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59- When the vegans went after Jeremy...
63 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of Vegan Week, Ant & Paul discuss the latest protest that took place outside Jeremy Clarkson's brewery, after it was revealed that he allowed the Heythrop Hunt to use his land. Can we change his mind? Are we just giving him more column inches? And would anyone care about this if it weren't to involve a 'celebrity'? We also discuss...
*Flora brand dairy a "bit weird"...
*A "tough year" for one Irish dairy company, who only make £12.5 million profit...
*A £26 fine for a raft of animal abuse offences; meet the UK legal system for animal farmers...
And much more!
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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.
Enough of the Falafel is also on Facebok, Tiktok & Instagram @enoughofthefalafel.
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Links to part of this week's show:
https://www.farminguk.com/news/significant-drop-in-uk-sheep-population-defra-census-shows_64508.html
https://www.theanimalreader.com/2024/04/15/news-pigs-killed-farm-germany/
https://www.farminguk.com/news/farmer-21-sentenced-after-sixteen-animal-welfare-offences_64523.html
https://wildjustice.org.uk/gamebird-releases/defra-gamebird-licensing-found-to-be-unlawful-wild-justice-wins-legal-challenge/?fbclid=IwAR0DAvRxWuySf_saCcaZK23-O0VwUzvT32a5RpfibxPFbjv6SUBAQnunu58
https://www.peta.org/blog/hadi-shrine-drops-elephant-acts/
https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/yo-egg-launches-whole-vegan-eggs-us/
https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/flora-sustainability-weird-dairy-ad-plastic-free-paper-tub-plant-cream/#:~:text=The%20TV%20advert%20opens%20with,pumping%20plants%20through%20a%20cow%3F%E2%80%9D
https://youtu.be/UPXGL8F778o
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/low-fat-vegan-diet-may-improve-cardiometabolic-health-t1d-2024a1000751?form=fpf
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wellness-us/article-13298277/impossible-burgers-unhealthy-vegan-diets-meat-free-heart-health.html
https://www.farminguk.com/news/profit-and-turnover-fall-at-lakeland-dairies-after-challenging-year-_64520.html
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/jeremy-clarkson-brewery-targeted-anti-9223611
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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!
Paul & Ant
Recommended
Transcript
Jeremy Clarkson's Controversial Land Use
00:00:03
Speaker
Jeremy Clarkson Brewery targeted by anti-hunt protesters. Profit and turnover down at major dairy processors. And according to Flora, dairy is a bit weird.
Introduction to Vegan Week: Key Segments
00:00:37
Speaker
Welcome everyone to the show. Absolutely. Whether this is your first time with us or your 59th time with us, you are very, very welcome. This is our vegan week show, Enough of the Falafel, where Paul and myself are going to look at the weeks vegan and animal rights.
00:00:52
Speaker
news. We also do, if this is the first time you've come across us, we also do a show called Vegan Talk where we get a bit more philosophical and talk about broader themes in veganism and also if you search our back catalogue from January this year you'll come across our Going Vegan series where we've got a
00:01:09
Speaker
a load of interviews with people about their vegan stories. So lots for you to get your teeth into.
Sponsor Acknowledgment: Fire and Flow Coffee
00:01:14
Speaker
And before we go much further, we need to thank our sponsors, Fire and Flow Coffee. They are a 100% vegan specialty coffee retailer. They also do brilliant tea as well. You can find them at www.fireandflowcoffee.co.uk.
00:01:31
Speaker
And because you're an enough of the falafel listener, if you type in falafel 10, so that's the word falafel, and then the number one and the number zero, if you put that code in at the checkout when you're buying from them, you will get 10% off your order. Right, that's enough of the falafel. Let's hear what's been going on in this week's news.
UK's Decreasing Sheep Population: Impacts on Lamb Production
00:01:54
Speaker
Ok so as normal we'll be looking at around about 10 to a dozen or so stories really briefly and then we'll be looking at our own picks of the week and then our main news story. Okie coke and Paul and I are going to alternate this week we're going to try doing a story each and going back and forth rather like a game of vegan tennis if you will.
