Apparently there are 70,000 full time jobs sustained by live bird shooting in the UK, and the ’sport’ generates revenues of over £1.5bn a year, according to a PACEC survey, paid for by the Countryside Alliance, British Association for Shooting and Conservation, and the Country Land and Business Association. Wow! That’s an awful lot of gun sellers, game keepers, dog trainers and cartridge makers - shame on my townie ways for not realising there were so many good people engaged in this charming tradition.

But wait… the report says this 70,000 includes a large number engaged services vital to shooting but not directly connected (39,000 of the total). This includes clothing manufacturers and retailers, caterers and accommodation staff, all of which the report seems to claim would go under without the 480,000 shooters who come to the countryside to practice their hobby. This confuses me as I’d always presumed shooters would be people who liked the countryside, not people who actually hated it so much that they’d never visit it again if it weren’t for the chance to phuck up a pheasant. Sure the posh eateries would have a few leaner times, but do you reckon that Heston Blumenthal would never sell another marmite and lobster sausage if his patrons were just there to walk, paint, fish and conduct affairs?

Something borne out by the report’s admission that the money here includes “partners or nonshooting friends” - presumably people who have, horrors, found another way to enjoy the countryside.

And hold on, the 31,000 ‘directly involved’ jobs look a bit fishy too:

“It is estimated that 600,000 people are involved in the provision of sporting shooting in the UK… …Much of the work is undertaken voluntarily – catering, for instance, may be provided by family members - but shooting still generates the equivalent of 31,000 full-time paid jobs.”

So as far as I know, as legitmately as claiming the equivalent of 31,000 full timers, we could claim the equivalent of 600,000 people putting in just over 2 hours a week each, about the same time they spend on the khazi.

My favourite bit of the report is where they go on to stretch one of their more kosher points until it looks like a fox between two beagles:

“Sporting shooting could not exist without conservation because, if there was no conservation, there would be nothing to shoot… …In effect, shooting provides an active army of nearly half a million conservationists – people who actually go out into the countryside, work to improve it and invest a huge amount of their own time and money in the project.”

Very true. But at the end of the day if that was their aim, and they didn’t actually shoot them, they’d be able to conserve even more, no? Point taken that shoot-managed land supports different critters to farmed land, but it’s a bit rich to suggest they’re all Johnny Morris just because they’ve managed to turn a buck out of keeping certain species artifically prominent in some areas.

More, if you’d like it, at the interestingly named www.shootingfacts.org.uk

Well, there I was predicting that Mugabe wouldn’t give much of a t*ss about an international day of demonstrations, but not quite expecting him to admit he doesn’t. According to AFLCIOnow, Mad Bob told his official newspaper:

“The police were right in dealing sternly with the ZCTU leaders.…Some people are
crying foul that they were assaulted, yes you get a beating.”

So he’s now quite open about the fact that, under his regime, “yes you get a beating” for trying to organise a peaceful demo. Hopefully that’s going to make it just that little bit harder for Thabo Mbeki’s South Africa to stay friends with Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF. Mbeki could have a big influence on the situation, but doesn’t want to provoke instability on his doorstep. Given the ANC’s ruling partnership with their own unions, COSATU, he might well now be feeling the instability a bit closer to home.

“Wot no human rights?”

Well, that was the dampest demo I’ve ever been on. Made the leaflets go a bit mushy, but passers by were pretty cheery - even if the Embassy door stayed bolted shut for the duration. Respect to Sean here who I think got damper than most - I, and nearly everyone else, made sure to buy a brolly for it (which made for a rather widely-spaced crowd, trying not to poke or drip on each other).

Biggest surprise though was getting a relatively good turnout of people prepared to stand in the rain. Lots came and went quite quickly when they saw the lack of cover, but I reckon there were consistently around 50 there most of the time - so I’m sure we can legitimately claim 20,000.

Bit disappointed by the lack of chanting, but otherwise quite a pleasant lunchtime, and certainly better than sitting in a cell in Zimbabwe. I’m sure Mugabe doesn’t really give a t*ss what anyone in Britain thinks, but fingers crossed that today’s international day of action will get a whole bunch of reports going back to Harare from embassies around the world - letting them know that the trials next week *will* be followed outside the country too.

