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214- Red Tractor advert banned due to false claims. Whoops!
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It may not have been down to the ridiculous lines peddled by Red Tractor that their animals are humanely slaughtered, or the misleading line about every cow having their own personal vet...but nonetheless, the twenty-second ad may no longer be shown...as an advert (this hasn't stopped the BBC having it available to watch on their website however!) Dominic, Julie & Anthony discuss this, as well as analysing a further eight of the week's vegan & animal rights stories from across the world.
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Enough of the Falafel is a community of people who love keeping on top of the latest news in the world of veganism & animal rights. With the Vegan Week podcast, we aim to keep listeners (& ourselves) informed & up-to-date with the latest developments that affect vegans & non-human animals; giving insight, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we look through news stories from the past 7 days in the world of veganism & animal rights.
If you spot any news stories that might catch our fancy, or have an idea for a discussion topic, get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
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This week's stories:
https://plantbasednews.org/news/environment/uk-declines-to-ban-bottom-trawling/
https://www.peta.org/media/news-releases/sea-ya-animal-abusers-peta-hosts-champagne-toast-outside-closing-miami-seaquarium/
https://www.pcrm.org/news/news-releases/vegan-diet-helps-people-type-1-diabetes-cut-insulin-costs-27
https://www.farminguk.com/news/-158m-lifeline-welsh-farmers-receive-early-bps-payments_67395.html
https://www.farminguk.com/news/lessons-from-scotland-s-worst-wildfires-aim-to-protect-land-and-livestock_67386.html
https://www.farminguk.com/news/police-shoot-bull-loose-near-isle-of-man-school-after-public-safety-scare_67398.html Apologies for the Farming UK triple header!
https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/animal-rights-activists-urge-sarah-mullally-to-ban-leather-bibles-and-beeswax-candles
https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/news/farmfoods-sites-targeted-by-animal-rights-activists/710410.article
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2lmnvj3n5o
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Julie, Dominic & Ant
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Transcript
Introduction to Vegan Week Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everyone, if you are on the hunt for vegan or animal rights news, you need look no further, you are in the right place. I'm Anthony, joining me for this episode are Julie and Dominic, but that is enough of the falafel, it is time for Vegan Week.
Vegan Stereotypes and Lab-Grown Meat Discussion
00:00:19
Speaker
So I think vegans go looking for trouble even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for. Brrr! Take your lab-grown meat elsewhere. We're not doing that in the state of Florida. What about your protein and what about your iron levels? Should I call the media and say, hi, sorry? They're arguing like, oh, poor woe is me.
00:00:38
Speaker
Hang on a minute. You always pick.
00:00:46
Speaker
social injustice has connection another. That's just what people think vegans eat anyway. As long as you didn't get the wee brunions with the horns you'll be all alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:01:01
Speaker
No I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision.
Vegan and Animal Rights News Segment
00:01:05
Speaker
Hello everybody, it's Julie here Welcome and thank you for joining us. Hello, hello, hello, new listeners and long-term listeners and everyone anywhere in between. My name is Dominic.
00:01:20
Speaker
Cheers for tuning in to our new show where we look through vegan and animal rights news from the last week or so. That's enough of the falafel. Let's hear what's been going on this week.
Bottom Trawling Controversy in the UK
00:01:35
Speaker
For more details on the upcoming news stories, including links to our original source material, check out our show notes for this episode, available on your podcast player.
00:01:47
Speaker
Okay, we like to have our news stories from across the world, but we're going start off with a couple from the UK. This first one comes to us from Plant Based News, who are reporting the news that unfortunately, the UK government have declined to ban bottom trawling four months after effectively pledging to do so. For those of you that don't know, bottom trawling is a type of fishing and it's particularly destructive. It involves dragging heavy nets and chains along the ocean floor, which Unsurprisingly, tears up root systems, fills in burrows, it kills and catches marine life.
00:02:21
Speaker
Often up to 75% of what is caught is not the quote target species. So basically they'll haul up whatever they can and then pick out what they wanted from it um and chuck everything else back, which is obviously problematic to say the least.
00:02:40
Speaker
ah The main reason for this headline is because in June an Environmental Audit Committee report called Governing the Marine Environment made several key recommendations for better ocean conservation and it encouraged the government to ban harmful fishing practices such as bottom trawling within specific offshore marine protected areas.
00:03:03
Speaker
However, Our good friends at DEFRA, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, have published their official response this week and they have said that an outright ban is disproportionate and not in line with legislation.
00:03:18
Speaker
They're instead saying that they're going to go to consult on regional bans instead. Dominic, it's interesting this one because on the one hand it looks like a really negative story.
00:03:30
Speaker
Even if bottom trawling were to be banned. That's not a ban on fishing though, is it? So in a way, from a vegan perspective, arguably it doesn't matter how animals are being fished. But of of course, bottom trawling is he's kind of a ah worse evil, isn't it?
00:03:47
Speaker
Yeah, we've we start somewhere, don't we? And I'm so... upset with, them you know, in the UK, we've got the Labour government. And, you know, I'm not alone in being someone who in the past has really supported Labour and are really disappointed with this government.
00:04:05
Speaker
um I know The Guardian ah did an article claiming that Labour, well, it's in it's in this, it's in this ah very new, let me let me have a look, let me have a look. ah They said,
00:04:15
Speaker
the The Guardian claim Labour ministers are using Brexit to actively go backwards and weaken crucial British environmental protections, which, yeah, yeah, really, really awful. I also saw another news story today just while I was ah waiting to start this about Greenpeace talking about making areas of the ocean into like national parks in the ocean and different places.
00:04:39
Speaker
countries have been you know voting in favor of this not britain not our labor government they're one of the ones to to like not be in favor of that either i i don't know i don't know it's it's not something that that i find much positivity in no and i mean A crumb of comfort is the fact that this this has made a headline and and you can hope that there can be more pressure applied to the government to change their mind on this. Although you would have thought an official report would be exactly that. um Last year, more than 20,000 hours of bottom trawling took place in yeah UK offshore marine protected areas.
00:05:19
Speaker
And that's a likely underestimation of the total damage. So like you say, Dominic, not positive story, but thank you. Yeah. It's really despairing, really despairing. We're talking about such a serious article, Anton.
00:05:32
Speaker
I'm a poet who is a gay man, and the the level of self-control is taken for you to keep saying, bottom trawling where my entire career is on words play. I've been really well behaved during this very, very serious article.
00:05:48
Speaker
But yeah, my face is cracked now. Pat on the back for you. Pat on the back for you. we'll ah We'll know to look out for that one in next
Agriculture Subsidies and Economic Decisions
00:05:57
Speaker
year's... so poetry written by yourself let's move on to ah another story from the uk and uh this is not a great bit of pr ah for the government either though uh we could argue that this would be happening regardless of whoever was in control of the uk government uh the story comes to us from farming uk the headline is 158 million pound lifeline
00:06:20
Speaker
Welsh farmers receive early BPS payments. BPS stands for Basic Payment Scheme. um And basically, because of Welsh farmers facing rising costs and feed shortages for their, quote, livestock, they've been handed what is being called a vital cash flow lifeline and it's an advance so more more than 15 000 claimants are going to be getting basically just shy of 160 million pounds this week basically to top up their coffers or to make their businesses sustainable ah you can read more more details in about the article if you follow the link in our show notes which you'll get for all of our news stories julie in a sense i mean we could go through all the details here that i don't know whether there are a
00:07:09
Speaker
particularly pertinent details that you found. But really, for me, the main headline is this is a concrete example and an up-to-date example of how financially unsustainable animal agriculture is.