00:02:15
Speaker
So starting off with this one from Farming UK who have reported this week that the UK sheep flock has seen a significant drop of over 5% year on year as of the end of 2023. So according to a latest census there are just over 600,000 head
00:02:35
Speaker
as it's called in the female breeding flock. The latest data shows that the lowest number of breeding females seen on record is now the case and as a result a reduced lamb production is expected in 2024 following this contraction of the breeding flock and just for a bit of wider context we did report this a few weeks ago I seem to remember
00:02:58
Speaker
but the UK cattle population also dipped by about 2% last year too so lots of contraction it seems of numbers in UK animal ag which i'm going to take as a positive.
Innovation in Vegan Products: Yo Egg's Launch
00:03:12
Speaker
Okay next story Los Angeles based startup Yo Egg are launching what they claim is the world's first whole vegan eggs
00:03:20
Speaker
These are previously only available via a food service after launching last spring. They're made up from soy and chickpea protein base with sunflower oil. There is zero cholesterol and low saturated fat content and are available in four packs in the freezer section of several retailers in LA. We're saying Paul that it's the world's first, but this is a bold claim that we know not to be the case, isn't it?
00:03:47
Speaker
That's right. Yeah. So when I read the story, it made me think, obviously, we've had, well, I've only recently found them sinless egg, which I've been having at the freezer. They do a fried egg and boiled egg and actually really nice. I have to say, no payment for me coming there. And also one of the one of our local producers here, Veg Life, have been making boiled eggs as part of this, got jade production in there. They're massively tasty as well. Really, really nice.
00:04:13
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, good news for people in LA at least.
Animal Agriculture Risks: German Pig Factory Fire
00:04:17
Speaker
Moving on to this one from the animal reader. A really sad story, I'm afraid. Devastating fire at a large pig fatening factory in Germany killed 20,000 pigs last week. The fire started late Friday afternoon. Over 200 firefighters worked throughout the weekend to contain it, giving you an idea of the scale
00:04:38
Speaker
of that incident. It happened at LFD Holding, which is dubbed Germany's largest pig factory. It's been repeatedly criticized for animal cruelty. And indeed three years ago in 2021, a major fire killed 55,000 pigs, including piglets. Really sad story
Flora's Campaign Against Dairy
00:04:58
Speaker
there. And just another example of something perhaps
00:05:01
Speaker
people don't necessarily consider when they're thinking about the impact of animal ag is obviously that animals killed for food but if you're keeping animals cooped together like this then you've got a high chance of tragedies like this wiping out tens of thousands of of innocent animals so really sad news that one
00:05:20
Speaker
So moving to a more positive story and a brand that people will be very familiar with in this country obviously so Flora in the new campaign a branding dairy a bit weird launching innovative new sustainable vegan products off the back of that there is a video ad available and it's on YouTube as well it's the latest in the brands skip the cowl campaign wider campaign
00:05:46
Speaker
set to bring a pro plant-based message to mainstream channels. So really good news there from someone who is a household name, obviously historically been associated with dairy a lot more, but really moving in the right direction, hopefully. Now onto what might seem like quite a minor localised story here, but perhaps something that epitomises some of the problems.
Animal Welfare Violations: Cambridgeshire Farmer Sentenced
00:06:12
Speaker
with animal agriculture in this country and indeed the way the law deals with it. So this comes to us from Cambridgeshire Local News. A 21-year-old farmer has been sentenced following an investigation by Cambridgeshire Trading Standards in relation to 16 animal welfare offenses. So the farmer's called Jack Smith. He farms cattle and pigs near the town of March. He pleaded guilty following the investigations by officers from the local council's trading
00:06:42
Speaker
standards. So I'm going to go through the details of some of the things he's been charged and pleaded guilty for. So animals kept in hazardous environments below standard conditions and given an inadequate diet. Farming practices were deemed poor. Sick and injured animals were not housed appropriately with the necessary bedding or protected from pain and suffering. And furthermore, veterinary advice wasn't sought within appropriate time frames.
