I still get that real buzz from it, trying to give a horse a ride, get it involved in a race, the buzz I’ll know I miss when I pack up.”When you are pulling yourself out of the ground you sometimes ask why in God’s name you are doing this, but I always get a good mention from the press, especially considering I don’t do anything I just don’t get the quality of rides The winners don’t come along very often. The Irish-born jockey has been riding in England since his first winner in 1988. 7.40am The day is just breaking in the frosted Cotswolds village of Shipton Oliffe and it is time for Vince Slattery to go to work in the dark. The one thing the vast majority of his mounts have in common is their speed The lack of it. A spokesman for SNH stressed that “wildlife crime” was not just about birds and birds’ eggs but that moss collecting was just as serious.”There have already been two known cases of large-scale gathering of moss in Lanarkshire, one of which caused £34,000 of damage.

The problem is thought to be widespread throughout the country and appears to be linked to other types of crime.” According to police, the people involved in theft of moss or other wild plants were often linked to other wildlife crimes, as well as housebreaking, theft and drugs. In some cases they were part of an organised network of illegal trading and can earn substantial profits by supplying garden centres with a variety of plants, including some threatened species.”We know this type of trade exists but at the moment there have been few reported incidents and we would appeal to people to let us know if they have seen this type of large-scale moss gathering,” said Phil Briggs, wildlife crime officer at Strathclyde Police.Although some commercial companies are licensed to collect moss, from sites not designated as of Special Scientific Interest, a number of criminals have realised they can make serious money from this activity.Police believe there are at least three or four organised gangs involved in the business.. The moss, which forms the top layer on many protected peat bogs, is especially in demand at this time of year for use in Christmas wreaths and hanging baskets.In an attempt to draw public attention to the problem, SNH and Strathclyde Police have launched a campaign as part of a Partnership for Action against Wildlife crime (PAW), to urge gardeners to boycott products they suspect of using stolen plants. I think the fundamental answer is that other people would like us to die in such a way that any complaints end up on somebody else’s desk.GODFREY MARRIOTT Ware, Hertfordshire.

Organised criminal gangs, more accustomed to dealing in drugs and the proceeds of robberies, are turning their attention to the more sedate and less risky business of plant rustling. It was an engineering milestone and is much more beautiful than San Francisco’s famous Golden Gate, which looks almost stumpy by comparison.MICHAEL FOX Merriott, Somerset Don’t make trouble Sir: Mr Riches (letter, 14 December) asks how HM Government would like us to die. It had to happen – one of the Home Office’s “antisocial behaviour orders”, or Asbos, has been served on an animal. The miscreant was an unnamed pig owned by a farmer called Brian Hagan, of Briston, Norfolk, and no, the cops didn’t actually thrust the order paper between the pig’s subversive trotters, they gave it to the farmer on his behalf.
We’re not told the nature of the pig’s crime beyond its escaping under a fence and “causing a nuisance since May”, but we can guess the details. The rendezvous with other escaped pigs, probably wearing hoodies and costume jewellery; the stolen Vauxhall Astra; the credit-card mugging; the ritzy nightclub; the DJ’s refusal to play “Twist and Snout” one more time; the bloody fight; the night in the cells.Presumably Mr Hagan will now have a to pay a fine, as he would if his son broke someone’s window. But might it not be in character with its current draconian profile for the Home Office to restore the ancient practice of putting animals on trial and condemning them to death? Porkers were regularly strung up in the Middle Ages for rambunctious behaviour, often after elaborate trials in which they stood (“impassively” I expect) in a dock; they had the same legal rights as people and were entitled to legal representation.In 1494, a pig was put on trial for having “entered a house and disfigured a child’s face, whereupon the child departed this life” The pig was never going to get away with it The judge ruled that “the said porker… I worked in Hull for four years and was constantly awed by the graceful lines of what was for many years the world’s longest single-span suspension bridge.

In contrast, the people who are genuinely excluded from socialising are the poor sods doing a full day’s work: half of them are too knackered to socialise on an evening.R S MUSGRAVE Durham Awesome spans Sir: I’m surprised that you have omitted the Humber Bridge from your otherwise excellent spread on the greatest bridges of the world (15 December). Readers in these locations might have more local knowledge and be able to advise.Professor PAUL D BUISSERET Chichester, West Sussex Identity for sale Sir: The weekend before ID cards were abolished in 1952, Henry Channon MP (Con) told me that their retention was essential in the fight against crime and, I think, was genuinely astonished when I told him that I could buy one at the pub next to St Martin-in-the-Fields for five shillings [25p]. I have a friend (on social security) who spends several hours a day wandering around the neighbourhood just talking to people, or inviting them into his home where they occasionally get a cup of tea. I expect that fakes of Blunkett cards will be more expensive.D J STAPLEY Sheffield Busy social life Sir: The idea that socialising costs money, advanced by Jonathan Welfare (letter, 15 December), is bunk Indeed, the very phrase “socially excluded” is nonsense. Indeed, I was most relieved when my daughter was obliged to obtain a lacrosse stick. This should prove equally effective in disabling unwanted nocturnal visitors, and a suitably ladylike alternative for the fair sex.So let us hear no more transatlantic babble of “baseball bats”. Remember we are Englishmen! The Scots could always repel intruders by playing their bagpipes.

I have no useful advice for suitably patriotic defence weapons for the Welsh or the Irish. It is preceded by another, even more telling, sentence: “Let not anyone pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion.”STUART McDOWALL St Andrews, Fife Batting for England Sir: I am repeatedly puzzled by discussions in the press regarding the rights to whack a burglar on the head with a baseball bat. We should be encouraging more people to take up the sport by making it less expensive and more accessible, not by charging for facilities that have traditionally been free.It is encouraging that people such as Michael Foot and Glenda Jackson see the importance of intervening to ensure that current facilities like the Hampstead Ponds remain free for public use and I would like to add my voice to support their campaign.DUNCAN GOODHEW London W1 Idea of a university Sir: John Birtwhistle suggests in his letter (10 December) that the origin of the world’s favourite quote (about evil triumphing if bad men do nothing) is to be found in an address given by John Stuart Mill. Where would one even obtain a baseball bat? I have always been under the impression that “baseball” was an incomprehensible American adaptation of “rounders”.Surely we should advise people of nervous disposition to keep a cricket bat next to their bed with which to deter intruders.