27.04.1995

Human welfare first

HUMOUR can be unkind, but I could not suppress a little chuckle at the thought of Alan Clarke, until recently minister of the ‘department for killing foreigners’, attempting to save the lives of little lambs. With all his upper-crust arrogance he was soon haranguing his policemen.

“Do you think this is what you are paid for?” Of course they took not the slightest notice. He was only acting in his capacity as a concerned citizen and that is of no account to the police. But they could have replied honestly:

“Yes, our job is to protect the right of every businessman to make a profit. After all you were involved in selling guns to Saddam Hussein for exactly that reason. We are enforcing your laws and we do not give a fig who or what suffers the consequences.”

Where was Clarke when the police were perfecting their coercive methods on the miners? Where was he when Thatcher was busy destroying the power of the trade unions? He was an enthusiastic member of her government, egging on the heavy-handed, anti-democratic laws he is now so concerned with.

The problem with Alan Clarke and his ilk is that they are concerned with inhumanity to animals but not to humans. They are not alone - Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian too. The barbaric Indian caste system uses the food fads of vegetarians.

The moral ‘superiority’ of animal rights agitators is entirely spurious.  A wealthy society can afford to treat animals well; a poor one cannot. The need is to raise the standard of living for the mass of human beings.