00:07:09
Speaker
to enable animals to receive the care they needed. So a raft of problems there which have been investigated. He's pleaded guilty for it. However, the punchline for me really comes in the sentence
00:07:24
Speaker
and the consequences. So he's been handed an 18 month conditional discharge. Now I'm not up with the law and what these things mean. So I looked it up and it seems that that basically means he won't be charged so long as there's not another offense within the next 18 months. So basically he's not been charged. He's been ordered to pay a victim surcharge. I'm gonna pause for listeners to guess how much for all those offenses he's had to pay.
00:07:51
Speaker
The victim's search charge is £26. Literally, that's it. I might be missing something. There might be nuances of the law here where actually it's a lot harsher for him, but with all of those offences, it really seems like he's got away with this other than publicly being listed for all those things, but really infuriating that. But at least it's made a few newspapers.
00:08:16
Speaker
Yeah, sickening stuff really. I don't know if that article and does it say anything about him being banned from keeping animals at all in the future? Because that would be a typical sort of result you'd see from this sort of case, I'd have thought. Well, I couldn't see anything. I'm going to have a quick scan through it now. Nope. Can't see anything that says that. And in fact, the fact that it's a conditional discharge suggests that they're expecting him to continue farming.
00:08:38
Speaker
And it's just that well don't do it again. And so you don't do it for 18 months You'll get away with it apart from that hefty 26 pound fine, of course. Yeah, interesting from someone who claims to have a profession based around animals Doesn't get that whereas someone if you are an individual you do expect that interesting. Yeah
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah, but of course we have the highest welfare standards in this country. Absolutely. And I'm sure this is the only case because all farmers love their animals right up to the point. Okay, next story then over to the science bit I guess for these stories here.
Health Benefits of Low-Fat Vegan Diet: Diabetes Study
00:09:15
Speaker
So a new study released this week is reporting that a low fat vegan diet, high in fiber and carbohydrates and moderate in protein actually reduces insulin requirements
00:09:27
Speaker
increases insulin sensitivity and improves glycemic control with individuals with type 1 diabetes. So just take all that in for a second. This is compared with a conventional portion controlled diet and the study was completed with 18 participants in the vegan diet group and 17 in the portion controlled group. And the study was supported by the physicians committee for responsible medicine
00:09:56
Speaker
and a grant from the Institute for Technology in Healthcare. Sounds pretty positive. Okay, I've had a couple of grumpy stories so let's have a more positive one now.
Legal Victory for Wildlife: Wild Justice vs. Defra
00:10:06
Speaker
This comes to us from Wild Justice and we'll put a link in the show notes. I'd really encourage listeners if you have a minute, follow the link for this one because it's a really positive story and an organisation who I'd not heard of before
00:10:20
Speaker
doing a lot of good work. So they have been challenging Defra recently saying that basically the way that game bird licensing has been done is unlawful and they have this week won their case which is fantastic news. Here is the case it's going to require a bit of explaining so bear with me. So
00:10:43
Speaker
basically if a shoot wants to release game birds they need to apply for a defra license and they do that via natural england and what natural england does is it takes these applications sends them to a committee at defra and sends some suggestions of approval or rejection but then what happens
00:11:02
Speaker
is this committee review the advice from natural england sometimes they change it and then they send the new advice to ministers and then ministers of the people who make the final decision as to whether the shoot can be licensed or not and what wild justice have been suspicious of is that this this advice from natural england has been
00:11:24
Speaker
gone against or changed and so they've put this challenge forward and this week it has been deemed as unlawful so Defra is paying world justice costs up to £35,000 because of this and there's a new consent order lots more details on the link that is in our show notes but sounds like some potentially shady goings-on have been exposed and been successfully challenged so
00:11:52
Speaker
really positive sounding stuff there. And whilst the money is probably useful, I think the fact that people don't think they can go and do these things without being pulled up is probably the main thing there for me for that one. Yeah, absolutely. It's just a message saying don't think you can sneak these things into the carpet like we're coming for you.