00:07:21
Speaker
Yes, I would definitely... Agree with that, Anthony. It's the final year of this basic payment scheme. In January 2026, we're going to move over to the sustainable farming scheme.
00:07:35
Speaker
I think they'll look very similar somehow. This amount of money, this 158 million that's been given to 15,500 Welsh farmers, that's not the full amount that they're getting for the year.
00:07:51
Speaker
That is just a part of it. It's just a percentage of it. And that alone is over 10 grand each. If you look at the numbers, the article goes on to say that the existing budget for farming needs to increase to over 500 just to keep pace with inflation.
00:08:09
Speaker
I looked into, you know, how people apply for these things and who gets given the money and all the rest of it. It is horrendously complicated but what I will say is as part of my day job I quite often support people to apply for grants because they are in financial difficulties and they're trying to buy things like washing machines or you know, stuff or care for the person that they are looking after in their family respite or whatever. We have to fill in forums about how much these people spend on bills and food and evidence all they're spending that there is no spare money to pay for these things.
00:08:51
Speaker
Nothing I saw online about the basic payment scheme was putting farmers through that kind of interrogation whatsoever. It used to be based on just the number of acres that they were farming and the type of land that it was, you know, whether it was class one arable land or, you know, this rough grazing or whatever it was.
00:09:15
Speaker
um And there's also something called a young farmer's addition if a farmer's under 41, I think it is. It's not means tested. It is just down to the type of farming these people are doing.
00:09:27
Speaker
They are really in cahoots, aren't they, with the people in power. And they are not kind of questioned about anything. And if the weather has meant that there have been ah kind of change to supply or a rise in the cost of feed,
00:09:45
Speaker
A lot of the farmers are actually growing the crops that constitute this feed. So they're getting more money for this the feed. They're complaining about the high prices of, if you see what I mean.
00:09:57
Speaker
I don't grudge the assistance to arable farmers because they are growing food. There's no two ways about it. And they are directly affected by weather conditions. I don't grudge a bit of evening out of the bumps to arable farmers.
00:10:11
Speaker
But the people who are raising animals, They're not raising food. They're raising animals. They see it as food. We don't. You know, they are the people who are choosing the system that takes these animals into indoor environments where they need to be fed year round.
00:10:30
Speaker
There is grass and things outside for these, you know, and and if they didn't breed them in enormous, ridiculous numbers also. But, you know, that's the system they've chosen.
00:10:43
Speaker
I would say as well, I know quite a lot of farmers. There's ah a lot of farmers where I live in the part of Scotland I live in. I don't know any who don't have great big vehicles, children at private schools and big houses.
00:10:59
Speaker
Yeah. I might be biased. Yeah, well, yeah, you we can only yeah take the data that's in front of us, can't we? ah If I can make a couple of points on this one, with with regards to the application process that they're going through and and how little scrutiny they are there seems to be, it reminds me of when I was running a food business during COVID,
00:11:22
Speaker
And you could, don't know if you remember, UK listeners might remember the eat out to help out scheme where the government was basically subsidising your meal out. um It's a pub or ah a cafe or what have you to try and get people back eating out again.
00:11:37
Speaker
um And the the process there for for cafes and restaurants and pubs to claim was you literally did this form. It took about 30 seconds to fill out and you just typed in how much money you wanted them to give you.
00:11:49
Speaker
There was no scrutiny whatsoever. And that this the reason I bring that up is because that felt like a desperate system for a desperate time. And what you're describing, Julie, suggests that there is equal desperation. It's like, look, we don't need to put any scrutiny on you. Just say how much money you need and we'll we'll get it to you sort of thing. So in a sense, that gives me a bit of hope um that the animal ag is suffering in that way.
00:12:17
Speaker
And I can't remember the other point I was going to make, so maybe I'll remember
Animal Rights Wins and Sea Aquarium Closure
00:12:20
Speaker
it later. Who knows? But yes, thank you for that one. Goodness, we've started with a couple of downers. let's ah Let's pop some champagne corks for our next story. That is literally what PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, are doing.
00:12:35
Speaker
This is because the Miami Sea Aquarium closed its doors for the last time six days ago as we are recording. So probably by the time you're listening to this, it's just over. a week ago. Listeners, you might remember seeing a picture of someone called Lolita, who was an orca, and Lee, I don't know how to say that, L-I apostrophe I, dolphin. They were pictured swimming round and round a very bleak looking enclosure at the Miami Sea Aquarium prior to Lolita's death in 2023. But the good news is, like I say, that they have closed um and Peter of
00:13:14
Speaker
taken it upon themselves with another organisation called SoFlo. I imagine the Flo is short for Florida. i'm not sure about the So. But they are ah meeting ah outside, or they met outside this aquarium and served champagne to commemorate the closing of what they're calling the Abusement Park.
00:13:34
Speaker
A clever play on words, Dominic. Cause for celebration. We've got to take these wins, haven't we? Yeah, it is definitely a win. um I think that where I live, the people with whom I speak, I'm i'm not near anything resembling like sequariums or anything. I think that um the the the average person I chat to is really good at celebrating...
00:13:59
Speaker
animal rights wins, if they've already happened, because there's no controversy there, there's no ah challenging there. But if it's happened, if it's in the past, then it's like, oh, how brilliant that those so sea animals are.
00:14:15
Speaker
available uh free sorry i think it would be really good when talking about this if if i'm talking about this to people to compare it to for example you know we've got greyhound racing not far from from us which is really supported by a lot of people you know horse racing you know i could see this news article kind of getting them on board because i think most people would celebrate i say this past tense oh this isn't happening what a win, what a win, and sharing that moment, but then using that as a platform to go forwards and go, because, you know, those animals deserve a good life, as do greyhounds, as do horses.
00:14:57
Speaker
So, yeah, that's what I think i I take most from this story. Yeah, well, I mean, it's ah it's it's a very valid reason for them doing a ah press release celebrating this. I mean, that there's something to be said to celebrate wins for the animal rights movement for the sake of the activists who, you know, it's a hard slog. It's often very thankless. So to celebrate the wins is a good thing, but also getting in the the newspaper on websites reminding people that this win has happened.
00:15:27
Speaker
but I think Peter mentioned it in this press release, exactly what you're saying, Dominic, like let's use this as an opportunity to put the pressure on other similar venues, organisations, systems to nudge their needles in the right direction too.
00:15:44
Speaker
Is this the exact same one that we talked about on a news show a few weeks back when we said one was at the brink of closure and was asking the government for support, or was that a different one? That was in Canada, I believe.
