Right then. I think we've reached a watershed point in the waging of culture wars, and Conservatives ought to see it, and act on it. I wrote this today: What kind of person would drag autistic children into the culture wars? The Kemi Badenoch kind www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What kind of person would drag autistic children into the culture wars? The Kemi Badenoch kind | John Harris

The Tory leadership hopeful paints a picture of special treatment. As the father of an autistic child, I can tell you that’s a lie, says Guardian columnist John Harris

The government has set out to crush one of the world’s greatest natural wonders, and an entire field of science supports this vandalism. This week’s column is about the *exploitation mindset* and how it corrupts almost everyone. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A wondrous fish has made a miraculous return to UK seas. Why are ministers so keen to see them all killed? | George Monbiot

We should be celebrating the revival of the bluefin tuna – but a ravenous fishing industry is already licking its lips, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Fish! Do they have feelings? Now everyone wants to know about the emotional lives of fish! | First Dog on the Moon

Fish! Do they have feelings? Now everyone wants to know about the emotional lives of fish! | First Dog on the Moon

Do fish feel despair or longing? Do they yearn for a simpler time? Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...

1. You might not have heard of it, but the system supposed to protect us in England and Wales from #floodswww.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

More floods are coming to Britain, but you ought to know this: the system that should protect us is a scandal | George Monbiot

A network of public bodies are supposed to safeguard us from flooding. But, like old boys’ clubs, they are bastions of self-interest, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Children’s lives in the UK are changing. They are becoming shorter in height. More of them are going hungry than they were a few years ago. Recently, more have died each year than they did a few years ago. Increased poverty, more destitution & the effects of ongoing austerity are the clear culprits.

I know you advocate eating less meat. If we reduced meat production enough, perhaps farm animals could have good lives, instant deaths, minimal environmental impact. But is that reduction possible without more “repercussions”, more moral objections to breeding/killing sentient animals for food? 3/

It’s the repercussions that matter, isn’t it? Not whether an animal, or its species, understands death. We understand death, we’re doing the killing, we’re making the moral decisions. It’s up to us to object, to repercuss. The animals can’t, whether they want to or not. 2/

Yes, humans can create enough repercussions to stop humans being killed. When sentient animals are harmed and killed, at vast scale, for food, there are few repercussions, even though we humans understand what’s going on. Even when their lives aren’t good and their deaths aren’t instant. 1/

True. But wouldn’t it also not be OK to give a human a good life and an instant death even if they had no understanding of death?

I don’t quite understand. I’d have thought that the “good life” and the “instant death” were the most important factors here (albeit v. difficult to achieve, esp. at scale). Why is the animals’ knowledge of their own death so significant?