‘Busy’ doesn’t even begin to cover it this week. Meetings and votes in the Brussels Parliament took up much of my time, while on Wednesday, I hosted a high profile briefing on the future use of animals in medical research with the well known primatologist Dr Jane Goodall DBE. The event brought together a number of scientific experts and animal welfare NGOs, with the focus really being on finding ways to establish an EU strategy for replacing animal testing with alternatives. Dr Goodall even suggested creating a Nobel Prize for those who prove successful in their efforts. The meeting garnered a fair amount of press coverage, which is great as it means that the campaign is being pushed further up the agenda.
Presenting the case for alternatives to animals in research, with Dr Jane Goodall DBE (centre) and Dr Gill Langley from Dr Hadwen Trust
Moving on, I had been invited to appear on BBC Question Time next Thursday and was looking forward to having some time to think about it beforehand. But on Wednesday, the Question Time team asked if I could do it this week instead - which didn’t leave me much time to prepare! Co-ordinating my transport from Brussels to Lincoln was a bit of a headache; standing on what turned out to be the wrong platform at a station in Retford, I was so engrossed in my notes for the evening’s programme that I completely missed my connection! Nevertheless, I got there in one piece and was fairly pleased with how the show went. Tory MP Eric Pickles and Labour ex-Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon showed the true extent of their green credentials - ie, limited - while I think I made a positive contribution in the topical debate over fuel duty and road tax. I was none too impressed when Mr Dimbleby interrupted my perfectly reasonable response to a question on the Labour leadership crisis though - the cheek!
