SIR – Well, before the letters editor of the Worcester News decides to put a close on our correspondence, I must admit defeat with the debate between myself and Jon Burgess: not due to myself trying to win a losing battle, oh no; more due to the lack of intellectual debate (Worcester News, October 25).

I’ll leave it up to Mr Burgess himself to contemplate the use of simile and metaphor as he doesn’t seem to grasp the idea.

Let’s conduct my argument in simpler terms: Geese were shot at the said golf course, not out of conservation but for the selfish need for man to participate in a recreational game.

As far as I’m aware, there are no deer on this golf course either.

We’ll leave that for another debate.

And saying that deer don’t feel pain when they are shot is ludicrous!

I think Mr Burgess has shown his true colours of an age-old belief that animals “have no feelings”.

I thought that this attitude had died long ago?

Or is it simply an excuse to justify such shocking behaviour?

The same could be said about the “instant death” of a fox by a pack of hounds, justified by hunt spokespeople with the propaganda phrase “a quick nip to the back of the neck”.

And what about the “instant deaths” of badgers, that are shot in poor lighting conditions and are injured instead of killed? In the name of being “humane”, I guess?

Mr Burgess talks about “scientific evidence” to support his claims and likes to suggest that I lack that ability to support mine.

The badger cull has been conducted without any common sense or scientific evidence. Can Mr Burgess explain that one?

And why is the cull so extremely secretive when they supposedly have nothing to hide?

As a British citizen, I should have the right to examine reports on what goes on in our countryside, allowing me to continue supporting our farmers.

But if that can’t be done then I will have to boycott local produce altogether.

In turn, their behaviour shall be their undoing.

I don’t expect any answers because as usual, Mr Burgess appears to be very much like a politician (that is a simile by the way) and lacks the emotive rhetoric and feelings of empathy which one has learnt over time, instead of just continuing to do bad things in the name of tradition.

We have moved on a lot since Victorian Britain.

One is more aware of what goes on in our country then ever before. It’s a shame that Mr Burgess hasn’t kept up with the times.

SIMON MCCULLOUGH

Worcester