Health Risks of Fake Meat
00:12:14
Speaker
Next story, staying with science, although perhaps juxtaposed with it being reported by the Daily Mail, a slightly less positive story here, but as I say, reported by the Daily Mail, summarized from a scientific study. So a new study by scientists at the National University of Singapore, and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that people who ate a diet high in fake meats, like beyond burgers and impossible burgers for eight weeks,
00:12:43
Speaker
had higher blood sugars than those who ate real meat. Authors wrote that this puts them at higher risk for developing heart disease and diabetes down the line.
00:12:53
Speaker
And the study was based on 89 Singaporeans with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. So again, a bit like our previous study, not a massive, not a massive sample if you're a science sort of person. And also, obviously, this is a summarized story. I had a quick look at it. Couldn't see a lot about any references out to the actual study. I think there's quite a lot of holes in this as well.
00:13:18
Speaker
were people just eating these burgers what were the other things they were eating eight weeks is that is that a great deal of time to notice these things i think as well it's it's just good although it
00:13:29
Speaker
risks putting veganism in a negative light i think we just need to get it out there that actually yeah if you eat vegan burgers all the time it's not going to be great for your health like that's fine it's kind of although it's annoying i think it's probably good that that's just out there and people understand that and accept that yeah yeah but because otherwise it feels like a gotcha at the moment that's being reported in the daily mail as a ha you see vegans whereas actually none of us are saying that that's healthy
00:13:57
Speaker
So it kind of needs to be, yeah, we know, we know that that's not healthy. None of us are saying it is. No, and I think, you know, we have to be honest as well. And yeah, these products, you know, I love these products. So I'm a big
00:14:12
Speaker
you know sort of mock meat eater but you know you know after you've eaten something a bit like maybe like when you have a Chinese meal or something like that the salt must be massively high in it because I love salt I'm a real real bugger for it but you know you know it's massively high in salt when you've eaten it but it's it's not meant to be healthy that's why you have it and you wouldn't I mean who is gonna eat burgers for eight weeks you know it's not gonna happen is it
00:14:34
Speaker
Well, if you're trying to bring down your blood sugar, then no, just eating and eating burgers is a no, isn't it? That's not to say that anyone with diabetes mustn't eat burgers, like that's up to them, but like, that's what you're trying to do, then no, beyond meat is not a great way of doing it, nor probably is eating a real beef burger, is it? No, exactly.
00:14:55
Speaker
There we go.
PETA's Influence on Circus Performances
00:14:56
Speaker
Anyway, last one from me now, and this is following a vigorous Peter campaign. This is in Peter's words, the Hadi Shrine Circus, which I had to look it up. It is based in America and described as America's last great circus.
00:15:10
Speaker
They have decided that they are no longer going to exploit elephants in their shows, which is great news. Like I say, Peter is saying this is following their campaign, which included more than a quarter of a million emails from their supporters, as well as spirited protests, letters to sponsors. So great news for elephants who are no longer being forced to perform at the Hadi Shrine Circus under constant threats of punishment.
00:15:36
Speaker
Okay and then my last one we'll be talking about in a bit more detail later on. So Lakeland Dairies who were the largest cross-border dairy processor in the island of Ireland have announced that its turnover in profit fell in 2023 after what it dubbed a challenging year
00:15:57
Speaker
The company has blamed the collapse in global dairy markets and has seen a fall in operating profits from 32.5 million euros, which is about 28 million pounds in 2022, to 14.8 million euros or 12.6 million pounds in 2023. Gosh, that sounds like a challenging year. Only 12.5 million pounds profit. I'd love those kind of challenges.
00:16:27
Speaker
Right, as ever, we do not have time to go into loads of detail for each of these stories. We've obviously just covered the basics there. If you want to learn more about these stories, we've got links in our show notes to all of the sources that we got them from, but we do have time for Paul and myself to pick out one in particular, our favorite ones that we want to talk about in some more detail, as well as our pick for the week.
