“Then it was ratcheted up to last night where I was threatened. I had a call from the Prime Minister’s Office directly and I was told unless I withdrew this motion that the Prime Minister himself said that he would look upon it ‘very dimly indeed’. Well I have a message for the whips and for the Prime Minister of our country – and I didn’t pick a fight with the Prime Minister – I may just be a little council house lad from a very poor background but that background gave me a backbone. It gives me a thick skin and I’m not going to be cowed by the whips of the Prime Minister on an issue I feel passionately about and have conviction about.”

- Mark Pritchard, Conservative backbencher

We’re obviously not experts on politics in the UK, but it seems like something rather good has happened across the Pond recently. Despite pressure from people within the government to back a licensing structure for wild animals in circuses, MPs from all parties voted unanimously against the notion and pushed instead for a complete ban on wild animals in the circus.

Although I’m not 100% sure if this means the government will make it a law, or if they could ignore the suggestion, the idea that a large political body would recommend the removal of wild animals in circuses is a great stride forward. So, kudos to organizations such as Animal Defenders International and the Royal SPCA, as well as Mark Pritchard, who have no doubt been fighting for such a thing for some time now.

If you are Canadian and able to vote in the upcoming election, it might be of interest to you to know that one of our contributors, David J. Parker, is a candidate for the Green Party in Edmonton Central. A 20 year veteran of the Green Party and environmental activism, David has been a vegetarian since 1987, a vegan since 1997, and wrote about his vegan genesis in the last issue of T.O.F.U. Magazine.

Whether or not you’re able to or interested in voting for David, however, please do vote. We are a notoriously apathetic country when it comes to our own political system, but change doesn’t happen on it’s own. There is always the risk that things may make a turn for the worse, but there is also the certitude that things will not improve unless we act. In the end, it is up to each of us to not only be the change we want to see in the world, but also to push for that change. Voting in a flawed system might not be the perfect solution, but it can be a step in the right direction.