The Mystery of Merlin the Circus Donkey That Never Was.

"Nellie" the elephant may well have packed her trunk and said goodbye to the circus but in the case of "Merlin" the donkey this never happened because he was never in a circus in the first place.

Anyone who was on Facebook with an interest in circuses on the night of 4 August 2015 would have been alerted to to a link by the donkey and horse sanctuary in Cornwall called the Flicka Foundation. In a posting, this group made an allegation that one of their donkeys "Merlin" was rescued from an abusive situation in a circus. The Foundation also made various "factual" claims regarding abuse in circuses in general. Unfortunately they could not provide any references or evidence supporting this position. Due to this a number of circus supporters politely commented on this thread posting various facts and examples of why we did not believe that in general circuses with animals are by their nature cruel.

The Beauty of Reason by Anna Webb

Image via Wikipedia

Once again a piece  by Anna Webb who is fast becoming the Queen of this blog. The plain common sense in her writing shines out, it makes editing very difficult but it does make for compulsive reading   

My dad is fond of a saying: “Under 30 if you are not a communist you have no heart. Over 30 if you are still a communist you have no brain”. Ignoring the politics, I broadly agree with the concept. Most people start out in life with dreamy ideals, and over time reality beats them into a completely different shape. That seems to be part of the natural process of growing up and gathering experiences, and, while giving up a utopia is sad, I can’t see any problem with it. What I do see a problem with is quite the opposite – people who hold ideals and ethics that make no practical sense, without any basis on reality, and which sometimes would result in very negative outcomes if they were carried out.