Betty on Woman's Hour!!!

Hello Badger Lovers.  Betty Badger here.  I have had the most exciting week that I want to share with my friends.  On Wednesday I went to the BBC Broadcasting House and met the national treasure Jenni Murray in her radio studio.  Broadcasting House is a huge building in the middle of London Town.

It was a long hot journey as all the trains were late because and of what Mary says is incompetence.  I think its something like constipation.  We had to stand all the way and Mary had to carry me.  Then we caught the silver tube worm which was so hot that Hupeople were sweaty and smelly.

Jenni Murray was doing a programme about Huwomen Activists.  Apparently me and Mary are Activists.  I took the family (who Mary carried too) and here are the  all cubs on a chair in what they call The Green Room- it wan't green at all but mostly red and grey:

In the Green Room they have drinks but, sadly, no peanuts.  Badgers don't drink coffee so we had sparkling water instead and it made our snouts tickle.

There were lots of Huwomen Activists waiting to go on the Woman's Hour show and I took pictures of them all.  These Huwomen Melanie Eusebe and Rosamund Urwin are fighting to get more Females on the boards of companies:

Then I met a Huwoman from Japan, Shiori Ito, who has been brave about rape in Japan. Talking about these things has made her unpopular at home and Hupeople have been unkind to her:

The next Huwoman was called Alison Bechdel who has written a book and a Play about her life.  It is called Fun House which I thought would be jolly but it is about a funeral parlour and difficulties in having one's identity accepted.  Apparently the play is brilliant and almost sold out.  I really liked Alison because she drew some pictures of me; she is very clever.  I think she said that she comes from Lesbos, or perhaps it was America- I am not really sure:

Alison and Shiori had companions who told me they were publicists. I think I need a publicist, although Mary is probably one of those for me.  I also met a bubbly young Huwoman called Grace but my camera didn't work. so I have stolen picture from the internet:

Grace used a really rude word that begins with a W which is not allowed on Radio 4 but they didn't shout at her..

And then, and then..... Jenni Murray came to see us and we were so excited to meet her and she was so pleased to meet all us Activists and she specially liked my cubs.  Sadly I was so overwhelmed by meeting Jenni, the Queen of Radio 4, that rather than taking picture of her I took a picture of myself as my camera was the wrong way round. So, I have had to steal another picture :

Jenni Murray is a lovely funny kind lady.  We had to go into a a big box called a Studio and put earphones on our heads and behave ourselves. Unfortunately Mary and I were tired after our very long hot journey and we were nervous and didn't give of our best so were quite down-hearted.  Dianne the Producer told us we were OK. One question my mate Jenni asked was when we would stop protesting outside DEFRA which is very hard for us to answer because we don't want to stop until they stop shooting my Badger friends.  They have already killed 70,000

However, I must tell you a bit of a secret which Mary may be a bit annoyed with me for sharing.  Well when Huwomen get a bit older they can suffer from something called Bladder Weakness.  Now, Hupeople can also suffer from Hay Fever which makes them sneeze.  Mary says that Bladder Weakness and Hay Fever are a disastrous combination and she is not sure if she can manage another summer after this one without being embarrassed.  I said that she might send a message to Tena who make things called Lady Pants for women of Mary's age.  They might sponsor her so that she doesn't have to worry any more.  Imagine their advertising promotion : "Tena saves Betty Badger's Blushes". 

Please don't tell Mary I told you about this...

After seeing Jenni and her friends me and Mary did an unscheduled visit to DEFRA which confused Hupeople because we went on Wednesday rather than Thursday.  Our visit made us feel a bit happier because we met our lovely friends and supporters at DEFRA and the Home Office who said things like, "Go Betty".  "Keep it up Betty", "We're on your side Betty."

I am going to stop now because Mary and I have to go on a Mission of Mercy.  Today we found a Badger who had been run over by a car going too fast.  Mary saw that the Badger was a mother who was still feeding her cubs. So we are going out to find the cubs and give them food and water because we don't want them to die too.  Mary is a bit nervous walking out in the dark in the field on her own because she does have a habit of falling down rabbit holes.  Also the local land owners don't like her because she loves animals and they like killing them.  So they call Mary an Animal Rights Activist.  Well, if she wasn't an Activist she wouldn't have met Jenni and all the other wonderful Huwomen at the BBC, so she doesn't mind too much.

By the way, I haven't told you half of our stories yet, because we also went to DEFRA on Thursday and some of our fans came to see us after hearing us on Woman's Hour.  And so much more....

