Among the things you can guarantee will be on the telly at Christmas are Dr. Who, the Queen, and animal charity adverts, although the Queen's looking less likely each year, and is certainly less popular than the other two.
But isn't it strange that we celebrate the birth of possibly the most compassionate man to ever have lived by slaughtering millions of animals so we can feast on their flesh, and by presenting children with baby animals they cannot possibly look after. And so we are flooded with adverts from the National Dogs Trust, the RSPCA and, even more worryingly, the NSPCC.
One advert that caught my eye was the Labour partys campaign to keep the Hunting Ban, led by Patrick Stewart. An attempt by Labour to steal any Animal Rights votes available from the Green Party, perhaps? I do hope no-one's really that stupid!
Unfortunately, they are correct about the Conservative promise to lift the ban if they win the next election, I even have an e-mail to that effect from Mr. Damian Green MP, who has refused to sign EDM 79 on the grounds that he sees it as an "unnecessary and ineffective piece of legislation." I would point out that any legislation is "ineffective" if not properly enforced.
With 2009 coming to a close it's not been a fantastic year for animals, with the recession apparently forcing people to abandon their previously loved, four legged "members of the family", while certain breeds of dog have become a fashion accessory/weapon of choice amongst the hooded delinquents who were brought up to believe that "might is right" and "animals are less than human". And then there's the incident in Folkestone of a poor dog being beaten to death on the beach.
And, if the Conservatives win the next election, I'm afraid it's just going to get worse. Labour and the Lib Dems don't have animal welfare policies, and the BNP and UKIP don't even bare mentioning!! If you care about animals, or anything else for that matter, that leaves you with only one option...
I think it's high time we brought back the dog license and extended it to all companion animals (that's Animal Rights talk for 'Pets', btw), and have signed a Care2Causes petition to this effect, and urge everyone who reads this to do the same. I have also signed up for the Vote Cruelty Free campaign, as have most Green Party candidates. As Gandhi said:
“The greatness of a nation
and its moral progress
can be judged by the way its animals are treated”
Of course, were I in a position to sign that EDM things would be different...
(Diekuye, Kamilla!)
