Sir.- As a young man, I was impressed by a quotation from Oscar Wilde "the unspeakable in full pursuit of the inedible" (A Woman of No Importance - 1893).

I don't think I have changed my mind about fox hunting since I first came across this quotation 40 years ago.

On the other hand, it looks as if the Earl of Portsmouth takes a view strongly opposed to mine (The Gazette, November 26).

It now appears that he, and others against a hunting ban, are clutching desperately at all sorts of straws to try to go against the will of the majority of the British people, who, in both 1997 and 2001, elected a parliament that was committed to abolishing hunting with dogs.

There is the blunt issue of obeying the law. Do we all have to obey all laws, even those we personally don't like or find inconvenient, or do some of us have the right to ignore or disobey part of the law?

If the Earl of Portsmouth becomes a law-breaker instead of being law-abiding, I do hope the police will treat him the same as they do the organisers of cock fighting.

In fact, based on his reported comments, it seems to me that he could also be guilty of the more important offence of conspiracy.

I cannot see any difference between organising bear baiting, cock fighting or fox hunting, and wish the police well in their struggle against the forces who break the law.

-Joe Robertson, Downsland Road, Basingstoke.