A bit of a barney is breaking out over Labour conference lanyards (those little strings that hold your pass round your neck). In an attempt to plug holes in the coffers, sponsorship of anything that moves is vital, and the organisers have pulled off a coup in getting a company to splurge their name all over these yokes around our necks, hurrah!

The company in question… Mr Murdoch’s Sky. Hmmm… not going down so well with some of the comrades, and the GMB union have decided to offer delegates a nice red GMB campaigning lanyard (advertising their AA dispute campaign), rather than the white Sky ones. A dilemna for delegates. Ordinarily I’d rather have a nice red union one (I generally pack a red tie, so it’d match!), but in usurping the official lanyard, would you be downgrading the value of the sponsorship, and hence the likelihood of scooping the party another big wadge of easy money next year (Don’t know how it can be worth the cash - will anyone be subliminally convinced over the week to go home and buy a Sky dish)?

So, which side are you on - white or red?

I’ve been amused by the developments in lanyard technology over the last few conferences I’ve been to - no longer a humble bit of string, but an increasing waste of time and plastic. They get more and more complex, and now they all seem to have little plastic safety break points to stop strangling you, a plastic-reinforced Y shape join, and metal swivel toggle, to let the pass hang straighter, and a plastic and metal quick release belt loop attachment, so you can stick it somewhere else if you’d rather. Plus they’re getting fatter to accommodate the sponsorship. I fully expect them to be wi-fi enabled by next year’s round of conferences.

Well, not *all the way* to Zimbabwe as you’d have to be pretty stupid, or very brave for that, but to that little corner of a foreign field that will be forever Zimbabwe - namely their embassy in London.

The TUC are having a demo there on Friday at lunchtime (1pm), in protest at the crackdown on trades unions last week, and I for one will be along to join in (munching my sarnies in between chants).

Detailed news coming out of the country is sketchy (Labourstart has a good ongoing roundup), but Chibebe is still critical in hospital, and from the numbers of trades unionists arrested, I guess a lot of them didn’t make bail and are still inside.

For anyone needing more motivation, Her Majesty’s Times has a very grim piece on the events (hat tip Norm). This is where it’ll all be happening - see you Friday!

Following up on my post from yesterday - Things are getting worse in Zimbabwe. The 400 union activists and officials arrested are still inside and in a very bad way. Wellington Chibebe is beaten so badly they have had to move him to a hospital. Take a spare moment if you can to write a protest fax or email, to try to bring more pressure for their release and medical treatment. There’s a suggested action on the TUC site here.

At the TUC in Brighton yesterday, we heard a powerful speech from Thabitha Khumalo, 3rd VP of the ZCTU, the TUC’s equivalent body in Zimbabwe. She spoke frankly about the personal harm she had already faced, and was willing to face in the future, to help bring stability and democracy to her country, things we take very much for granted. You can read her speech here.
One bit that struck me was when she told us her instinctive initial reaction had been fear when she heard people heckling Tony Blair on Tuesday, worrying that the police would storm in to break Congress up for insulting the leader, as would happen in Zimbabwe.
It made for especially uncomfortable listening, when we’d spent several days bemoaning our own trade union problems, which now seemed slightly trivial in comparison with the terrible abuses suffered by colleagues in the Zimbabwean labour movement. To close her contribution, she led us in a rendition of “We will overcome” - something which the TUC hasn’t heard in a while. The conference was obviously deeply moved, but seemed so shocked that the song came out quietly and reverentially, more of a hymn than a protest.
Just hours after Thabitha left the stage, word started to come through that the police in Zimbabwe had started to round up trades unionists - ahead of a planned peaceful national demo for today. Over 400 are now believed to be in custody, with many of the leadership beaten badly and denied medical aid or legal representation. Thabitha is now the most senior labour movement figure outside of prison. This story shocked me especially, mentioning Grace Kwinjeh (the MDC’s Deputy Secretary for International Affairs), another very brave woman who I had the privilege of meeting last year at a meeting when she was part of a delegation to the UK.
The TUC has written to Robert Mugabe, though as he’s not the biggest fan of Britain’s unions or politicians, I doubt their outrage will cause him to lose much sleep. Please read Thabitha’s powerful speech, and help spread the word.

The BOFH (the Register’s legendary comedy IT contractor, a kind of cross between Blackadder and Jeremy Clarkson) gets into the union bargaining business. Think he could be onto a good career change here…