Another day, another UKIP dog whistle. Fancy that!

You will recall that when Talleyrand died, Metternich is supposed to have asked ‘What did he mean by that?’ Say this for Nigel Farage: he’s no Talleyrand. Subtlety is not part of the UKIP genome. Take, for instance, a Kipper press release issued this afternoon. I confess I had not hitherto been aware of UKIP’s alliance with the RSPCA and the British Veterinary Association. So it was good to discover that Mr Farage’s party is calling for a ‘ban on the non-stun slaughter’ of animals. I wonder what they mean by that? Oh. You see:

“We find the government response to this issue is [sic] weak, lazy and bordering on spineless. It says it would “prefer” animals to be stunned before slaughter but that it must “respect the rights of Jewish and Muslim communities to eat meat in accordance with their beliefs.”   “It’s about time someone stood up for the rights of the silent majority in the ethical treatment of animals instead of bowing down to those who shout the loudest.