IDS's Twisted Priorities

Ian "Dunkin'" Smith has made page 40 of today's Evening Standard with the news that he is trying desperately to save a greyhound racing track which is going to be shut down to make way for flats. In fact, not just any flats: a housing scheme on behalf of the council. True social housing it ain't, but it's much needed homes in the London area. Why, you might ask, is he supporting this?

He has written to Boris Johnson urging him to use mayoral powers to throw out a housing scheme on the grounds that the stadium and its famous neon sign are a vital part of the nation’s cultural fabric.“The track is listed not only due to the nature of its architecture but also due to its use and the importance of this both locally and more widely,” argued the MP and former Conservative leader. “Perhaps most importantly, the vast majority of my constituents and local residents are passionately opposed to the scheme and want to see the return of greyhound racing.”

Oh, okay, that seems pretty well thought out and reasonable. Wait, WHAT? This is the man who said people in Merthyr should catch a bus to Cardiff to find work, when there were already 9 unemployed for every job in Cardiff at the time. The man who more recently pledged to take £10billion of people's disability benefits.

It's nice to see what Irritable Bowel Syndrome thinks are important in today's society: disabled people being able to afford the cost of living? Fuck 'em. Overbred, exploited greyhounds being forced to run around a track for a baying crowd of bloodthirsty idiots hoping desperately for a return to the days of bear-baiting? Priceless national treasure.

Animal Rights

It's a fraught issue, I think... To be honest, I only started giving the animal rights thing a lot of thought after my little sister came to visit. She's not a deer or anything, it's that she's just gone vegan and joined some animal rights group at her uni (I think it's the ALF [although, now I've finished this piece, I've found out that I'm actually wrong on that front: it's a small Kent-based group who're a bit less crazy-nuts bonkers]).

You see, as an argumentative and scientific-minded sort, I found something to disagree with on my sister's assertions that all creatures have a right to exist and [something something something...]. I stopped listening after a while. But my sister definitely got me thinking, so I suppose she succeeded in at least one sense. Since I'm basically a geek, my curiosity got the better of me, and lo and behold I found myself reading animal rights law at 2am on a work night. After a little research, here's what I found:

The Law as it Stands

The first thing to note is that the Animal Rights legislature in Britain is actually fairly up to date. The last major paper, the Animal Welfare Act, was introduced in 2006 (2008 in Scotland, with a few changes). Its remit is for the care of domesticated and farm animals, and is actually pretty strict. What it doesn't cover is laws on humane slaughter for meat, minimum space requirements for kept animals or using animals in scientific procedures or experiments.