00:16:56
Speaker
So Paul, I gather from what you've just said that this Lakeland dairy story is your pick for the week, is that right? Yeah, so yeah, it looks good. On the surface when I certainly read it, I thought this is
Economic Challenges for Lakeland Dairies
00:17:08
Speaker
great. More new stories supporting the sort of thing we've seen I think in the States sort of over the last few years about the market and demand falling for dairy and the increased market for non-dairy milks. So yeah, it seems like a good story. The thing I think this
00:17:25
Speaker
story confused me a little bit about is it talks about the global market collapse now i'm assuming that that is talking about a drop in demand so that's kind of one question i had there so assuming that's the case still a good news story um
00:17:39
Speaker
When you delve into a little bit more, if listeners look at the actual article, it talks more about costs increasing and other factors like that. And I'm imagining if this is a cross-border operation in Ireland, there's probably a hell of a lot of Brexit related admin, etc, and costs are going on there. So yeah, I think it is a good news story, but I wonder how much of it is
00:18:04
Speaker
down to costs if they're talking about things like taxation as I say brexit maybe this isn't maybe we shouldn't assume this is just down to demand and it could be more of a pure financials here but it's interesting i guess my question would be what are the other processors in in ireland talking about in terms of their profits is this just an isolated incident are they reporting a drop you know is it is it costs that are
00:18:29
Speaker
kind of really driving the problem here also you need to be interesting to see out of some of these suppliers who's diversifying because we know that some of the dairy manufacturers out there some of the big ones particularly are starting to diversify they're recognizing the need to invest in non-dairy products you know and some of those big producers out there whether it's sort of Malur or people like that are starting to do that it's probably
00:18:56
Speaker
I don't know the figures but it's probably fairly small but they are recognising there is profit to be made and there is a market that is out there that doesn't want their normal animal products. So yeah, it's fairly positive but...
00:19:09
Speaker
Yeah, it was certainly thought provoking and I mean no industry, no company is completely bulletproof. So when we've got multiple things that are affecting things like you're pointing out Paul, it's unlikely to just be a drop in demand.
00:19:26
Speaker
that's causing this but actually it does question well how robust is this industry i just did some quick maths on those numbers because they reported in this article what their turnover was and what their profit was and it's less than one percent of their turnover is their profit so that that's an industry with incredibly tight margins now admittedly that seems to be in a lean year but like it does just drill home
00:19:53
Speaker
like quite how fragile these industries are obviously from a vegan and animal rights point of view we just want them finished but like you say like diversifying is a way of shoring up a complex system that is potentially fragile um so that that could play into plant-based food and drink in a way couldn't it i think just as well it's um it's not a surprise but there's there's no mention of
00:20:20
Speaker
animals well-being welfare or or anything in there you know and really that that the headline is saying oh it's been a challenging year for the dairy industry well really a shareholder getting a smaller dividend from the twelve point six million pounds overall profit
00:20:41
Speaker
that's not a challenging year and it's not challenging in any way the same as as the challenges that are going on for the victims of the dairy industry is it and that's you know it really drills that home but yeah absolutely i was going to say exactly the same thing it is not a mention of welfare at all obviously in the article i suppose to some degree i mean they haven't said that trying to offer better welfare
00:21:05
Speaker
and what they deem better welfare i should say is costing them more money i mean because that's been a claim obviously for years about british products if you like british dairy british meat um they haven't even bothered to quote that so it's just purely about about the about the readies here
00:21:20
Speaker
Yes, I forget who said it on the pod a few weeks ago but whilst we might not be pro-welfare measures, actually every welfare measure costs the industry more money so it makes it less and less economically feasible and you'd wonder whether actually when this industry does eventually collapse or close
00:21:43
Speaker
it might just be that people just say do you know what this is just not financially worthwhile let's just let's just jack it in which brings me on to my my pick for the week potentially i'd be very interested to know what has led flora to its current state in terms of its
00:22:03
Speaker
the stance that it's putting out there.
