Something Wild
Several points raised by Jane Saunders misinformed letter (The List 184) require correction.
With regard to not wearing wool because it involves a ‘correctly slaughtered animal‘s skin’, sheep do not have to be killed to give us wool. They are sheared. In fact they are relieved to be sheared each summer.
‘Animal fat‘. yes lard involves an animal dying but milk. butter. cheese with non-animal rennet do not.
Diabetics may use human insulin instead of porcine or bovine.
J.L. Park Old Dumbarton Road Glasgow.
Swmg Shift
I have recently had a series of nightmares in which I open a copy of The List to find that its food page is devoted to eat food. My analyst tells me that only the gift of a bottle of tequila will rid me of this dreadful affliction.
Tom McAweaney
Fountainhall Road
Edinburgh.
Only in your nightmares Tom. But did you dream that our wonderful food editorput a Tadger on her kitchen surface and fed it jelly and chunky bits." ()nly ofsuch dreams are tequila winning letters made.
Stop Making Sense
I have abandoned a once-flourishing career in philosophy. owing to my arrival at the certainty that all is futile.
Unluckily. my landlady. Scottish Gas. Augustus Barnett and other suppliers of amenities are not of the same opinion. and seem intent on demanding reimbursement in exchange for creature comforts; thus I have been forced to embark upon a new life as a proof-reader of soon-to~be-published books.
Surprisingly, this occupation is not merely lucrative. but also on occasion amusing. and I find myself possessed of the desire to share with you two items of fact which I consider to be of interest. The first. which I learned from Chambers‘
cuscow AND someone" mm-
com COVERED "
LETI'ERS
is that the commune ofTriesen, in
3 the principality of Liechtenstein, is
economically dependent upon the manufacture of sausage skins, a fact which - though entirely without significance to anyone outwith the principality of Liechtenstein — I find to be deeply satisfying.
My second Interesting Fact, by contrast, is not devoid of practical applicability. It concerns the First Earl of Middleton who, despite his title, fought successfully against the Royalists during the English Civil War. It seems that in later life he fell into debt, and was troubled - like today’s Poll Tax rebels — by the Sheriff‘s Officer. Being a spirited fellow, Middleton did not hang around for the poinding, but instead had the man boiled, and made into soup.
Yours aye,
E.P. MacKechnie Buckingham Terrace Edinburgh.
Crazy Mama
Maybe Robert Anderson (The List letters 184) was the person sitting in front of me at the Sandra Bernhard concert. necking with his girlfriend before the show started: disgruntled and distinctly not necking towards the end when he pointedly walked out. Could have been.
When Bernhard asked who was gay. it is presumptuous in the extreme to infer that that was to shock the straights when it gave people like me the rare chance to scream positive. (She said it was the smallest percent of gays she‘s had at a show. to which someone tellingly
' yelled ‘This is Edinburgh.‘)
I cried during the disco set ~- ‘Where are you now Sylvester and Harvey Milk? We need you!‘ — presumably while Anderson was bemoaning ‘the incomprehensible stage banter.‘
exhaustive Encyclopedia ofEuronsg“N “When she did a costume change on
If you like to disagree, direct your diatribe towards The List letters page. A bottle of the very wonderful Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila goes to the writer of the best letter each issue.
stage, I thought it a simple statement. no more. no less. whilst Anderson saw it as ‘a quick flash of the Sandra nipples'.
The haggis comment would have had enormous significance. I suppose. ifyou couldn‘t understand anything else that was going on. Sad. really.
There’s Bernhard making you think - is this serious. is this funny? — and allowing few easy conclusions; almost single-handedly making stand-up simplicity and drag caricature redundant (come in Thea Vidale and Lily Savage. your time is up). and there‘s half the Playhouse thinking they‘ve been conned. See the film and wallow in what she‘s about — serious fun. a new form of jazz.
John Warburton
Easter Road
Edinburgh.
cuenvn
We liked Sandra too John, but we also like a debate on our letters page. A bottle of Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila awaits you in our office.
a”.
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Silence of the Lambs
Further to Jane Saunders letter ‘On Dangerous Ground‘ (The List 184). I am writing to give lie to the myth that I feel is being perpetuated that vegetarians have their priorities wrong and care for animals more than for humans.
Clearly, many vegetarians are repelled by the slaughterhouse techniques and practices of modern factory farming; however these are not the only issues at stake. The reality is that livestock farming isn‘t just killing animals. Meat production has consequences for many. particularly the Third World. Forty
per cent of the world‘s cereal harvest goes to feed livestock to satisfy meat demands of the West. It takes 10le of grain to produce llb of intensely-reared beef. The world‘s cattle consume a quantity of food equal to the calorific needs of nearly twice the human population of the planet. yet. at any one time. over 500 million people throughout the world are severely malnourished.
There are also environmental consequences — destruction of rainforests to gain land; the squandering ofessential topsoil to supply animals with feed; and in Britain. the fact that the biggest polluters of water aren‘t chemical manufacturers. but meat producers.
Another issue is the ‘self—preservation‘ one of health! Meat is high in saturated fats. a major factor in the heart disease which is the biggest killer in Britain. Vegetarians have a 30 per cent less incidence ofcoronary illness. and diet-related diabetes. kidney and gall stones; peptic ulcers and varicose veins are far less common than amongst meat eaters.
So yes. ‘animals are not human‘. Vegetarianism is a recognition of. and a practical response to. the many consequences for both animals and humans. ofmodern meat production.
Roona Simpson Falkland Street Hyndland Glasgow.
Post Script
Address your letters to: The List Letters at:
14 High Street. Edinburgh EHl ITE.
Of
Old Athenaeum Theatre, 179 Buchanan Street. Glasgow G12JZ.
OI’
Fax them to: 031 557 8500.
We will notprintyourful/ address or phone number. but you must include them. Deadline is the Friday before publication. Keep them pithy. as long letters may be cut. The best letter next issue will win a bottle of J ose Cuervo Gold Tequila.
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