I have just e-mailed him, copies to Des Kelly, sports editor and Piers Morgan, editor as follows;
e-mailed to
charlie.catchpole@mirror.co.uk 8th November 2000
I quote "‘No angling though. That’s not at all cruel. Fish love having their mouths ripped open by metal hooks, didn’t you know?’
You may not fish but as a "journalist" on a national newspaper you have a responsibility to your readers for fairness. Anglers do not rip fishes mouths open with metal hooks. We use barbless and microbarbed hooks for small species so that little damage is done. Next you will be claiming that fish feel pain, just like the anti-angling movement have been doing for years. They don't, simply because they do not have the necessary structure to their nervous systems or the necessary pain receptors.
If you want to join the vegan agenda and ban all human interface with animals that is your right, but before you make anti-angling statements in your column you should at least have taken the trouble to find out what you are talking about and who your new freinds are. Your older readers will be pleased to know that they support no pets, i.e. cats or dogs, and that will lead to lots of very lonely old people.
There is no comparison between angling and badger baiting. Just like there is no comparison between a braindead bigot and a journalist.
You should be ashamed of yourself. The Daily Mirror, in its heyday, published the greatest fishing series ever; "Fishing with Mr Crabtree" by Bernard Venables, who still writes on angling and country matters. He is a man of talent and style, something sadly lacking in your pathetic attempts.
We should be grateful that you only cover TV and nothing of any importance. Piers may consider the damage done to the Mirror in the eyes of its angling readers, we number more than a million you know and most of us buy a daily paper. Still you needn't worry it won't be the Mirror in future.
Mike Heylin
Now all we need now is for 100,000 anglers to do the same and the Mirror network will collapse under the e-mail load.
Mike