PLANS are afoot to ban the ancient, noble, country tradition of beagling. But you can bet your bippy (at close of trading yesterday there were four bippies to the bottom dollar) that unofficial beagling will live on in North London, albeit in an urbanised form.
So it is that the family sets off toward the nearest motorway for some modern-day beagling. I've even heard of spectators sitting on the hard shoulder with binoculars and a Thermos, watching as yet another member of this splendid nation of animal-lovers opens their rear door, grabs their ill-advised Christmas purchase by the scruff of the neck and shouts: "See that 20-foot bone with wheels on it that looks like an articulated lorry?