As always, my vegan and vegetarian acquaintances speak of the planet and saving wildlife as a reason to stop eating animals or exploiting them and I get their argument.

Sadly their assumption of the high moral ground doesn't ever take into account the tiny animals who die in their billions on every field of salads and vegetables.

Everyone is very aware of the voles and bats and skylarks who remain the stuff of children's story books and exist in our consciousness as the photogenic cuddly fluffy things, but do the veggies ever take into account the ugly bugs swarming over our land? These animals die in countless numbers and didn't get a mention.

My pork chop involved the controlled and regulated and humane death of one pig. Your chickpea salad probably arrived on your plate at the expense of hundred or thousands of greenfly and beetles. They can't be overlooked any more than your spring lamb.

Life is life — it's a dilemma.

Marcus Jervis writes persuasively and eloquently — he just chooses not to see the bigger picture.