Night Night,

Betty Badger, Media Star.🐾🐾

Mr Gove Goes Underground

Hello Hupeople.  Betty Badger here. Two jolly visits to DEFRA to report on.

I eventually persuaded Mary to leave her bed of despair and go down to DEFRA last Thursday.  I met some very Strange Characters including some very odd trees. 

All the strange Hupeople seemed to be out.   One Human would not go away and kept trying to buy my cubs. He told me that I could make a fortune if I sold my little ones.  I told him that I was not going to sell my babies even if he offered me lots of money.    I had to watch him carefully because I know had his eye on Bud.

Then a very old Human start to wave and dance and sing at me from across the street.  I danced for him too.

Then another Human came along wearing short leg coverings and he had drawings on his legs. He kept taking pictures of the DEFRA Building.  I told him the would be in trouble, but he carried on anyway.  Then the Security Hupeople came and told him to stop but he wouldn't..  The Police came along in big wheeled boxes so I moved quickly to the front of the building where I met lots of my old friends. 

The best thing about the day was meeting Hucubs.  Two little girl cubs fell in love with me and cuddled me and wanted to take me home.  They held onto my legs and didn't want to leave me.  A lovely male cub played hide and seek around the black metal bollards.  We had such fun.

I have been to Marsham Street again today and really enjoyed myself meeting the DEFRA , Home Office and other staff.  I stayed at the front this week to avoid the strange Hupeople who congregate at the back. Lots said "Hello Betty" and I heard that some are reading my blog.  Thank you!  Everyone was very friendly and one Huwoman offered to get me some water because I was very hot. 

But I am very sad because I have not seen Mr Gove for 4 weeks, since he announced that he going to extend the Badger Kill Cull to areas where Badgers are not infected with TB. I really miss his jolly Hello and wave.

I am sure he is hiding from Mary because she is quite angry.  She has been planning ways to dispose of him.  She decided against contract killing because she couldn't afford the fee, but now she has another plan.  Mary knows a lot about plants and in her garden she has a herb called Wolfbane or Monkshood; it is very poisonous.... We all know how much Mr Gove likes to buy his lunch at itsu and Mary thought she might get a job in the itsu close to DEFRA and slip a bit of Monskshood into his sushi.  That is quite fiendish.  But, of course she wouldn't do anything cruel like that because she wouldn't hurt any living thing.  Instead she is cursing him with boils.....  on his bottom....Only joking. 

Mary has turned her anger into action and this week has written to a lot of people including The Times, her MP Grant Schnapps, and DEFRA.  She did ask to see Mr Gove a while back but he is too busy with plastic bottles and elephant tusks so yesterday she asked instead to see the farming minister who I think is called George Useless.   If he says no she will be very annoyed.  These MP Humen are, after all, public servants and should remember that. 

While at DEFRA getting my photo taken and generally hanging  around Mary explained to me some of the decisions DEFRA has been making this year .  I found all this hard to understand so I am sorry if you find it hard too.  Anyway, DEFRA undertook a Consultation into extending the Badger Kill Cull into Low Risk Areas (LRAs) Anyone interested could write and tell DEFRA what they thought by 15th April.  Lots of very clever Hupeople replied, 832 in total, including The British Veterinary Association, The Zoological Society,The Badger Trust, Born Free,.. ,,,oh, and Mary.  

Well this document was published a couple of weeks ago:

Summary of responses to the consultation on proposals to introduce licensed badger control to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis in the Low Risk Area (England) May 2018

and it says very clearly that the majority of respondents were opposed to an extension of the Badger Cull to low risk areas.  Despite the overwhelming opposition from more than 800 people (including Mary) who took the time to write to DEFRA, they have decided to kill my Badger kin in areas they call  LRA "hot spots".  It is more complicated than that and I am worried that you will be bored by now so read up on it if you are interested.  

Mary has taught me the word ANALOGY so I will give an analogy for the decision which the Marsham Street Hupeople will relate to:

Do you remember that DEFRA staff moved recently to a new sett at 2 Marsham Street which they share with other government departments.  Well, Imagine that Mr Gove  and a few of his colleagues (Cows) had the Ebola virus but hadn't been tested properly so they weren't sure if they had it.  So, even though that there was a chance that they might possibly have Ebola which they could pass on to ALL the staff in Marsham Street, such as those in the Home Office (Badgers), Homes England (Deer), Communities and Local Government (Goats),  Ministry of Justice (Cats), Passport service (Pigs), etc. Obviously these staff might then pass it on to other staff in other departments they are visiting and lots of Hupeople  might then get ill and die.