00:15:59
Speaker
um So same continent, but not the same one. Look at Ant's razor sharp memory. The moment I started asking that, i thought, oh, poor Ant, I'm putting him on the spot. But look, you know, you know. Well, do you know what? i um I looked it up myself because I was thinking, hang on, is this is this the same thing? Yes. So I had the same thought, Dominic, if that's some assurance.
00:16:20
Speaker
Thank you for that one, Dominic.
Wildfires in Scotland and Environmental Impact
00:16:22
Speaker
Now we're heading back to the UK for our next story. Listeners may or may not know that Scotland has been affected by some of the worst wildfires in a generation, certainly in in living memory even.
00:16:37
Speaker
ah whichever is longest, I suppose living memory is longer than a generation. Anyway, obviously horrible stuff for a variety of different reasons, not to mention the impact on animals themselves. There is a summit that has been held in the Cairngorms National Park, bringing together the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Nature Scott, Scottish Land and Estates, land managers, farmers and environmental groups.
00:17:04
Speaker
And the idea is to basically try and work out why this happened and how it can be prevented and how the scale of these things can be reduced.
00:17:17
Speaker
Julie, you are going to have a lot more knowledge than myself or Dominic and and many more of our listeners on this because of where you live. Could you say a little bit about, before we get into the article, like just from somebody living in Scotland, like how has this affected you? How how much has this been on your radar?
00:17:36
Speaker
Well, it's on my radar a bit because actually yesterday, my area... my area, East Lothian, is under a very high risk warning of wildfire.
00:17:50
Speaker
So i I don't remember ever, I mean, I don't pay a huge amount of attention, as you know, I don't have a television set, but I'm not aware of that ever happening before. And it wasn't particularly hot or sunny today. So yes, it is sort of directly affecting me in a sense that there was this warning came out.
00:18:11
Speaker
I think in general, it's a little bit of a glib thing to say, I'll say it anyway. I think we're just not used to summers in Scotland. We're very poor at hot weather and sunshine.
00:18:22
Speaker
You only need to look down the street and on the day after it's been a really hot day to see lots of Scottish people absolutely lobster red with dreadful tan lines and burned bits and all the rest of it.
00:18:39
Speaker
we just We don't know how to behave. when it's sunny we're just taps off and away we go we are terrible so this is the first time we've had a very hot dry summer in Scotland for a very very long time I think it's been the hottest driest summer since the 70s or something so we we don't know how to handle it we do things wrong and And I think that's what's the cause of all this. Obviously, you know, climate change is that that's what's going on.
00:19:13
Speaker
But there must have been more people out and about having barbecues, having campfires, just even doing their garden and burning stuff.
00:19:24
Speaker
anything like that these wildfires are man-made man-made human-made don't be sexist Julie they're human generated started whatever it's mainly campfires according to the people who know but it is also sometimes muir burn from the shooting industry that gets out of control so that's another source of these things especially when they're away you know out in the wilds and stuff like that There's not everybody wants to camp in the middle of a great big open moor or light a fire there.
00:20:01
Speaker
But there are people who would like to burn the moors right down to the ground, supposedly so that the heather that grows there regenerates and the little young shoots, you know, is...
00:20:14
Speaker
eaten then by the pheasants that they have released in the area but also it gives them a bit of a clear run when they are shooting these little animals as well so they like moors that have been burnt to bits you know in a controlled way but nature you know you can't always control nature you think you've just lit this particular size of fire and and before you know it it's become ah a bigger fire and that's the same with people out camping or doing this kind of stuff
00:20:52
Speaker
If they don't do that kind of thing very often or they've never done it before, they don't know how fire behaves necessarily. They don't know what the risks are. They don't take the time to learn how to set these things properly and how to put them out properly and all the rest of it.
00:21:06
Speaker
So these things just get out of control. That's what's going on, I think, anyway. And I mean, it's it's obviously it's obviously obviouslyly good that people are ah getting together to try and work out what the cause has been to to to lessen that impact on non-human animals. I mean, ah the when you read the article yourself, you you can read the the frames of reference. It's talking about the effect on livestock and animals.
00:21:32
Speaker
you know We can be sceptical or you could even say judgmental, that' saying that actually what if there's farmers consulting on what what's happening here, they're not necessarily going to come into it with the unbiased eyes, but we can have hope, can't we?
00:21:47
Speaker
Yeah, well we had a huge wildfire in the Highlands which burned 27,000 acres in a really beautiful part of Scotland and they're thinking that thousands of wild animals were killed in that blaze. So that was really nasty we had another one in Edinburgh actually on Holyrood Hill.
00:22:11
Speaker
So yeah therere yeah, they are dreadful things. Mmm, doesn't bear thinking about really, does it? doesn't Goodness, thank you for that one, Julie. Right, now some listeners, you might be thinking, oh goodness, all these new exciting products coming available for me to munch on if if you if you celebrate Christmas in your part of the world, or maybe Thanksgiving, there might be new special vegan
Vegan Diet Benefits for Diabetes Management
00:22:36
Speaker
dishes. And Dominic is going to tell us that basically, if we're vegan, we can eat whatever we want,
00:22:42
Speaker
and everything will be okay. Either that, or I've not read the article properly. This comes to us from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and they have sort of done a re-release, or it's a bit of secondary analysis of a study that was completed last year by the same organization, the the Physicians Committee, and they were comparing the effect of a low-fat vegan diet, so it's not anything.
00:23:09
Speaker
Low-fat vegan diet, but... you didn't have to manage or limit the number of calories or carbohydrates you had. So you could have as many calories, as many carbohydrates, so long as it was a low fat plant-based diet. They keep using the word vegan, which we might take exception to, but anyway, low fat plant-based diet, but as many calories or carbohydrates as you want,
00:23:31
Speaker
And basically comparing that to a non-vegan diet, but that was portion controlled, the the amount of insulin that you needed, this is for people with type 1 um over a thousand people, I think it was, when I looked at the at the numbers.
00:23:48
Speaker
Basically, the headline is that the total dose of insulin decreased by 28%.
00:23:56
Speaker
or 12.1 units of insulin per day in the plant-based group. The portion-controlled, non-plant-based group had no significant change.
00:24:06
Speaker
they also mentioned the fact that that is just over a dollar per day in savings. Dominic, when you read further down the article and you see just how much has been spent in the United States alone on insulin in the in the last 10 years, $22 billion. dollars You can see why they're putting a ah financial focus on it. Those are quite staggering numbers, aren't they?
00:24:32
Speaker
They're really staggering numbers. There's so many different aspects to this story. Of course, we here in the UK have a national health service where insulin is ah not the same ah rare, expensive,
00:24:49
Speaker
thing that it is in in some countries such as the the US. I think the US is the country where it's the most expensive. And you know, we certainly have problems with underfunding of our our National Health Service and, and, you know, all kinds of problems with privatisation, but at least, you know, at present, it's not as difficult to get.
