A case for boycotting the Trooping of the Colour:
The Army confirmed yesterday it would continue to buy between 50 and 100 bearskins a year after it declared a trial to replace the distinctive headwear with hats fashioned from synthetic fur had failed because they got ” waterlogged” on rainy days.
To make those hats, in the past five years alone, 494 of the pelts of wild Canadian bears have been sold at a cost of £321,000. And apparently it is female bears with young that have the most prized pelts; when they’re shot, presumably their young starve.
If it is truly impossible to get an artificial fur to do the job (which seems odd), well stuff the history. Give them a good modern military helmet and get on with it.
But a bit of history can be nice – today if you see a flock of sheep being driven through the streets of London, you aren’t seeing things. Their shelpher is merely making use of the historic droving rights of the Freemen of the City of London. And if you miss the actual drive, they’ll be at the St Bartholomew Fair for the weekend.
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