Recently there has been a show of concern about the rural problem of coursing, from a few MPs making it known they are concerned. Many of us who have have made our living at one time from smallholdings/farms have had this problem, going back 50 years we had such, plus problems from other blood sports pastimes, so nothing new there.
What is galling is that those MPs showing concern about coursing glibly ignore how the fox hunting fraternity flout the law on a daily basis. Sometimes they go on to land they have no permission to be on, causing panic to livestock and killing pets. 
Plus the terrier men with their dogs spread such diseases as sarcocystosis and neosporosis to livestock, and bovine TB (mycobacterium bovis). 
The Kimblewick Hunt kennels had to destroy around 25 hounds infected with the mycobacterium virus. It is not a notifiable disease as it is with cattle and badgers, yet there have been 55 outbreaks since the hounds in that area were first diagnosed.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency says this is just a spillover, but we do not know that it has not always been this threat from the hunts, and not reported over the years.
The hunts feed their hounds on raw meat from fallen stock, often infected animals, an arrangement they have with farms they hunt on.
Much is made of people taking care when walking their dogs, but not the same concern about the hunts. No qualms about blaming badgers and other people’s dogs. DEFRA refuses to give any information.
So it is with the MPs commenting on coursing a lack of principle, sadly to be expected from our MPs ,when there is bias in favour of a particular vested interest, such is the hypocrisy of these we have making decisions about our lives, in this case the lives of farmers.
D Thomas
Hisomley
Dilton Marsh