The Daily Mail hate article on ragwort

The Daily Mail recently published another of its nonsensical hysterical articles on ragwort featuring promenently the British Horse Society, one of the chief sources of bad information on ragwort.

It gets a bit repetativeThe British Horse Society as I frequently mention have a dreadful history of putting out nonsense, so much so that they took a hammering from the Advertising Standards Authority after one of their leaflets was stopped and people repeating their bare-faced inaccuracies also had their adverts stopped.

It starts  in the usual alarmist tones that we have come to expect from a newspaper that is nicknamed "The Hate Mail."

"It's sea of bright yellow blooms that makes a picturesque contribution to the British countryside.
But despite its pretty appearance, the ragwort plant poses a serious risk to horses - and it has infested the country, animal groups have warned.
The seed has spread and the plant, which causes liver failure in horses resulting an extremely painful death, is now flourishing across the country."

One does wonder if they think that it is an asylum seeker or something. For this native wildflower has not spread anywhere and the latest government figures show a marked decline.

After more nonsensical exaggeration fom the BHs we get this mangling of the law.

The Weeds Act (1959) and The Control of Ragwort Act (2003) advised that responsibility for controlling ragwort rests with the occupier of the land on which it is growing.

These laws do not say this. to cut matters short see the briefing on ragwort law.