Flora's Shift to Plant-Based Marketing
00:22:05
Speaker
But it is very much if you go on Flora's website now, and this is following their latest ad release where they've been, as Paul said earlier, they've been dubbing dairy as weird. If you look on their website, it's like the most pro-vegan website I've ever been on in terms of a capitalist company. Obviously, it's not an animal rights charity's website. But in terms of a company,
00:22:33
Speaker
like they've got five tabs at the top of their website and one of them is called skip the cow plant-based and the word vegan is is everywhere and they're really drilling it home i mean this i wanted to to focus on this one not because of the advert itself i have to say which i mean that they're saying dairy is weird i thought the advert itself was
00:22:56
Speaker
Pretty weird and if you watched it always know what i mean i don't watch much telly and much screen stuff so like maybe this is just what i'd like these days but like it was a bit weird in itself but maybe that was the point but in terms of how brazen that being with saying.
00:23:16
Speaker
Do you know what? Dairy is just a bit weird. Like, what's going on there? Like, that's incredible. That's incredible to see a company like that. I mean, I don't know about you, Paul, but like growing up, Flora was always on on the table at breakfast. That was the bottle we had. And yeah, it had dairy in it. And I mean, it's probably always been
00:23:37
Speaker
largely plant-based in terms of its recipe. I've been trying to research it this week, but I've not got much luck, but it certainly did used to have dairy in it, and there was no anti-dairy message in the company at all. A few years ago, it became one of these that was
00:23:54
Speaker
Accidentally vegan we might say and that became a stage where all of their stuff was plant-based then for a period At least one product started having some dairy in it again, but now they're completely plant-based Everything on their website and in their marketing is saying like
00:24:12
Speaker
thanks, there was a sort of pun like thanks for the mammaries dairy, but like we're, you know, we're gonna leave animal products behind now, skip the cow and all of this. It's fabulous. And it's like, I mean, a company like Flora has got a huge marketing budget, a huge influence. Like I just feel like this is gonna have a real impact, this reason campaign they're doing. It's interesting because this is a sort of company that's presumably got a lot of money to do, a lot of,
00:24:40
Speaker
R&D and a lot of research and go out and speak to people. So you've got to hope that this reflects, you know, they're not going to do this out of the goodness of their own hearts. Like you say, it's a capitalist organization. They must be going out there and hearing people saying, you know, I want to, I don't want to eat dairy or eat less dairy, whether that's driven by maybe.
00:24:57
Speaker
young customers, young customers. So, yeah, really, really good. You do have to wonder, don't you, what the view from the dairy industry is of this, you know, would they be seen as a sort of turncoat organization now? And of course, you know, is this the sign of things to come? You know, that would.
00:25:16
Speaker
That's what we hope, obviously. Yeah. And like you say, Paul, like as many problems as many of us may have with capitalism, actually money talks and big corporations like this are not going to make a bold move like this unless they're pretty confident it's going to come off. I mean,
00:25:36
Speaker
of course it might not and you've equally got animal-based companies that are making bold moves in the other direction so it's not guaranteed but they're taking firm stances. Interestingly as well they say that none of their spreads or butters contain palm oil anymore. I know there was a period when
00:25:55
Speaker
um they were perhaps completely plant-based but they were still using palm oil but now they're they're saying that they're not using that at all which is great news that's another another kind of thing that we we don't necessarily have to worry about obviously it's not a miracle product obviously you know there's there's all sorts of problems that we might have with uh something that's highly processed like a plant-based butter but in terms of getting a anti-animal ag
00:26:22
Speaker
message out there they've got a heck of a platform and a heck of a voice and yeah I'm glad they're glad they're doing it and it really really took me took me aback I'd again like like Paul said with the the vegan eggs I'm not getting it paid to say this but maybe maybe spend 30 seconds looking at Flora's website at the minute I think it'll take you by surprise how pro vegan I might say it is so
00:26:47
Speaker
Yeah, we'll take that I think. Right, I'm going to suggest we move on to our main story now featuring perhaps not someone we might be expecting to be discussing on Vegan Week in the shape of Jeremy Clarkson.
