows for orders to be made to control certain weeds. There is no obligation on the government to make orders and unless you are subject to an order there is no requirement to do anything.
It is crystal clear. I cover it on my website.
But the British Horse Society tell this falsehood in their Ragwort Toolkit.
"Under the Weeds Act 1959, landowners and occupiers are obliged to control ragwort in risk areas."That is obviously not true!
They tried some years ago to get the law changed with this in a Private Member's Bill in parliament, which originally said:-
Parliament decided against this and this has not become a legal requirement.
A relevant occupier must take all reasonable steps to remove ragwort from relevant land occupied by him and to prevent the growth or regrowth of ragwort on such land.
The BHS's tactic seems to be to keep telling people the law says what they wanted it to say, regardless of the truth and they are doing this via their Ragwort Toolkit.
The BHS's and their officers have a long history of putting out dodgy information. One of their specialisms seems to be the rigged survey. I cover the story they used for one of them where they falsely portrayed that a vet could just turn up to see a horse and just diagnose ragwort poisoning on my website
Then there has been the man who has been their Scottish Chairman, Professor Derek Knottenbelt. He claimed that it was a problem in South Africa. It isn't!
It took a lot of work, reading papers, and books, but eventually the experts in South Africa were able to tell me that it had never been recorded there!
I've also covered his awful article in a magazine. I document seventeen problems. Including his crazy, mad claim that ragwort is responsible for the decline of the Cinnabar Moth. It is its main natural foodplant!
Now let's get it straight. Being a professor doesn't make him right. Only the evidence does that. Also he isn't a moth scientist. It is blindingly obvious or he would not say such daft things about them.
It is not unknown for people to criticise me just for going against a professor. Well I am really entitled to do this. Nonsense is nonsense never mind who says it. I tend to view such people, on the evidence, as not the brightest and that is being kind about it.
