With each new outlet the port of Plymouth or the airport at Coventry came new protests

With each new outlet, the port of Plymouth or the airport at Coventry, came new protests. Soon Tesco announced it would stop buying veal from Holland, and Sainsbury's put up signs to say it never had. It was aggressive but largely non-violent, and brought together a curiously English coalition of protesting types - hunt saboteurs, opponents of new roads, dreadlocked travellers, politicised protesters against the Criminal Justice Act - with a band of first-timers which included large numbers of middle-aged Tory ladies and retired Home Counties businessmen.They were a potent group Even the tabloid press felt it had to warm to them. As exporters found replacement outlets through small ports such as Shoreham in West Sussex and Brightlingsea in Essex, an extraordinary campaign of street protest began.

True, there had been a few attempts by extremists to harass the ferries by sending letter bombs to their headquarters, but the serious pressure had come from hundreds of thousands of letters from the public, orchestrated by mainstream animal campaigners including a dramatic RSPCA campaign of newspaper ads. One by one, the ferries capitulated. For almost a year the dispute has progressed with what may turn out to have been comparative gentility, beginning with the campaign by animal rights activists to press cross-channel ferry companies to pull out of a trade in calves and sheep which had, hitherto, been worth around £175m a year. There are indications too that the media honeymoon for the rag-tag army of protesters may be ending. On the streets there have been the first signs that moderate protesters are being elbowed aside by the extremists they have hitherto managed to hold at a distance. Recent days have seen new resolution on the part of ministers, a toughening of police tactics and a statement of uncompromising support for the trade from senior members of the judiciary. The street violence this week - the first directed against the police by protesters - is only the symptom of a further polarisation of positions. In the dispute over the export of live animals a nodal point has been reached.

It gives them the opportunity to say exactly what they want to voters, unedited and unmediated by Jeremy Paxman or the Sun - even if that message is increasingly uninformative.The writer is Professor of Politics at Nottingham University and co-author of "The British General Election of 1992".. Ironically, the tabloids have ended their love affair with the Conservative Party and Labour is likely to outspend the Conservatives in the next election.For all their dissatisfaction with present arrangements, the political parties are unlikely to surrender their free time on television. The end of simultaneous transmission on all channels and the spread of new cable and satellite media will further reduce the audience.In the past, Labour has looked to the broadcasters to overcome the bias of the Tory tabloids. Free access and the prohibition of buying broadcast time by political parties has also helped Labour, because it could be outspent by the Conservatives. It is because these are not run by the parties that they are more trusted by voters. The parties know that audiences for the broadcasts are steadily falling, particularly on ITV and, in recent elections, for Conservative broadcasts.

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