Protests Against Clarkson's Farm Shop
00:27:02
Speaker
So I'll give us a bit of a rundown on the background of the story and then we'll say what we think about it. So I'm reading from the Gloucestershire Live
00:27:12
Speaker
website at the minute but this has been covered in multiple places so Jeremy Clarkson's brewery has been targeted by anti-hunt protesters. Now I should be clear right from the off Jeremy Clarkson is not suspected of breaking the law in any way however it's been revealed or it's been shared quite widely that he has allowed a hunt
00:27:38
Speaker
onto his land. The hunts say that they're not doing anything illegal. There's lots of footage on various websites showing this story where HuntSabs and other organizations like Action Against Fox Hunting have taken footage and said, well I think illegal stuff has been done actually by the hunt here. There's a badger set that's been blocked and
00:27:58
Speaker
you know we suspect this that and the other but protesters have gone outside his farm shop in Chadlington to protest this and they're protesting like I say the fact that a hunt has taken place I don't know whether it's partially or fully but on his estate on land that is owned by him lots of banners lots of PR and like I say it's been covered in a lot of places Paul
00:28:26
Speaker
do what could I ask what your initial reaction to to seeing this story has been has it been cynical has it been oh right we need to you know we need to go for this what what your thoughts i think it's um i'm broadly okay with it think he's a divisive figure um and this sort of story works both for
00:28:48
Speaker
the protesters as well as the media, you know, focusing on someone who is a name. Do you think it works for Jeremy Clarkson as well, though? Because it's just giving him more column inches. I think that quite irritated me. Yeah, I hadn't really kind of gone on to that. But potentially, yes, because, you know, if you take any news, good news, it's not exactly
00:29:10
Speaker
painting him in a light that he would probably be actually that bothered about, unless there was some kind of genuine accusations that could be upheld around legal behaviour. But he could say, yep, this is me, and I'm doing what I think, you know, that would probably be his stance, I imagine, here. And so, no, nothing completely bad for him, I guess, from this sort of story. Just supports his image on which he makes his living, ultimately. Well, yeah, it does rather. I've got to say, I
00:29:40
Speaker
It won't surprise listeners to know I can't quite make my mind upon this but part of me wonders whether this is the best thing to be focusing attention on.
Celebrity Influence on Animal Rights Awareness
00:29:50
Speaker
I do get from a strategic point of view this is far more likely to get into the news even though perhaps the alleged offenses are less acute than other ones because it involves this big name it's going to get into the newspaper which we could see as a positive
00:30:07
Speaker
but I did kind of think, oh gosh, surely there are bigger crimes being taken place against animals, definite evidence and things like that. I don't know, it makes me cringe a little bit when, as a movement, we're falling into the trap of the mass media and dominant media and kind of just focusing on a celebrity, even though, really, it doesn't seem like there's much of a story here. Yeah, I suppose the flip side is,
00:30:36
Speaker
If it was on someone's land on someone that no one's ever heard of before, one with the media, pick it up. It's not a paper-selling story, is it? So I think I agree with you. There are a lot worse offenses probably going on there with, you know,
00:30:54
Speaker
Joe blogs being the perpetrator of being the person who's allowed people across the land, but people aren't interested in Joe blogs. They're interested in Jeremy Clarkson. So I suppose you have to ask, does this denigrate from the worst activities that are going on?
