Sir, - At the risk of flogging a dead horse (or should that be cow?), I am once more bemused by the self-delusion practised by a carnivorous correspondent, Pat Lahiff of Galway (January 27th), who objects to your portrayal of the inside of an abattoir. He writes: "It is a side of the food industry that none of us - farmers, consumers, and especially children - need to be shown in such graphic and almost obscene detail."
Why not, Mr Lahiff? Why should people such as you not be made aware of the suffering of innocent animals destined for the table? Are you, perhaps, feeling a little discomfited? Will the Sunday joint not taste quite so succulent any more? Do such graphic illustrations cause you to be put in danger of losing the courage of your culinary convictions? Will the sales of spring lamb plummet this year, as people suddenly realise - gosh, yes, there is a connection between this stuff under the mint sauce and those cute little woolly creatures we saw in the fields last week?
Or maybe Mr Lahiff did not realise, up to this, that animals actually have to make the supreme sacrifice in order to end up on our plates. - Yours, etc.,
D.K. Henderson, Castle Avenue, Clontarf, Dublin 3.