Eco-warriors in ivory towers
LASS half empty? Glass half full? My general jauntiness as I write this column tends to reflect whether I have managed to bring home (OK, smuggle home) some fine bargain in the past month or whether – and sadly far more usual – I have once again ended up the frustrated and infuriated underbidder. Not this June. Today, the metaphorical glass is about to be smashed to pieces on the stone floor of tokenism and, apart from a few minor exceptions, there will be nothing left in it for most of us. Let me explain. The Ivory Act 2018, prohibiting the sale of most elephant ivory regardless of age, has been awaiting implementation for a few years now. One reason for this long delay is that those who considered it an iconoclast’s charter – and Michael Gove’s demented dream – fought it all the way to the highest courts. However, they lost. It then, as predicted, became clear to all but the fiercest for its advice. But, suffice to say for we simple folk, if you buy or sell elephant ivory outside the few listed exemptions, then you are in deep doo-doo. Get it wrong and you will be looking at a fine of up to £250,000 or five years in prison. What’s more, and I quote: “If the item does contain or is made of ivory, it will be assumed to be elephant ivory unless you can prove otherwise.” So, no excuse of “Sorry guv, I didn’t know…” Or, put another way, serious criminalisation for selling (or buying) something that, as I write this today, legally adorns many homes. And with the onus to be right entirely on you.
