Animal rights people save the hens.
Stupid Comment of the Day from Gilbert and George
Gilbert and George, the artists, display a fondness for right-wing witticisms. At least, that’s what they think.
We’d rather side with the bankers than some vegan protester twit on benefits.
Well, 2xGs, you know where you can stick your fingers next time.
Clever Voiceless Ad
There’s another one but it doesn’t work as well as the one above for the Grumpy Vegan.
Loving Hut Paris
This is the first in an occasional series of posts featuring places where the Grumpy Vegan recently ate during an eight-day trip which was completed entirely by train starting in London and included Paris, Madrid and Sevilla. Tweets were published during this trip and sometimes with photographs; however, here’s a bit more about one of the most important aspects of travelling: Eating.
Lunch was taken at the Loving Hut on the Boulevard Beaumarchais in Paris on a cold and wet weekday. We were there waiting for the doors to open at noon and by 1pm the restaurant was full. Clearly, it’s a popular restaurant. The Grumpy Vegan is aware that the Loving Hut is ‘inspired by the Supreme Master Ching Hai’ but, frankly, the food takes priority. It’s just great to see an international vegan restaurant chain!
Our appetiser was an order of Summer Rolls, which is a
favourite with the Grumpy Vegan’s travelling companion but not himself, who saved, er, himself for the entrees. Our selection was the Happy Veggie Quiche and Mushroom Crepes. The quiche was impressively firm. The crepes were equally impressive. Sweet pancakes with fruit are a Sunday morning treat Chez La Grumpy Vegan; however, savour crepes are truly a vegan rarity, which is why the dish was ordered and did not disappoint.
The two desserts were picked were a Pear Cake and a Cheesecake.
The quality of the dishes overall was very good. The entrees, however, were too timid in flavour for our tastes. The flavour was mild and for our palates lacking. The desserts were excellent, however, as were, apparently, the Summer Rolls.
The cost of the meal was £42 (about $66).
A visit to the Loving Hut in Paris is certainly a treat but would not be a regular haunt if it was where the Grumpy Vegan lived.
Certainly, the Loving Hut in Paris could be a restaurant which the Hastings Vegan Dining Club should consider if we ever wanted to treat ourselves!
Rescued–ALF Raid Thirty Years On
Thirty years ago this month (February 15, 1982 to be precise) the Daily Mirror published this historic front page.
Rescued: Hooded raiders free lab dogs
The story ran,
A hooded army of Animal Liberation supporters rampaged through a research laboratory yesterday. About 100 of them, wielding crowbars and pickaxe handles, smashed doors and windows in a search for animals being used for experiments. They destroyed files, slashed the tyres of vans and daubed it with slogans before carrying off several beagles. Police arrived just as the raiders were escaping in a fleet of cars and mini-buses. A high-speed chase followed along country roads and police said “A sizeable number” of people were arrested. The attack, codenamed Valentine, was launched on the Life Science Research centre at Stock….
Operation Valentine targeted Life Science Research Laboratories in Stock, which is near to Chelmsford in Essex, England.
Liberator, the campaigning newspaper of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection which included Kim Stallwood as one of its three editors, stated in its July/August 1982 edition (p. 5) that
Several more people have now been charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage following the ALF raid on Life Science Research Laboratories at Stock, Essex on February 14th. The number charged is now 29. Several of them are also likely to face additional charges of damaging the fence surrounding the laboratory, breaking windows and theft and handling of beagles. This is a particularly disturbing case because peaceful demonstrators have been charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage, thus severely threatening our right to demonstrate.
In Against All Odds: Animal Liberation 1972-1986 (1986. London: ARC Print. 14), the author wrote,
In a large scale day-light raid, codenamed “Operation Valentine” (the date was 14 February), dozens of activists stormed the Life Science Research labs at Stock, Essex, while a demo went on outside. A variety of animals were rescued, £76,000 damage was caused and 60 people arrested. Eight activists were later sent to prison for their part in the raid.
Operation Valentine attracted a great deal of publicity, caused considerable loss to Life Science (40 of their employees were laid off) and won many new recruits for direct action – but it was to be the last large scale ALF daylight raid. In retrospect there seemed to be no advantage in carrying out such an action in daylight, the extra publicity evident that, when serious damage occurred, it was much more difficult for activists to pretend that they were just part of the peaceful demonstration – indeed, in the “Valentine” case, several of the peaceful demonstrators ended up charged with conspiracy.
