We've been doing a fair bit of research into the Festival San Fermin - and in particular the running of the bulls - in advance of the start of the Festival earlier today.
One thing that really irritates us is the way in which the British media have a general distaste for bullfighting but that when it comes to the Pamplona Bull Run they tend to lie down and have their bellies tickled by those who tell them it's 'macho' to get involved. The 'lads mags' such as Nuts and Zoo often run features in adoration of the insecure idiots that actually do the running.
Typical of all this is the
'Pamplona Posse' website run by a British guy called Graeme Galloway. On pages of his site imaginatively and intelligently titled 'Drinking', 'Better than Sex' and the 'F*ck all room', he tells the reader how great it is to be involved with the run.
Galloway's organising all this for serious cash, too: in an email to one of our campaigners (undercover, of course) last month, he said that he charges €95 just to stand on his balcony and watch the run, and his accommodation is that price per person per night. A cheap Spanish holiday this isn't, and it's also not backed up by ABTA membership. He asks for half payment into his Euro bank account beforehand, and half in cash on arrival in Pamplona.
Top Deck Tours is another UK travel company glorifying animal cruelty
on its website. This company and Galloway aren't alone in their promotion of this rubbish.
We just wish all companies were as good as BA. As soon as we complained to them about their promotion of bullfighting in 2008, they immediately pulled the plug. Time for Top Deck Tours to do the same, and for Galloway to find something more wholesome to do.