FOX hunting will continue to divide the nation for many years to come. But even people who support the need for culling are likely to be horrified by video footage released yesterday which appears to show a fox being torn apart by hounds, while huntsmen from the Plas Machynlleth Fox Hounds watch idly by. If the fox was alive - huntsmen claim it was humanely killed before being handed to the hounds - then it clearly would be barbaric and there should be no place for such actions in Wales in this day and age. The arguments for and against fox hunting are complex and engender strong opinions on both sides. Most farmers will testify to the havoc foxes can wreak during lambing. But any attempts to control the population must surely be within standards expected from a civilised society. They should be free of overt cruelty and barbarism. The views of hunt chairman Emyr Lewis, comparing their actions to "lions and cheetahs in Africa killing" and his observation that "some of the best-watched programmes on TV are nature ones", are sure to offend many who have seen the video. The point is, humanity has surely, unlike big game in Africa, moved beyond blood-thirsty predation to survive. We can only hope the Federation of Welsh Packs inquiry will be thorough and its findings robust. A step too far SO much for the road map to peace following Israel's assassination of Hamas's spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin yesterday. Israel has the right to defend its borders and to fight terrorism, but the cold-blooded murder of a wheelchair-bound cleric was a step too far and is likely to prove counter-productive. It will surely serve only to galvanise further anti-Israeli and anti-western fanaticismand create more terrorists. One can only hope that somewhere in the mire of Middle-eastern politics a lasting peace can some day and some how emerge. | 
