Farmers confront Lumley over vegan talk

DAME JOANNA LUMLEY was confronted by disgruntled farmers after giving a speech calling the meat and dairy industries the “greatest source of animal cruelty on the planet”.

The vegetarian actress and campaigner delivered a lecture to a packed theatre in Oxford, telling the audience that she was increasingly turning to a vegan diet, and calling for the public to eat less animal products. Dame Joanna’s views were called out by farmers at the Oxford Literary Festival event.

The actress responded by saying she meant no “insult” with her lecture, in which she stated: “Farming animals is the greatest source of animal cruelty on the planet. The magnitude of it, you can’t even imagine it – 80 billion of them are slaughtered every year.”

At the end, a member of the audience rose to take issue with the speech. The woman told the star: “Could I just speak up on behalf of a farming family… Everybody I know farms with compassion.”

Dame Joanna said her comments were about factory farming in particular, but was then addressed by another woman who complained that the audience had “heard so much negative stuff today”, adding: “Where you all want to walk, and enjoy, is farmland.” Dame Joanna said her speech was too short to address all farming issues in depth.