This weekend fox hunting gets banned – but some hunts have claimed they are prepared to disobey the law.

Interestingly, looking at some police forces newer “policing plans” its clear they are lumping together football matches (and associated disorder), unlicensed raves, anti-social behaviour (such as binge-drinking aftermath, riots at IKEA shop openings etc) and hunting all together – presumably as a job for the TSG (territorial support group/riot squad) to sort out “prioritised by the availablilty of appropriate resources”.

Its clear that in many areas cops will not be able to police all these things if they happen at once; but I do have a big concern over this summers season.

Hunters, ravers and travellers (who often assist with the outdoor season in various ways) will all be breaking the law under current legislation.

And whilst senior cops may be on the side of the rich many of the younger cops at the frontline (particularly those who are from urban areas) would enjoy beating a toff as much as (or even more than!) they would a chav in a hoodie – there probably simply aren’t enough TSG units to stop hunts and raves at the same time.

But there is very little if any common ground between any of these groups, and the authorities know that.

Many ravers are anti-hunting and even if they are not active sabs the presence of a rave is going to piss them off as the noise may scare off whatever they were hunting or their horses, and they are going to be exceedingly angry that the political system they thought would help them has in fact not worked in their favour this time.

There are also those who have lost jobs etc due to the hunting ban who may think “fuck it, I’ve got nothing left to lose”.

Anyone else worried that under-strength police forces may infact decide to leave the “warring factions” to fight it out in the countryside, leading to the kind of violent scenes turning up on the outdoors raves already common in the cities? (potentiallly also including firearms on both sides – particularly if travellers/rudes/”local hard” men decide to help “fight our corner!”)

Of course instead of this potentially serious civil conflict you’d hope that those formerly involved in hunting and ravers would (literally?) find common ground and realise that dancing in the countryside could be less hassle for all than chasing foxes, but our nation is so divided I’m not sure if this is even possible..