I am only a stupid Badger, but as I see it, a sensible decision would be to leave the DEFRA people where they are so they don't infect all the other departments' staff.  But no.  What DEFRA decides to do is to move Mr Gove and his staff anyway and if just one of the Home Office staff catches Ebola from Mr Gove &Co, DEFRA kill all the Home office staff.  But they don't kill the staff in the other departments even though the DEFRA staff are mixing with them daily and infecting them.  So all the Home Office staff are now shot dead, even though only one of them had any disease.  And meanwhile the DEFRA staff and all the other staff they have infected go wandering around the country spreading Ebola where ever they go. 

This is exactly what DEFRA has decided to do, despite overwhelming rational opposition, and has even said this in the document it published on the day Parliament went into recess in May.  It says:

 "The government's view remains that enabling badger control in the LRA where disease in badgers is linked with infected herds is a rational extension of the TB strategy to eradicate bovine TB".  

"Badger control" means killing Badgers.  I really don't think this is logical at all. What DEFRA is saying is that where Cows brought into an area infect a healthy Badger then all the Badgers in that area have to die.  Meanwhile, farmers spread infected Cow Poo on the fields- (they call it slurry and not Poo ) and carry it on their boots and on their tyres to farm sales and abattoirs. Also infected Cows whose disease hasn't shown up yet and all the other animals they have infected, (Pigs, Goats, Cats, Deer ) can carry on spreading infection around the country.  

I do hope you understood that.  I am so tired at trying to understand it that I will have to have a lie down in my sett now. 

Just one more thing: It is good to finish on a happy thought. You know how much Badgers like eating Worms, well Mary made a lunch of two slices of bread with Peanut butter and Marmite in between; she called it a sandwich.  Anyway, it was one of the best things I have ever tasted- almost better than Worms even.

Night Night,  Betty 🐾🐾

Betty saves a Life

Hello Hupeople!  Betty here.  

This will be a very short story today because I am feeling too downhearted to write much.

Anyway, the good news is that I spent 2 sunny Thursdays outside DEFRA but I didn't see Mr Gove.  I think he is hiding from me and Mary because he has announced that he is going to kill thousands and thousands of Badger folk this year  Some people are saying he will slaughter 150,000 of my friends. I can't believe this but Mary is too upset to be much help in sorting out the facts.  She has taken to her bed with her head under the Duvet and refuses to leave, so I am not sure if I will get to DEFRA this week.

But I am trying to focus on the good things while I have a good think about what we can do to stop the wickedness.  One good thing is that I helped save the life of another Creature.  One of my DEFRA friends is a Human I call Tim but I don't know if that is his name.  He rushed up to me with a sick Bee and he wanted to save its life.  The picture above is a Bee like the one Tim brought me.

Bees are quite a rarity in Marsham Street because there are not many flowers. The Daily Llama said that everything that has life wants to live- even Bees- and Badgers.  I don't want me or my cubs to be shot by Mr Gove and his wicked stupid farmer friends. Mr Gove is going to give them £50 for every Badger they kill.  Here is what I stole off the internet about the Llama.



Anyway, I worked out that the Bee was probably short of fuel because of the lack of nectar so I chewed up one of my sweet cereal bars and gave the Bee my sweet spit.  It soon perked up and flew away.  Tim said that it probably flew away to avoid a huge Badger spitting on it again. 

If you read my earlier BLogs you might recall that we Badgers have a taste for honey and will dig out a Bee House.  We don't want to hurt the Bees but we can't resist the honey, just like Pooh.

I met a really horrible old Huwoman with a blue suit and white hair who was clearly a Conservatory.  She started to shout at me about how children who live on dairy farms have more TB bacteria than other children so it was all the fault of the Badgers.  I tried to say that perhaps Cows might have something to do with that but she just stormed off. 

The cubs are growing fast and are a great joy to me even though I do worry about them.  Here is a picture of some cubs to cheer us all up:



I have to stop now because I am feeling so sad.  It is so very hard to have any love for Hupeople but then I remember all the lovely kind Humen and Huwomen who go to the Killing fields and take risks to save our Badger Lives. Thank you to all the good Hupeople who are trying so hard to stop the madness and the killing.

