But that’s democracy, see? One the subject of farmed chickens:
It is incredibly hard to change people’s minds,
Quite so, and when you do change the minds of the majority you win.
In 2008, more than 95% of chickens were factory farmed; now that figure is close to 90%. That’s not nothing, but it is not the revolution I’d hoped for.
You’ve some way to go then.
“sales of factory-farmed chickens plummeted and free-range birds flew off the shelves”
You need to work on effective slaughtering techniques, then, Hugh. It’s not very compassionate if mum has to dispatch the bloody thing in the supermarket aisle in front of the kids.
Brave of Hugh to go up against the main consumers of cheap chicken in the UK, I feel.
I’ve always considered it curious when contrasting the endlessly pedantic obstructions faced by Clarkson with the apparently uncontested green-lighting of similar enterprises by Lord River Cottage.
Whether it’s down to his double-barrelled name, his impeccable green credentials or just sheer dumb luck remains a mystery.
John, I found in my long experience of life that progress in the world of bureaucracy is sometimes dependent on distribution of funds and sometimes on the length of one’s tongue, in which case non-functioning taste buds are an asset. Since Hugh and Jeremy’s wealth may be similar, I conclude that one possible explanation may be that Hugh is the Beethoven of his profession, handicapped but still able to function.
The question is who likes eating chooks; and are they willing to pay more?
If they’re all stingy bastards like me, they’ll give this drongo and his ideas the finger.
I’m no expert on economics or nothing, but it could be that constantly agitating – successfully – to make Joe Public poorer, net zeroer and courageously taxed is incompatible with hoping they’ll voluntarily spend more money on basic foodstuffs.
Caring about animals is a luxury option for most basic model humans, because they are not St Francis of Assisi. For most people, empathy is (and has to be) on a budget.
OT
Who remembers those lorry driver shortages a couple of years ago which were leading to empty supermarket shelves and fuel shortages in garages that meant we were all going to die unless the government set up a National Food Service and immediately rescinded Brexit? I must admit I’d forgotten.
It seems the Germans have just noticed that the shortage didn’t last long and was fixed by a combination of higher wages and better working conditions (hurrah for markets) and the government fixing the backlog in testing.
Not only that we attracted younger people in to the market and so its a long term fix whereas as most of the rest of Europe has a problem in that most drivers are around 55 and ready to retire.
BiND – the fun thing about Remoaners is that they have no memory of the things they were crying about last week. Because it was never really ‘about’ mass unemployment, it’s ‘about’ class hatred.
So there’s no cogdis or shame in being repeatedly proven wrong, because they still hate the working classes and gammony middle class conservatives.
Coughs … You (ie Hugh) may have missed most of the impacts of the Bird Flu epidemic because,
a) we had other things to worry about
b) this particular one didn’t cross over to mammals very well
But you will have noticed its impact on egg availability (amongst the usual supermarkets not paying enough to farmers that affects quite a range of products). However, one of the things it did is make many “free range” chicken rearers bring them in to barns to avoid catching the disease from wild birds. As opposed to having to slaughter and dispose of all their birds.
The whole debate reminds me of Christmases past (in the 1950s and early 60s) when my parents, sister and I would have chicken on Christmas day, turkey being unheard of in our circles. The damn bird was so big that we were eating bits of it for some days afterwards, eventually with the carcass being used in soup. The modern birds are reared in a matter of weeks. No doubt my taste buds (and tastes) have changed since childhood, but I do remember chicken being delicious then, whereas it is a sort of mildly-flavoured fibrous stuff nowadays.
De gustibus non est disputandum. Except to say that chook is overrated though it can be rendered edible with tarragon sauce.
Cold roast lamb with redcurrant jelly: food of the Gods. Battered haddock (with proper chips) likewise.
John,
“I’ve always considered it curious when contrasting the endlessly pedantic obstructions faced by Clarkson with the apparently uncontested green-lighting of similar enterprises by Lord River Cottage.”
To be fair, that’s a lot about the rules, and sometimes about the particular rules in an area. Within the Cotswold AONB there’s a bunch of rules about things in shops being local, as if that matters. But them’s the rules.
I go to a smokery/deli near there. And they can do anything they like because they’re about a mile out from Burford on the way to Lechlade and that’s just outside the area, and in Gloucestershire.
Chlorinated chickens? Where’s my gun?
@BOM4
IIRC the issue about local was only defined by lines on the map
So outside the arbitrary area, not local, inside local
Even if the supplier outside the line was actually closer
Quite clear that the local council was intent on driving him and many other local farmers out of business to ‘preserve’ an AONB that only exists because of them
Brain dead NIMBYs