00:25:13
Speaker
and But to get to the real positive, you know, what ah what a great thing that a study has gone into the actual benefits of veganism. What a specific benefit here. What fantastic thing.
00:25:28
Speaker
What a great thing.
Personal Journey to Veganism
00:25:30
Speaker
You know, ah one of the things that we made me go vegan was just asking my mum as a as a kid it kind of planted the seed I was like you know all the health food shops uh why aren't they why why aren't they full of meat mama my mum was just like because meat's not healthy was like oh you know little boy Dominic had his question answered you know yeah what what a positive thing positive yeah absolutely and and you know we we can from experience understandably have our reservations on folk switching to ah plant-based lifestyle looking for a quick fix and and ignoring the animal rights side of things the the facts are that lots of people will come over
00:26:15
Speaker
to a plant-based diet and and move on from there to to become you know animal rights advocates. So it is possible. And we've... we've got a For the sake of the animals, we've got to take all the opportunities we can get, I suppose. And if this this sort of selfish motivation, we can call it selfish. I mean, some ah somebody really wanting to help their health because they're dependent on insulin, I wouldn't necessarily see that as ah massively selfish. But, um you know, if if it gets you through the door, we...
00:26:48
Speaker
we can take over from there, can't we? We can we can keep people keep people in the vegan room. Yeah, it's a really, really, you know, when um people go to the the vegan festivals that we have in my home city of Manchester, if they've still got a really...
00:27:03
Speaker
positive or what they see as positive emotional connection with eating meat and animal products it's a far more difficult journey to get them to think about bees or silkworms or whatnot it's a harder journey but than than if you know for perhaps other reasons they've already gone some of the way so well yeah hooray for everyone being healthy hooray for that Yeah, absolutely.
00:27:32
Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you, Dominic. Okay, we're going to have one more story before we hear Julie and Dominic's pick for
Ethical Concerns Over Bull Shooting Incident
00:27:39
Speaker
the week. It is what I would describe as a bin fire of a story. There is nothing positive to be said from it. However, it did seem like ah a pertinent one to share.
00:27:49
Speaker
just because it highlighted a few things that I had not considered or I hadn't realised the scale of. The headline is Police Shoot Bull Loose Near Isle of Man School After Public Safety Scare.
00:28:03
Speaker
Effectively, the long and short of this is that a bull that had originally been due to be killed at the Isle of Man meat plant, so slaughterhouse, became extremely aggressive, understandably so, putting workers who were experienced in managing cattle at significant risk. These are the police's words. So basically a a more more agitated bull than usual conventional methods couldn't be used and the plant requested police assistance so the the slaughterhouse was actually asking for the police's help this is before the bull escaped in between them making this phone call and the police arriving the bull escaped
00:28:43
Speaker
It was in in and amongst a nearby housing estate, past close to a primary school. Understandably, I'm not saying I agree with it, but you can understand the reaction. There was a big concern as to the bull being in this area.
00:28:58
Speaker
And so it was shot dead with with several several shots. Julie, later on in the article, it says, a number of shots were required to kill the bull due to the size of the animal.
00:29:09
Speaker
But we'd like to state to the public that there were no missed shots. You think, what why why do we need to know that? I think they're trying to reassure local Isle of Man people that, oh, don't worry, we we didn't miss any shots, your children weren't at risk.
00:29:23
Speaker
It's a horrible story. And there's just a catalogue of points there that shows us the horrible, fickle nature of animal agriculture. I think if you watch the video of the bull getting shot, you'll see why they're saying that no shots were missed.
00:29:41
Speaker
And it's because the bull is shot twice before it actually falls down. And then it's shot a third time and it's still moving. It's still alive and still struggling and kicking. Ah, see.
00:29:54
Speaker
So they might have hit that bull. they They shot it, I counted, four times. They might have hit it four times, but that was not a quick death by anybody's standards.
00:30:07
Speaker
So they I think they really muffed that up. They were very, very freaking far away from that bull. They did eventually, some another person arrives with a gun to get in a bit closer, but by this time the bull is still so that second person doesn't open fire.
00:30:23
Speaker
But I think they will probably get some criticism for how long it took for that bull to die for that reason. Where was the video then, Julie? Because it it it wasn't in the original article that we looked at. I'm i'm just interested that like this has been made available.
00:30:42
Speaker
Well, just dug about online and found it. It's just surprising that that there's footage of that and yet so much footage of what goes on in animal agriculture is deemed too sensitive, you can't find it, you know, it has to be proper exposés that show it. But isn't ironic that people were commenting online saying, couldn't you have tranquilised which the police don't have powers to do to animals, by the way,
00:31:09
Speaker
Or couldn't you have corralled it in some way? To then do what? To herd it into the slaughterhouse to get killed in the slaughterhouse? You know, what were they expecting? That it would get saved and put in an animal sanctuary instead? Or, you know, that would be lovely, but I cannot really see that happening in a way. So there were people who were sort of disgusted by the fact that it was killed. Well, I'm glad.
00:31:35
Speaker
I'm glad. Because if that bull had... being driven and behaved itself and just killed in that slaughterhouse nobody would be talking about it nobody would see what was going on but it was ah good bit of public relations for the animals it went through a housing scheme and then it went to a primary school and if I was a bull and I knew I was going to die anyway that's exactly where I would go and go to the kiddies look at me you know look I bet you would if you could you'd love to be pals with me look at me a big nice animal you would love to if I was Pally you would love to pat me and you know get to know me and all the rest of it I am thinking I'm hoping in the future 20 years down the line or something there'll be some young person on this podcast and aunt will say
00:32:31
Speaker
And what was it What was the start of your vegan journey? And they'll say, this big bull went right through my playground when I was a kid. and And, you know, I asked the teacher what was happening and why. And and they told me. And that was the day I decided.
00:32:48
Speaker
I didn't want to be any part of that. I can think of some great puns as well for what a load of bull and and things like that, that the episode can be called. So that's ah excellent. i'm glad we've got that one planned.
00:32:59
Speaker
the the The point that you make, Julia, in terms of like it sort of advocating for itself in in effect with its its last few actions, I think is a really relevant point. And it's what, you know, I'm not somebody who regularly watches movies.
00:33:15
Speaker
documentaries like Dominion or Land of Hope and Glory or Earthlings, but I have watched them. And when I do, i it's obviously desperately sad. ah thought that's come over my mind a couple of times has been, it sounds an odd thing to say, but I'm i'm glad that animals are struggling.
00:33:34
Speaker
They're not, that you know, obviously some of them will have just given up hope and that is completely understandable. but But those that are struggling with the last, you you know, bits of effort they have left, its it's showing that they don't want to die. And this is a clear example. This bull, nobody, nobody could claim that this bull wants to do anything other than live.
00:33:56
Speaker
it's It's behaving so aggressively when it's in the slaughterhouse, so much so that slaughterhouse workers are calling the police. Like, it is making it very clear.
