With feeling

“POINT-TO-POINT is in peril. Yes, that's right. In peril,” boomed the voice of Peter O'Sullevan, doyen of racing commentators, over loudspeakers at 28 of these popular horse-races over the Easter weekend. His pre-recorded message went on to urge his audience of perhaps 140,000 fans to join the British Field Sports Society (BFSS) and help defend hunting in the face of Labour's pledge to allow a free vote on its abolition during the next Parliament. Although many of the attentive punters had never clapped eyes on a foxhound, the local hunts that run point-to-points were making the most of any opportunity to advertise their troubled cause to a wider audience. And the animal-welfare lobby, sensing the hunting fraternity's nervousness, smelled blood.