This issue of Vegan Views brings a little modernisation. Some of the pages have been produced with the aid of a word processor, which makes it easier to correct mistakes and we hope will give a clearer print.

So we can move forward with new technology when it is useful and harmless, but in this issue we also condemn genetic engineering, which is a brilliant technological achievement but used for misguided ends and employs cruel means.

Although our modern technology flies light years away from our past, our moral and social understanding seems to have moved little over the centuries, unwilling to change and clinging to history for solutions. History may recall heroic deeds, but in looking back we can also see a mass of misguided errors, unjust societies, false attitudes and stupid mistakes. If we look back, we should not copy the past but look on it as based on ideas unsuited to the modern age. Just as science and technology move forward, morals and society must build anew, based on where we are now and where we want to go.

Our ancestors may well have gone into the woods where wild animals roamed freely and abundantly and they shot arrows that killed one or two of the herd. Today forests and wild life are fast disappearing. Millions of specially bred animals are imprisoned in dark sheds to suit our purposes. Past societies were very different, but our attitudes do not seem to have changed. Those who can be indifferent to animal suffering and manipulate animals for their needs can also be capable of accepting that other human beings exist for their satisfaction and think nothing of manipulating and torturing them.

Veganism shows a way forward that can build a new world where compassion is paramount and all the horrors of the past can be consigned to the dustbin of history. As summer comes we no longer look back to the winter that has passed, but look forward to the brighter days ahead.

So veganism draws us forward into a warm and sunny future.