00:34:07
Speaker
it's It might not be using its voice or human words, but like it is communicating that it doesn't want to be there. And that is a message that is so fundamental, but it's a message that I think a lot of people who are routinely use animals, whether for food or or whatever else, will be pushing down into their subconscious. they'll They'll be somehow thinking that this is okay, that animals are somehow complicit, and we need to drill home that message. No, they don't want to be there. They don't want to be used. They don't want this to happen to them. And
00:34:41
Speaker
Obviously, it's tragic what's happened to this bull and all the other animals that were in that slaughterhouse that day. But it's it's gone down fighting and got a bit more coverage for for innocent animals in so doing, I think.
00:34:54
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you for that one, Julie. Well, listeners, you have listened to a difficult set of stories, I
Activism Targeting Churches and Supermarkets
00:35:01
Speaker
would say there. That's just sometimes the way the dice is loaded ah with our show. However, I've got some good news for you because after the break, Dominic and Julie...
00:35:10
Speaker
are going to present us with their picks for the week. And I would say that both of them have some real great rallying cries. They both involve activists and they're both targeting real important institutions in our society. Dominic's going to be talking about activists targeting the Christian church and Julie is going to be talking about activists targeting that other bastion of our society and that is farm food supermarkets.
00:35:35
Speaker
As well as producing these audio-based shows, our podcast hosts at Zencaster also provide the written transcript for each show. This is AI generated, so it might not always be 100% correct, but nonetheless we hope that this will increase the accessibility of our show. So to access any of these written transcripts, head over to zencaster.com forward slash vegan week. i'm going to spell it all for you. Zencaster is Z-E-N-C-A-S-T-R
00:36:10
Speaker
dot com, then a forward slash, and then the word vegan, V-E-G-A-N, then a hyphen, and then week. Zencaster.com forward slash vegan hyphen week.
00:36:22
Speaker
And then each transcript is embedded with any of the shows that you click on.
00:36:30
Speaker
OK, Dominic, are you happy to go first? You've got a group of animal rights activists from PETA who we've already mentioned in the show. And they're not happy about several things that are going on in the Christian church. What could what could they possibly be unhappy about, Dominic? Well, this story is actually featured in Premier Christian News, so it's not a vegan news source reporting it. And I feel that they've done a relatively balanced job of speaking about what's happening.
00:37:01
Speaker
Animal rights campaigners have written an open letter to the Archbishop Canterbury designate asking her to ban ban church items made using animal products.
00:37:13
Speaker
Peter have requested that Dame Sarah Mullally modernise the church by swapping leather Bible covers for plant leather and beeswax candles with soy wax.
00:37:24
Speaker
The group claimed that candles symbolising Jesus Christ would better represent hope for bees with a wax swab. They say bees can feel stress and pain to procure beeswax.
00:37:38
Speaker
Bees are intensively farmed and queen bees' wings are often cut to disable them. They also requested that garments be made from plant wool or linen, saying gentle, or clever sheep who represent God's people deserve better than being thrown around wool sheds, stood on, punched and kicked.
00:37:58
Speaker
So I think that that's a really good thing that a Christian, ah pure Christian news, has put those quotes in from Peter. they've They've done so without adding their own comment, their own angle, and that's definitely great to see.
00:38:17
Speaker
There's a lot of controversy about there there there being ah an Archbishop of Canterbury who is a woman, so she's going to take up her post in January 2026. So here's what I think, Ant. Here's what I think.
00:38:31
Speaker
I think whilst we've got the controversy brewing, don't appeal to the centrists. Just ride that controversy. Go, great, great, a woman's coming. in That's a good thing. Let's move in with more good things.
00:38:46
Speaker
let's Let's go in that direction. What do you reckon, Ant? Well, i I too was struck first by the almost non-confrontational way that Premier Christian News were reporting this. It would have been very easy for them to say, well, what on earth do these animal rights activists know? And actually, you don't have to do too much digging at all to to find something negative to say about PETA, whether you like them or or not yourself.
00:39:15
Speaker
it's it It would be very easy for an organization that wanted to say, well, you don't need to listen to this group of wacky vegans because they've done this, dot, dot, dot. So I thought that was real cause for for positivity.
00:39:28
Speaker
i'm I'm going to sound like a broken record and regular regular listeners will know that I ah don't always have much time for for some of Peter's targets. And this was one that I looked at and I thought, hmm,
00:39:41
Speaker
Really? Is this, is this what we're using? ah well I think the timing, I think the timing, why not? Why not? And you know, why not? Well, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think that's a well-baked instinct that I've, I've kind of put in my system.
00:39:59
Speaker
But it's ah it's good that I get to have conversations with you, Dominic, and you, Julie, to kind of, you know, push those instincts and and challenge them sometimes. And yeah, of course, there is animal exploitation involved in producing certain things and certain practices.
00:40:16
Speaker
And if, you know, we I think we might reasonably say that people who are wanting to worship God or follow the Christian faith, if that if they want to do so in a compassionate way, it's a reasonable thing for those of us who maybe know a bit more about these things to to raise people's awareness of it. so So why not? And i was I was heartened to see it. You scroll down. This is ah ah I know whether it's exclusive to Premier Christian News or whether other Christian websites have this, but you can pray for this issue at the bottom. And it says that 21 people are praying for this news article. I think it's agreement. but that's where I was let down, Ant, with that bit.
00:40:57
Speaker
It's a clean article I really like. Now, whatever our personal views are on the power of prayer, um I've been quite critical. I'm really aware of ah of a Buddhist group who speak about, um you know, animal suffering and and pray for it I'm like, oh, I do hear the power of prayer, but...
00:41:17
Speaker
is it the most direct form of activism? Is it, is it, is it? That could be discussed. They're not even saying that, though. They're not even here on Premier Christian News going as far as the aforementioned Buddhist group, because here...
00:41:33
Speaker
All they're asking is for Bishop Sarah to be strengthened to approach each question ah with grace and wisdom, which I think, you know, that's that's a really that seems a really nothingy, really, really fluffy prayer to me. Like, you know, what's wrong with saying, oh, can we pray for the end of suffering for all life on earth?
00:42:01
Speaker
but You know, that's not outrageous, is it? Can we pray for the end of suffering for all life on earth? That's a fair prayer, surely. I wonder whether the person that does the little prayer ticker thing at the bottom of each article is not the same person that writes the article because the tone of the article is really balanced and and not anti-animal activist at all. Whereas like you say, that that bottom bit completely dodged it. And actually, i just to compare the numbers, I've looked at other articles that they've got on their website about things, nothing to do with veganism.
00:42:38
Speaker
um just to compare, well, how many prayers have other articles got? And um yeah, I think some of some of the prayers, it looks like they were kind of ah struggling for something to say. So I wonder whether that's just ah an intern's job. They have to come up with the prayers at the bottom. But who knows? Maybe listeners who are regular participants and followers of Premier Christian News' is work can can let us know.
00:43:03
Speaker
But it was certainly an interesting article. I think it was fantastically strategic, actually, because they have picked something that's a real niche area of animal rights and veganism, haven't they?
00:43:17
Speaker
You know, it's not the most obvious representation of, I mean, we it's obvious to us as vegans, but to people who are not yet vegan, These things like leather and beeswax are not the most obvious kind of signs and products associated with animal abuse.
