My sister's friends took their kids out of school because they couldn't find one that really chimed with their Catholic beliefs - this included three RC schools. I'd beat the parents severely with a big stick and tell them to grow up. The damage they're potentially doing to their kids through what is really an irrelevant set of moral principles (and I say that as a weekly church goer) is criminal.
It’s an interesting area for discussion, animal rights can lead to many other areas where personal morals and ethics engage with public morality. My daughter is studying philosophy at A level and hopes to continue at university. She tells me that a lot of modern philosophy launches from animal rights, medical ethics etc, they seem to have given up on the big questions like ‘what the **** is all this about’. I have no argument in keeping animals well and killing them humanely - selfishly because it would help a tiny part of my conscience and because I suspect they taste better. But mainly because I have a vain hope that if we can treat animals well we might treat each other better too. But I get nervy when people call for bans based on their personal morality. The practice of producing foie gras should die out because we collectively feel it is unnecessary and demand collapses, not because Michael Gove decides we have to be saved from our base desires for tasty morsels. On well kept things tasting better, I have always been struck by how much tastier chicken is in poor countries compared to here. Discovered why (thanks to Jamie Oliver, sorry). In poor countries chickens lay eggs and run around leading a comparatively long life before they go to the pot. They are have more muscles and less fat, need cooking a bit longer but taste great.
The Tories went on the information that was given to them and the country by Blair. Sorry Yorkshire he lied and it has been proven he lied. You can't blame the Tories for supporting what they thought was the truth. I know people like/dislike the Tories but in the case of the Gulf war they were conned like many others.
Bloody public servants, too idle to look anything up: Foie-gras production is banned in several countries, including most of the Austrian provinces, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Turkey and the UK.[49] The force feeding of animals for non-medical purposes, essential to current foie gras production practices, is explicitly prohibited by specific laws in Austria,[57] the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany,[58] Italy,[59] Luxembourg, Norway,[60] Poland,[61] or following interpretation of general animal protection laws in Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.[62] However, foie gras can still be imported into and purchased in these countries. Most of these countries do not currently produce foie gras, nor have they in the past. Thus, these bans have stopped actual foie gras production in very few countries.[63] Since 1997, the number of European countries producing foie gras has halved. Only five countries still produce foie gras: Belgium, Romania, Spain, France and Hungary.
I was almost convinced it was not practiced here but if any forum has someone who is going to prove me wrong it's this one! The EU is interesting on animal welfare. It does tend to push for as high standards as possible (and we're streets ahead of USA on things like chicken farming) but is fiercely protective of practices like foie gras as it is European tradition.
In my defence.....I was too lazy to look things up even before I started work for the NHS.....and due to the fact I’m in the middle of yet another umpteen page essay (Blood loss and Wounds this time), I’m now lazier still.
So it's production is already banned in the UK? Therefore leaving the EU will have no effect on practices in this country, and we won't face any punitive action from the EU for banning an industry that is already banned - hooray!
The ban would be on importing the stuff, which would be against EU rules as it’s a trade barrier. They may ban export of Stilton as a reprisal.
Good point about the link between animal care and human to human interaction. Bans can be justified in extreme situations , such as cruelty. We wouldn't tolerate female circumcision in the hope it would die out. What you say about chicken taste is the argument for free range. Much better product than the jellylike flesh of a battery hen.
But you can’t ban anything nor can I Seen this up close in France plus all sort of things including descaling live fish Worked in abattoirs in the U.K. as a young man. My family kept pigs and had a very large dairy herd. Seen chicken farms recently in the UK that are far worse than they were 30 years ago I live with a veggie but even now knows that it’s food production having visited what is left of our farm. Each to their own I say Farmers know animals better than anyone imo They certainly know nature than any of those useless organisations Too many people watch Countyfile on the BBC imo. They wouldn’t last 5 minutes in my life with me Worse things in life that pate production The great thing is people can become outraged but they can’t do anything about it and people who eat at a high end will continue to eat fois gras in restaurants in the U.K. If you want to have a pop then target Veal or fish farming both of which I know a great deal about. I believe no one in the U.K. shop has any idea about what goes on. As long as they can get it in pretty packets for next to nothing all they can do is moan We had to kill feral cats every week from our barns because if we didn’t they got out of control as it was they were eating themselves. Respect to what anyone chooses to eat but you have to live in it to fully understand the life imo . I say respect but **** the vegans as recently had fisty cuffs with someone you was slagging off what I was eating Fois Gras is a traditional product from France nothing to do with us. Don’t buy it and don’t eat it that’s fine but to try and ban it Good luck with that
I live in a place where food is king I also live in a place where food is not even in the same league ... not even close but I do favour English Cheese
I wasn’t that bothered about foie gras until I went to Bordeaux. How are people there not all morbidly obese when you can have some of the best food and wine in the world for 15 euros a head?
I think the food in France is overrated. I was told that the best beef in France was locally to where my house is. I was also told a certain restaurant (locally) was the best around for beef. After eating there twice I think a Scottish steak is far better. Deserts in France are good but much of the food is over-hyped. They live on old reputations. saying all this they still have the best wine.
Can't knock French food (except Gestapo goose pate). The bread and cheeses and pastries are superb. Ellers is right about the quality of meat though, Scotch beef and Welsh lamb being superior. It's said that the French developed their first class sauces because their meat needed something more. As to wines, we have a great deal more choice here with world wines, than the French consumer has because the French are protectionist. But the best wines in the world are still French.
