Tony Blair misses the point on animal terror

Tony Blair finally comes out against animal extremists now the case against the Darley Oak campaigners has been safely won. But while he is at least pointing in the right direction now, he still manages to miss the point. He said that these vicious fools were 'out of touch with public opinion', as if what they did would have been fine if more people thought that guinea pigs were people. That is to give up on truth altogether in favour of what is popular. It is utter moral insanity, and a sign of decadent thought in a civilisation far from health. He may be signing a petition, but he knows too many of his party's supporters are fond of animal rights claptrap -- Labour were elected in 1997 on a platform of ending animal experiments, after all. When people start talking about 'the tiny minority of animal rights activists' who stoop to violence, you know we are in as much trouble over this as over Islamist terror. As there, the point is not how many will act in this way, but how deep is the attachment to and justification for violence, and how wide the sea of support in which such vile people hide.