Night Night,

Betty  🐾🐾

Betty Badger: Media Star!

Hello Hupeople!  Betty here again.

Me (and Mary) have made it on to the BBC.  Not quite Radio 4 or TV but Three Counties Radio 

Here I am with a famous presenter called JVS .

We had so much fun visiting a place called Dun Stable where the BBC lives and I broadcast to the nation on the Andy Collins show.  I don't know why but when I walked into the studio he began to laugh.  Also the staff in their office all made a loud banging noise putting heir hands together.  Mary says this is "applause" and a good thing, even though it is noisy. 

A Huwomen called Dani did an interview with me on the grass and made me pose while she took took loads and loads of pictures.  I thought she had a Badger Cub sitting on top of her camera and I tried to make friends with it, but she told me that it was, in fact, a furry microphone.  Here is Dani and me trying to be chums with the microphone.

DEFRA was so worried about my appearance on the BBC that they made a statement to be read out on the programme.  So did the NFU!!!  Mary said it was rehashed poppycock. I wish she wouldn't use such complicated words.  Anyway, I was on twitter lots and she told me that I was a media fenomenonenonenon.....  I am not really sure how to spell or end that confusing word so perhaps we should say "Betty Badger is a MEDIA STAR".

I've had 2 trips to DEFRA and the Home Office since I last wrote.  In my new routine I spend a couple of hours at the staff entrance where I meet many old friends and then I go to the front when the lunchtime crowds calm down a bit.  Lots of important people come to the front But some of them are not very bright. One Huwoman had never heard of the Badger Kill Cull.  She thought I was an illegal immigrant seeking justice.  There are security men at the front entrance who are funny and kind even though one of them did call me a Beaver!.  

The important people drink a lot of coffee and are in and out of the building to the coffee shop across the road with (reusable) coffee cups all the time.  I guess that's why they walk and talk so fast. One Huwoman who works in Caffe Nero has offered me a free Coffee next time I visit.


One good thing about being a badger just hanging around is that people say things and assume that I don't understand because I am a Badger. Well, I look and I listen and I have a message for Mr Gove. Did you know, Mr Gove, that some people are very unhappy that you have moved your DEFRA family into their new home in Seacold House?  One Home Office Human pointed at me and said, "That Badger is one of the many downsides of having Michael Gove moving in here"!!!  That isn't very nice. 

I met lots of interesting Hupeople yesterday.  One man said that the Home Office was "a nest of snakes" and tried to encourage me to storm their security.  I said that Betty doesn't like trouble.... and storming isn't really my style.... I am not too keen on meeting a load of snakes either.  This is a nest of snakes and/or the Home Office.

 

Several kind Hupeople tried to give me money, but I didn't take it as I can't eat it.  Another Human asked if he could buy one of my cubs.  I told him that they were my babies and I could not bear to be parted from them. 

I also met hundreds of Hucubs in grey uniform who were walking in a line down the road..  I wear my name on my back and they all started calling out Betty Badger, Betty Badger Betty Badger....  I really did feel like a Celebrity.  I hope that some of them will read my blog and understand why I stand there and then talk to their teachers and their parents about how cruel the Badger Kill Cull is.   I also met some little cubs in wheeled carts and they loved me and laughed. .  I did scare a couple of babies though and they began to cry...

I had one difficult moment when I met a man who had suffered from bovine TB (bTB) and this caused him to have a lot of operations.  He said he wasn't very fond of Badgers because of that.  So, even though he was quite angry, we had a chat and I explained to him that bTB is a disease of Cows, not Badgers, and the disease is being moved to new areas by moving infected Cattle around the country.  And, yes, sometimes these infected Cows give it to Badgers and other wild Creatures and Pets and so it spreads. I said that we needed to use the better (more expensive) test on Cows to find out if they are ill before they move them and also invest in vaccination rather than killing.  I think we understood each other better at the end of our chat.

I did see Mr Gove twice today and he waved at me, but he was moving so fast that I didn't have time to talk to him and invite him to my picnic.  Here is our Badger family having a picnic in the sun outside the Home Office/DEFRA .

I got something called a "wrap" from Pret a Manger but it wasn't very nice; Hupeople do eat some strange stuff. So instead we ate the grass and dug up a few worms.  I hope they don't mind the damage to their nice green grass, but the worms were buried deep after the dry weather.  

That's all the news for now.  

Night Night from Betty Badger - Media Star & Celebrity

🐾✮🐾✯🐾✭