They’re as intelligent as three-year-olds and make great pets. It was pigs who led the revolution in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, which turns 80 this month. But today, UK pig farming is in trouble.
Drive through the countryside and you’re unlikely to see family-run smallholdings home to a variety of animals as described by Orwell. Such farms have mostly been swallowed by larger, commercial operations; there are around 100,000 fewer farms in the UK today than there were in 1943, when Orwell was writing the book.
Pig farming has seen one of the sharpest declines. The pink porkers are falling out of favour, at least on the dinner table. Domestic pig keeping has largely been consigned to history and pork consumption is declining as consumers turn to cheaper, easier to prepare alternatives like poultry This trend adds to an already difficult set of circumstances for pig farmers. Like everyone in agriculture, they’re dealing with major structural problems. So, what’s next? Buy this week’s Big Issue to find out.
What else is in this week’s Big Issue?
Who and what’s really behind the anti-migrant protests?
Protests outside asylum hotels have once again kicked off around the UK. But who is organising them? Experts and campaigners alike claim that anti-migration activists are “parachuting” into communities to stoke tensions – just as they did last summer. “This is not just concerned local mums,” said Samira Ali, national officer with Stand up to Racism. “This is organised right-wing activism.”
The karmic art of Radiohead
Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and artist and writer Stanley Donwood met in the late 1980s at the University of Exeter, where they were both studying English literature and fine art. “Had a feeling I’d end up working with him,” Yorke said of Donwood. These instincts proved correct. Read our interview with Donwood in this week’s issue.
Leona Lewis’ Letter to My Younger Self
The singer had her heart broken by her first love at age 16, but her parents gave her the blueprint for her own couple goals.
