Tally-ho cards present false image

’TIS the season to be jolly... and to be cruel. Christmas cards again depict fox, hare and stag-hunting as relics of auld decency.

The time-honoured images appear without fail at this time of year: stately hunts, people with horses and hounds setting off for a day’s sport from happy, snow-covered villages, laughing hunters and smiling sightseers waving at them.

Pomp and pageantry on parade.