00:31:08
Speaker
or does it open people's mind to awareness of this sort of thing still going on? And then thinking about that could go either way, I guess. I mean, one argument is, if you think about Arnold Schwarzenegger and the fact that he has not done a massive U-turn, because he's certainly not vegan now, but he has been in the last few years, he's been a very strong advocate for plant-based eating and things like that, very much someone you would not have thought 10, 20, 30 years ago,
00:31:37
Speaker
would be saying no ditch the animal product is there an argument that well actually if by some fluke or miracle we managed to change Jeremy Clarkson's mind on these things like that would be massive or is that just pie in the sky
00:31:54
Speaker
It would be massive. I think it would be highly unlikely. And probably to the point of it, you'd rule it out, wouldn't you, I think, really. But, you know, hey, strange things happen. I can't see this one, though, unfortunately. I think there's too much, too much image, too much income based on that image that rests on maintaining the status quo there.
00:32:21
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, and not just income from his image, but like he's literally invested in animal culture, isn't he? Talking of stranger things happening, like reading this article, this quote came in most of the articles, the haythrop hunt, which is the hunt that alleged to have been given permission to use his land, they were defending themselves.
00:32:46
Speaker
in the article unsurprisingly. Just listen to this in terms of them describing their own activity. They are saying it's ridiculous that we're being persecuted for doing this activity. It's perfectly lawful. But listen to them just describing what they do every weekend. So, the haythrop hunt conducts lawful trail hunting activities to comply with the hunting act.
00:33:07
Speaker
The hunt liaises with landowners to obtain permission to conduct an activity which complies with the law and which is regulated by the British Hound Sports Association. More than 12,000 days of trail hunting take place each year, yet hunts and landowners are regularly subjected to spurious allegations made by activists with a political agenda to stop an activity which simply involves people following a pack of hounds which are following a scent that has been dragged across the countryside
00:33:36
Speaker
on a smelly rag like is is that an advert like what for the the daily mail yeah do you want to do you want to follow a pack of hounds following a scent that's been dragged across the countryside on a smelly rag sign sign here join the hunt like it did make me chuckle yeah anyway yes it's not laughable but i think we all know the stories even the ones where
00:34:06
Speaker
There's this sort of expectation that people are given permission on certain bits of land and that there's this magical barrier that's going to stop the hounds going off into other people's adjoining properties. And, you know, there's, I remember from literature going back ages ago, the amount of animal pets been absolutely mauled to death by dogs because they're just cut across a garden or something like that or some other land. So it's a nonsense. It's what you expect. It's the standard line.
00:34:35
Speaker
It's what they're going to say. So, yeah. Yeah. Even if they were themselves abiding the law, you can't sit down a hound and give it a PowerPoint presentation or an online training course to explain these things. It's on instinct. Absolutely. Okay. Let's bring that conversation to an end then and indeed this week's episode
00:34:58
Speaker
of vegan week. So those of you who've listened to this, what do you think about this main story we've just covered here or anything else indeed that we've covered in the show? You can let us know by sending your thoughts in to enoughofthefallifallatgmail.com. Indeed. And thank you everybody for listening. It is always lovely to know that there are people out there, whether you get in touch with us or not, we can see when there's been a download and it's really fabulous to see all of you all around the world tuning in.
00:35:28
Speaker
which is fabulous. And do, as I said at the top of the show, check out that back catalogue if you haven't already. We've got the Vegan Talk show, which airs every Thursday, and our Going Vegan series, which we've got 10 of those, and they aired in January 2024 of this year.
00:35:44
Speaker
And as I mentioned, every Thursday we've got an episode of Vegan Talk and the next talk coming up this Thursday we'll see Anson and myself talking about veganism and cars as an interest place to my heart. So what exploitation is involved in the production of cars and which models are maybe improving the landscape? Is it even possible to be vegan and drive the car in the first place?
00:36:09
Speaker
Anyway, that is enough of the falafel for this episode. I've been Anthony. And I've been Paul. And you've been listening to episode 59 of Vegan Week.
00:36:31
Speaker
This show is kindly sponsored by our friends at Fire & Flow Coffee Roasters, and they're such great people. They're offering all enough of the Falafel listeners a cheeky 10% off orders on their online store when using the code FALAFEL10. That's Falafel the number 10
00:36:48
Speaker
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00:37:08
Speaker
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00:37:20
Speaker
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00:37:40
Speaker
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00:37:56
Speaker
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