Compassionate World

Looking back on the last year has taught me how far we’ve come as a movement and how much further we need to go, and fast

In the run up to the festive break, I found myself in Windsor Castle surrounded by a gathering of minds focused on gamechangers.

I remember it like yesterday: thirty years ago, and my first trek up the Cairngorms. My best pal Richard and I were keen to get our first glimpse of some of Scotland’s finest mountain wildlife.

As we approach the festive holidays, it’s only natural to look back over the past year and reflect on what we’ve achieved and what might have been.

Two years ago, world leaders gathered in Glasgow for crucial talks on tackling climate change. That meeting saw government pledges that narrowed the gap between a liveable future and catastrophe.

Goodness, it’s been a rollercoaster ride beyond compare. I wrote previously about how this year was a big one in prospect, not least because of the coronation of a new King and a possible ban on live animal exports, a

Three year old Esme with her beloved scooter and rescue dog, Baloo ‘In a world of sharp words, stony glances, concrete hearts and hardened minds, be the softest place’ Jen Brady A friend’s 3-year-old granddaughter had recently learnt to ride her scooter.

As I shivered in the fading light, the wait seemed eternal. Everywhere was cold and quiet, the kind of brittle stillness where the snap of a twig rippled through the air. For ages, nothing happened. Then came an evocative sound

Browsing the shelves of major supermarkets these days and you’ll be hard pressed to find any eggs from caged hens.

Outside our bedroom window is a cow barn so close I could bounce a ball off it. It’s where our neighbour’s forty cows stay during the winter. Living so close to cows, you get to know their habits. Their favourite