THE Government has a duty to listen to all sides and consult widely before taking major decisions - particularly one as controversial as a potential ban on fox hunting.

But it is difficult to see what will be gained by the six-month consultation period about fox hunting announced yesterday.

Opinions are so entrenched on this issue, having been formed over the last century, that they are hardly likely to budge in the next six months.

And, at the end of the six months, the Government will still face the same dilemma as it does today: if it is to ban fox hunting, it will have to do battle with the House of Lords; if it is to allow fox hunting to continue, it will have to do battle with its own backbenchers. And if it is to pursue the "middle way" of licensing fox hunting, why didn't it have the guts to say so yesterday and flush the attendant controversy into the open?

For once, we find ourselves in agreement with Ann Widdecombe, who said yesterday that the consultation was ''just a recipe for yet more delay, for having this issue running up and down the Parliamentary system when there are indeed other issues that we should be discussing. Shouldn't this now be brought to a firm conclusion?".

As it is, yesterday's delay means the next few years could be dogged by this single issue which, although animal welfare and personal liberty are important concepts, is not central to a majority of people's everyday lives.

A brave government would yesterday have seized the fox by the tail and progressed the issue in one direction or the other. Even entering into negotiations about a licensing system to remove the worst instances of animal cruelty would have been preferable.

But this Government has ducked the issue of the fox.

ONE of those issues that does affect many people's everyday lives is the state of the railways. Yesterday, it was announced that Railtrack will drag on in administration until at least November.

When Stephen Byers put Railtrack into administration in October, he said he expected it to last between three to six months. It will now last at least 13 months, and only then will decisions begin to be made about the future shape of the company which owns our railway infrastructure.

In terms of railways as well as fox hunting, the phrase "time for delivery" slips ever further into the future.