00:43:37
Speaker
And I think that's really fantastic strategic thinking. Yeah, do. Because... What that invites or it could do is somebody going, what?
00:43:48
Speaker
Hang on, cruelty to bees? and And isn't leather a byproduct? There's far worse things going on in the church than that.
00:43:58
Speaker
And then it's them saying it. Do you know what I mean? It's it's on them. They'll say, oh, but you know we're all talking about sacrificing lambs and you know doing terrible things to animals and killing them for food and fishes and loaves and all the rest of it.
00:44:15
Speaker
So it kind of forces people to think about the stuff that's worse themselves rather than us pointing out to them and inviting that sort of pushback, I think.
00:44:26
Speaker
They're not doing it. ah Premier Christian News didn't have to go on and to give Peter's full... exp explanation on why bees and the the produce of wool is
Ethical Implications in Church Practices
00:44:40
Speaker
harmful. And they have written that. So I think it I agree with Julia. I think it's really great that this isn't.
00:44:47
Speaker
You know, I know plenty of people who think that I will eat honey, even though they know I'm vegan. Even in 2025, they don't really know what vegan means so yeah brilliant I do think for once that Peter have really got a good time and a good focus on this particular one because why not why not make the things vegan why not no I think you're right and I ah am grateful to you both for making me aware of my yeah my deep skepticism of anything that Peter do so that's good i need to be more open-minded
00:45:24
Speaker
Now, Julie, I don't know whether they sell Bibles or candles in farm foods, possibly the latter, probably not the
Cage-Free Egg Campaigns and Challenges
00:45:33
Speaker
former. um But either way, they have been targeted by activists from the Humane League in Glasgow, Birmingham. It says Birmingham and Solihull. I mean, surely they're one and the same.
00:45:45
Speaker
Anyway, that's a separate ah tenuous point for a different podcast. Let's hear more from you, Julie, about why this is your pick for the week. Well, I have picked this because there's just quite a lot to say, I think.
00:45:59
Speaker
um The Humane League UK have been making life difficult again for the owners and management at three main offices of the low-life frozen food shop farm foods which I'm embarrassed to say is a Scottish company i am they've got 300 stores throughout the UK so for anybody who's not familiar with farm foods think Iceland if you know Iceland shops at all
00:46:30
Speaker
and Lots of very kind of brightly coloured, processed, packaged, microwavable frozen meals and just kind of everything comes with 24 tins of Coca-Cola sort of at a reduced rate. And, you know, there's a lot of three for twos and and encouraging people to buy an enormous amount of food at one go.
00:46:56
Speaker
So that kind of set up, really. So the reason that the Humane League have been making life difficult is because this company pledged to only source hens eggs from suppliers who adopted a cage-free method of keeping the hens.
00:47:15
Speaker
um I think they said in 2016 they were working their way out of this means of rearing hens. And I'm sure they would have said they would have done it by 2025. They've gone back on that now, saying that they're not doing it.
00:47:30
Speaker
They are saying we have been unable to secure supply of sufficient volume of non-cage to meet consumer demand an acceptable cost to ensure choice for all consumers.
00:47:47
Speaker
So they're kind of making themselves sound really virtuous that they are, you know, they say things like, well, we've got free range eggs and we've got this and that. We are just for the people and we are providing ah range of different price points for people and we cannot do this low cost price point with hens that are not in cages.
00:48:11
Speaker
That's what's going on. The Humane League, for a bit of background, they started off in America in 2005. They came to the yeah UK in 2016 on the back of the really big vegan surge, really.
00:48:25
Speaker
aim They call themselves an animal rights movement but organization sorry but I think of them more as a hybrid. They're a bit of a muddle to be honest. They are very welfarist a lot of the time. They apparently exist to end the abuse of animals raised for food but they don't actually in any of their campaigns so to question the use of animals per se.
00:48:49
Speaker
They want to stop cruelty to farmed animals. yeah and sort of make the the practice of farming more humane and kinder and all the rest of it but they're not seeking to do away with farming per se so i find that a bit confusing in some other rhetoric and it's all a bit vague about you know how can you end cruelty to farmed animals because farming animals is inherently cruel really So what did they do, the Humane League? Did they go and bust in and sort of open the cages of our of these hens, you know, or did they do undercover filming or, you know? no they didn't.
00:49:31
Speaker
They went to the Farm Foods headquarters in Cumbernauld with a megaphone and did some chanting. They did the same in Birmingham at their office there and they leafleted the Sully Hull office too and all three places got sent a letter requesting that they restore their cage-free promise and sent them some photographs of hens in cages and things like that.
00:49:57
Speaker
So yeah, that was what they did. and They're pleased with their campaign and how it went. I don't know if it's changed to anything. So far, I also think it raises another sort of bigger question about are cages the worst thing about a captive egg industry hen's life? maybe Maybe they are. Maybe that would be a huge win if the cages were gone all the time for all the hens.
00:50:27
Speaker
But I think there's just so much more that is a problem, apart from just the actual principle of we shouldn't be using animals for our own needs in that way.
00:50:39
Speaker
But the hens that we're talking about, even if they are going about loose and not in cages... They're producing so many eggs in a year that their wee bones are lacking calcium and just getting broken at the slightest injury.
00:50:53
Speaker
They are pecking each other because they're overcrowded and therefore they're getting a third of their little beaks just cut right off and everything. They're having their eggs taken away from them that they would like to hatch their wee chicks themselves and bring their little babies up but their hen their eggs are taken away from them and putting big incubators and artificially hatched and everything so they don't get the chance to carry out that natural behavior and the wee chicks don't get a mum either to teach them things and
00:51:26
Speaker
comfort them and and help them learn how to look after their wee feathers and you know so they just grow up in this horrible sterile indoor environment and so really the cages are ah a dreadful thing but they they're not meaning that if they were gone that everything is fine for these hens and of course when they're past their productive years they're you know taken off in great big lorries, just dumped into the crates and taken to be slaughtered. So, and yeah, there's the whole thing about the male chicks as well, getting gassed or macerated up.
00:52:05
Speaker
So I worry as well that for the people among us who are vegetarian... They might, if everybody was cage-free in the hen industry, egg industry, if everybody was cage-free, they might then say, oh, well, actually, I feel okay about having eggs now. I was ah wouldn't have battery hen eggs. Oh, no, if that all there was was battery hen eggs, I wouldn't touch them.
00:52:30
Speaker
But if everybody's not in a cage anymore, oh, I think I'm okay then with having eggs. You know, there's a bit of a worry there that it then makes... animal ag a bit more acceptable to people who are just kind of in that very grey area.
00:52:46
Speaker
You know, you might have a horrible situation where there you are, a vegan activist doing the Cuba truth and showing people video footage and somebody just goes, oh, the hens are walking about a wee bit on a floor with other hens.
