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The images of Rachel Whitear were used to tell a story about illegal heroin

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The images of Rachel Whitear were used to tell a story about illegal heroin. Plenty of other parents could have produced equally harrowing pictures of their dead offspring. And even more will do so unless we reconsider our approach not only to illegal drugs but to the socially acceptable drug of alcohol as well.Victor Adebowale is the chief executive of Turning Point, the drink and drugs charity. The Government must be in trouble. It has dangled the enticing prospect of a vote on fox-hunting in front of Labour MPs The Government must be in trouble. This is what the Government does when there is a whiff of crisis in the air. The word goes out: Don't panic! Start talking about foxes! Yet I suspect that foxes will still be slaughtered by hounds long after the Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers, has ceased to be a cabinet minister.As far as I can recall, this is the third time a ban on fox-hunting has been revived in the midst of a media frenzy.

The first occasion was during the Labour conference in 1999 when the newspapers and some Labour MPs were sensing that the Government had lost its sense of direction or wondering whether it had had one in the first place. Outside the conference hall there was a big demonstration by the Countryside Alliance. New Labour's foxy operators were delighted: here was a chance to please the conference and show the media that they meant business. Tony Blair opened his speech with a defiant jibe against the demonstrators: "Tally ho! This is a very good day for foxes," he declared, mocking the protesters and delighting his audience with a clear suggestion that foxes would be saved from any more hunting.Before the ecstatic applause had faded away, senior cabinet ministers were briefing behind the scenes that legislation would be impossible before the House of Lords was fully reformed. Tally ho – not such a good day for foxes after all.Never mind, foxes appeared to be getting a belated reprieve the following summer. This was when the media were tormenting the Government about leaked memos from one of Mr Blair's aides. The memos, which had been uncovered by someone called Benji the Binman, gave the impression of a government obsessed by the latest headlines.

In order to counter that impression, the Government sought a quick headline. The newspapers were briefed that a fox-hunting ban was back on the agenda. Shortly afterwards they were briefed that although a ban was indeed back on the agenda, there would be no space for legislation before an election. Tally ho – again.Now the hope has been raised once more on the day after Mr Byers's statement to the Commons about the soap opera in his department. I suspect that in good time the Prime Minister will explain that, although he personally favours a ban, the opposition in the Lords is too great. Instead he will propose the "middle way" which aims to regulate hunting more strictly.

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