Betty Badger meets David Dimbleby......or is it Richard.... or Jonathan

The excitement of this badger's life continues.  My Human friend Bob was told by his friend  Neill that a TV programme called Question Time was being held in Dun Stable near where Neill lives and he might like to go to talk about what DEFRA is doing to Badgers.  Neill told his Huwoman friend Mary who said she would like to go too.  They asked if I would like to go.  Now I wasn't too keen on the idea at first because I thought he was talking about a TB programme and I certainly don't want to get that or I will definitely be dead.  And I am not sure I wanted to spend an evening with a load of brown Horses in a stable.

Bob explained that it was Dunstable not a stable for Dun Horses and TV was not the same as TV so I said OK

Well, the BBC aims to have a balanced audience so not Bob or Neill were allowed to go because they are white british middle aged heterosexual men ( whatever than means) a group of people who like to go to ask questions on programmes.  But Mary who is a Huwoman is underrepresented on these TV shows so she was allowed to go.  Mary hid me and Bryony in her bag and drove us to Dunstable. Here we are in the bag:

It was quite boring until Mr Dimbleby stood on a chair and told all 150 of us that the TV programme likes to have arguments and shouting.  He said that the programme would be boring if we agreed with each other.  This is David Dimbleby.... or is is Richard, or is it Jonathan.  I wasn't really sure but then Mary told me that Richard likes Wildlife not Questions and only this week had said that the Badger Cull should stop.  I don't think David is too interested in Animals.



All the Hupeople had to think of a question they would like to ask on the programme; it had to be 20 words or less.  Mary asked 2 questions about killing badgers. One was "Why are badgers being shot Tonight when most experts agree that the cull is unscientific, cruel, expensive and cannot work."  

Her other question said something like, "Government says that Austerity is our solution. How can we afford to slaughter 33,500 Badgers as a cost of £7,000 each.  That's Millions!"

The lady who took her question papers had not heard of The Badger Cull and wrote down that Badgers were being killed while the programme was going on.  She wrote down the number 33,500 on her piece of paper to be sure not to forget it.  So Mary thought she would get her question asked.

After hours and hours we were let into the theatre and there were lots of lights and Hupeople with things called cameras and microphones.  There were all sorts of Hupeople around us: Humen, Huwomen, old and young, pink and brown and a person with purple hair who said she was a Trans, which is not the same as a tram that I saw in Man Chester.  Mary was very excited to ask about killing Badgers on the TV so that Millions of Hupeople would learn about The Cull.  Even a not very bright Badger like me might have guessed that Badgers are not as important as Brexit.  Animals, even killing them, are not "Topical".  Instead there were questions about spanking, Universal Credit, Iphones, fat people not being allowed operations and fly-tipping.  Actually, fly-tipping is quite important because sometimes Badgers get injured by it.  The theatre was purple to match the Hutrans hair:



Mary was very sad that she should not get the world to know about the killing and she is not sure what to do next to save her Badger friends. 

Still, the people on the stage were very clever and inlcuded a man called The Reverend Richard Coles who is a Dancing Priest who seemed very kind and I am sure he would not hurt Badgers.  I wasn't so sure about Chris Grayling  who seemed quite uncomfortable especially when Hupeople argued about Universal Credit, which seems to be about starving poor Hupeople and making them lose their nests, although I am not really sure.  I enjoyed the car journey home and Mary bought us some redskin peanuts in the 24 Tesco .  We had a feast when we got back.

I didn't say much about my second trip to DEFRA.   You might have guessed that I was a bit miserable and very wet when I got back.  It wasn't as exciting as TV but I did meet some interesting people.  I met some friendly Humen who, like Badgers, enjoy digging holes.  They wanted their pictures taken.

I also met some very strange trees:

And I saw the Tate Gallery. 

I am not sure about galleries because I heard that they sometimes put Animals like Sheep and Cows in water in plastic boxes and come and stare at them.  I definitely don't want that to happen to me.

  

I don't think I will ever understand Hupeople.

Night night  from Betty Badger  🐾