00:53:01
Speaker
That doesn't look too bad to me. That's not going to change what I do. Whereas if you're showing them hens in cages, they might say, right, I'm not having any of that. Maybe that's why you're worrying about these things. I do not know. I think the point you make about um folk thinking that cage-free is therefore acceptable, like i've that was my experience when I was vegetarian.
00:53:24
Speaker
And I sort of, I was vegetarian and then I became more interested in what I thought were animal rights. And so ah so I had a stance of, oh, well, i I won't buy anything other than organic free range eggs.
00:53:37
Speaker
And, you know, i'm I wasn't alone in that. You know, there are there'll be lots of people that think that. i'm Can I ask, Julie, i'm I'm interested because I thought you chose this as your pick for the week because I remember you having as your pick for the week earlier in this year when the Iceland supermarket, following following targeted work from the Humane League, went back on their...
00:54:02
Speaker
original going back pledge. So basically they they pledged to remove caged eggs from their offering, having sort of previously just ah swept that under the rug.
00:54:14
Speaker
But it it feels like... that Is it is it your your perspective that's changed over time or is there something in the Humane League's work that you're sort of not feeling in the same way this time? It just it just feels like your response to it is slightly different to when they sort of successfully got Iceland to to to backtrack and to make that pledge.
00:54:38
Speaker
Do you know, I think it was because I didn't know very much about the Humane League and I went on their website. the The HumaneLeague.org, I kind of liked their website. I went on the UK one and all the people who are on the staff and the trustees and all that management do their I want a world, which da da da da.
00:55:01
Speaker
And I think it just, i I must confess, it slightly wound me up. you know I want a world where there is less cruelty to farmed animals and things like that. I was like, what?
00:55:14
Speaker
You're kind of missing an opportunity. So maybe, maybe. I don't know. i don't know why this feels a bit different. um I kind of just, I ah instinctively just hate farm foods as well.
00:55:28
Speaker
So I just want to take on them. um I really, really. Oh, and by the way, Griffith's Family Farms, if you want to know who the real baddies are in this, they are the farm that still have in the UK that have hens in cages.
00:55:45
Speaker
Yeah, we did um ah we did a show. it might not have gone out yet. We recorded a show about er talking about animal rights movement, ah Project Phoenix. Project Phoenix, we spoke about them and their criticisms.
00:56:00
Speaker
And I think what Project Phoenix are talking about, and I agree with Project Phoenix, is exactly what Julie is showing with the Humane League's website, where everything, If on a supposedly animal rights website, we can't even say, let's end animal suffering. like you know, we've got to qualify. We've got to take this central ground, this kind of really, you know, it's not even it's not even a dilution of the message. It's a different message. It's a different message.
00:56:31
Speaker
to like you know reduce cruelty in farmed animals, which, as Julie said earlier, is is an impossibility. So it's not even a weaker version of what we want. It's an entirely different point. And if you can't even do that in your wishy-washy, this is my perfect world thing, I mean, that's like the least confrontational place to put.
00:56:54
Speaker
Like we were saying about the vegan Bibles, just to say, I'd love a world with no animal suffering. Like, no one's to kick off about writing that. No one's going to kick off. So why have this airy-fairy nonsense wording?
00:57:10
Speaker
Oh, it's made me cross, Julie. It's made me cross. LAUGHTER
00:57:15
Speaker
Well, I would, yes, have a look at the Humane League women website and their little intro and, you know, oh dear, yes, sort of reducitarianism wishes. And they're so, you couldn't quantify it. You couldn't, you know, there was no deadline to any of it. There was no specifics. It was just, you know, a world where the, you know, farmed animals slightly less cruelly battered around. are aware of what it was.
00:57:46
Speaker
That's not a goal. I do agree with you that it it sounds like their wording on their website could be better. And I have to say, like i like reporting on news where there is a okay single issue campaign, but where there is a win. And it felt like that's what happened with the Iceland campaign earlier this year. And if you know I assume they won't completely change their tactics ah for for this campaign against farm foods.
00:58:12
Speaker
If it works, then i I would say, well, well done, Humane League. And ah yeah give give yourself a day off and come back and review your ah section on your website where you're giving your revision of the world. But, you know, the the actions that actions do speak for something. think just as an organisation, decide your aims. there's There are some quite high profile vegans among their trustees.
00:58:39
Speaker
And there are bits of their website that say, well, you know, we really want to make things better for farmed animals, but ultimately the way to save them is to not have them on people's plates and start with your own and all the rest of it. There's a bit of that.
00:58:54
Speaker
There's a bit that talks about people going vegan, a tiny bit. There are some sections where it's all about plant-based, which is fair enough. But then there are other bits that are really just about, you know, making farming as as virtuous as it possibly can be and you just think no don't be so unambitious but be clear I mean people have only got so much bandwidth and attention and time and all the rest of it so you're as well just telling them the most of what you want and let them modify it or moderate it but don't moderate it yourself in the message I think
00:59:34
Speaker
Indeed. No, thank you. Thank you for that one, Julie, and you too, Dominic, for your pick of the week. Well, we've given Julie and Dominic, and ive I've snuck in my own opinions there as well too, haven't I? But we love hearing from you lovely listeners.
00:59:48
Speaker
Here's how to get in touch with us. To get in touch with us, just send us an email at enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com. We see ourselves as a collective. our listenership stretches all around the world and everyone's opinions, questions, feedback and ideas are what helps shape the show.
01:00:09
Speaker
go on send us a message to today enoughofthephalafel at gmail.com what i didn't say as well was thank you for the teaser dominic for our vegan talk episode where we're talking about project phoenix listeners that's coming out on the 13th of november and it's well worth a listen you've got time to have a quick google of project phoenix to make sure you type in a word like vegan or animal rights in there too because there's Lots of Phoenix projects, as you well might well imagine.
01:00:38
Speaker
We've got time for one last story and has hit a lot of headlines. We're taking the BBC take on it, but you can find other news agencies take too.
Red Tractor Ad Ban and Greenwashing Issues
01:00:48
Speaker
This is the news that the Advertising Standards Authority have ruled that the Red Tractor released an advert, I think,
01:00:57
Speaker
think it was in 2021. Yes, 2021 when that advert was first aired. During this 22nd advert, it says, from field to store, all our standards are met.
01:01:09
Speaker
When the red tract is there, your food's farmed with care. In fact, I'm having faith in my tech ability. I'm going to insert an audio bit of the advert now for you to listen to.
01:01:20
Speaker
Farmed with care, that's the Red Tractor way. A label to trust, found on food every day. This promise is kept by the checks put in place to care for our animals with the right food and space. Our cows have a health plan and a personal vet.
01:01:34
Speaker
From field to store, all our standards are met. When the Red Tractor's there, your food's farmed with care. Okay, so that's the full advert. Now that was first aired in 2021.
01:01:45
Speaker
And basically it's been getting a bit of flack from environmental group, River Action. They brought a complaint in 2023 saying that the scheme was greenwashing and they were urging supermarkets to stop using it Obviously a lot of vegans and animal rights activists and on on the show, we have not had the nicest words to say about the red tractor scheme for various different reasons.
