The Countryside Alliance relentlessly pumps out the message that hunting is more popular than ever before, more people are going and so on and so on.

The Countryside Alliance relentlessly pumps out the message that hunting is more popular than ever before, more people are going and so on and so on. But, in the West Country recently, when interviewed, the hunters and related businesses said they were having a terrible time of it. Stabling and livery fees down, hunt income down. Well, both stories cannot be right, can they?The hunters are seeking to claim that the law is not working, but it is blindingly obvious that, if what they are now doing is legal, then quite clearly the law is working. Of course, if their complaint is really that they are breaking the law and that is what they mean by the law "not working", that would be a different matter. There are the rumours in Parliament that the hunters are being taken for a ride by the Conservative Party fundraisers. The rumour is that Cameron's fundraisers are quite keen on the hunt's money and foot-slogging hunters delivering leaflets in the constituencies, but the party itself has no intention of upsetting the majority of its potential voters by getting involved in the hunting debate again just to turn the clock to cruelty for a few blood sports enthusiasts.Of course, the hunting hounds in the Conservative Party will insist that repeal is a done deal and will be running round, saying: "Trust David - he is one of us". But the cold political reality is that no new government, following an election held on the back of a financial crisis, could credibly devote parliamentary time to debating the hunting issue again. There will be those who would like them to drop everything and bring back animal abuse for sport, but they are the dinosaurs of politics. Their time has passed and our modern society moved on.Hunting may be popular among the few, but is a real turn off for the many.If the hunters have been obeying the law for the last few years, clearly the Hunting Act is working! Or do they now admit to being gangs of criminals putting two fingers up to the law?Kathy Moyle,4 Collins Park, East Budleigh.