01:02:11
Speaker
But this last week, ASA, the Advertising Standards Authority, they have said, that red tractor have provided insufficient evidence that their farms comply with basic environmental laws to substantiate the claims in the ad and so it's it's not allowed to be showed interestingly it you can still watch it on the bbc's website which perhaps that's a talking point very often when we've reported on banned adverts before it's been ah a Viva ad or something that's too graphic or something like that and you you then have to do a bit of searching to find that ad but no the BBC have just continued putting putting this up so it's not so misleading that we're not allowed to watch it and obviously we've played a clip
01:02:57
Speaker
of it there. Dominic, let's come to you first. I'm going to say it's a good thing that the Red Tractor ad is no longer able to go out because there's a lot that I took issue in what they were saying.
01:03:11
Speaker
But I'm surprised in a sense how tenuous the link was with with regards to the the complaint being upheld. I almost felt it was a bit harsh. Was that your take or...?
01:03:21
Speaker
ah You felt it was harsh in what way, Ant? Well, just because in in effect, they all they do is they say, we meet we meet every standard. And it's just a one tiny little throwaway thing. And then, you know, and an environment and environmental organisation has said, well, you're not meeting these things.
01:03:41
Speaker
I mean, now I'm saying it out loud. I don't know. I'm maybe going back on my point. It feels like, it feels like um yeah, I mean, Red Tractor and others. So, yeah, like you could argue like, well, let's, let's you know, go for all animal farming. And, yeah, let's go for all animal farming. I know this is the least important point. Of all the points I could make, this point is the least important I'm a poet and oh I feel for somebody being asked to to do you know, rhymes for something like that. i mean, they're really twee rhymes.
01:04:19
Speaker
And yeah, it is greenwashing. it really And, you know, the people who animated it, it's animmate animation. And, you know, these are people who clearly... You know, I've got real talent. And yeah, really good that it's been banned. Really good because it is is wrong.
01:04:36
Speaker
And really good that it is on the BBC website because similar to the Christian story about the Bibles, I actually think that the the BBC do a relatively good.
01:04:48
Speaker
good job of reporting this because it's the the the wording of the article isn't like, oh, you know, these crazy activists getting even even this harmless thing bad. I kind of feel that it is saying that it's incorrect, that the advert is incorrect. It is greenwashing. It's making out that they're so absolutely wonderful. And certainly from our perspective, the very fact that, you know, you've got the little animation of cows, you know, and like,
01:05:18
Speaker
really bad, really bad. When you go into the environmental side of things, that they are saying, Julie, that ah effectively they don't know how well there their farms are doing environmentally. So but it's it clearly is a a weakness in there their argument, isn't it? I mean, that they you don't literally don't know what's happening on your farms. Yeah.
01:05:42
Speaker
Yeah, they don't have an argument to make. him The fact that they're using a cartoon tells you everything you need to know. They can actually show you real images from real farms. you know what I mean? We're we're in cartoon land here. Sorry to a interrupt, Julie, but the fact that the cartoons are sort of animals in crates as well, I find that even more offensive than the little children's books with cows dancing around in big open fields, because like they are port they're normalising something that we don't always see normalised, an animal in a crate, a big animal, a cow in a crate, and to to fluffify that
01:06:25
Speaker
You know, to get that as a normal thing, yeah, really sparks my anger. Like Julie says, you know, it's a cartoon. It's not the real image, is it? It's not the real film of the real lives.
01:06:37
Speaker
And I'd also like to say as well, shame on you, Sarah Cox, for providing the voiceover. oh I didn't realise it was Sarah Cox. Yeah, shame indeed.
01:06:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I know she's the daughter of a farmer. I know she always talks on the radio about when she was little show-jumping ponies in the pony club and all the rest of it.
01:07:01
Speaker
But even so, there there will be people out there who trust her voice who she's very recognizable and very high profile and shame on you yeah that i have to say animal lag does does seem to be doing well at getting well known like you say julie trusted voices to uh back their campaigns that there was um I think the latest one that, oh, it was the eat balanced thing.
01:07:31
Speaker
I think we covered it about a year ago. They had Richard Ayoade on there and i was like, oh, damn it. I really like him. how How dare he be, you know, extolling the virtues of British meat. But yeah, they they're really odious, that the red tractor thing. I really understand why A lot of animal rights organisations were going after the RSPCA Assured scheme last year because don't know about you two, but that there seems to be something extra nasty about people having the audacity to say that what goes on in animal ag is OK and is is safe and is humane. that's That to me feels even worse than just saying, well, it's rubbish, but I don't care.
01:08:15
Speaker
yeah I mean, it's almost gaslighting or just, you know. yeahh horrible stuff. That's why it is so veryty very, very valuable when people like the Animal Justice Project do this undercover work and get these farms, you know, get footage from farms, not cartoons now, but get footage from farms onto, ah you know, websites and even into the national news and things like that.
01:08:47
Speaker
And it is RSPCA assured and red tractor you know assured farms that they are targeting that's why that i mean of course it's hugely important work and really hellish for them to have to do it but it's twice as valuable when they can not just show what goes on in animal ag itself but to show that farms that they are going undercover and that they're exposing are these ones that are trusted Yeah, absolutely. And though like though my first response to this story is kind of like, I think i think we've done quite well for for this to be banned. i could I could have seen it go the other way quite easily. Like the fact that it could be the start of further eroding of trust of the Red Tractor scheme is gotta be taken as a win.
01:09:40
Speaker
Thank you, Julie. Thank you, Dominic, for your comments on that story. Well, that is the end of our stories. so we're going to do you a quick little request for doing us a nice little thing and then we'll round things off. But first, here is Kate and Carlos.
01:09:55
Speaker
If you've enjoyed today's show, we'd love it if you could take just a few seconds to share it with someone else who you think might enjoy it too. We don't have a marketing team or a budget to spend on advertising, so your referrals are the best way of spreading the free Enough of the Falafel Joy further still. And if you haven't already, we'd be really grateful if you could leave us a rating on your podcast player.
01:10:21
Speaker
That will also help the show pop up when people search for vegan or animal rights content online. Thanks for your help.
01:10:31
Speaker
Thank you everyone for listening. the next Enough of the Falafel episode coming out will be a vegan talk episode and it's available from Thursday the 23rd of October and it will be featuring Anthony, Mark and Kate.
01:10:50
Speaker
and We'll be talking about what helps vegans stay vegan in the long term. And hooray for that. Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thank you to Anthony and Julie for your contributions.
01:11:04
Speaker
Thank you, everyone who has been listening. I've been Dominic and you've been listening to Vegan Week from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
01:11:18
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster. We use music and special effects by zapsplap.com.
01:11:33
Speaker
And sometimes, if you're lucky, at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
01:11:59
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? That is right, Dominic. There's over 100 episodes on there featuring our brilliant range of different guests, people's stories of going vegan, philosophical debates, moral quandaries, and of course, around a dozen news items from around the world each week. So check back on your podcast player,
01:12:26
Speaker
to hear previous episodes. And remember to get an alert for each new episode, simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show. Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.