Cod Only Knows : The Guardian Reader's Conscience

The Guardian asks the all important question - can we eat cod with a clear conscience?

And I guess the thing is, if you're the Guardian there's actually nothing you can encourage your readers to do with a clear conscience. Or there would be no point being the Guardian. No food is clean enough, no relationship good enough, no attitudes progressive enough to have a clear conscience. If the Guardian were around when Jesus fed the hungry by miraculously  multiplying fish and bread, Polly Toynbee would have  popped up to tell him that the bread was not accredited GMO-free, and asked why Jesus hadn't handed it all over to the Roman authorities for more equitable distribution. George Monbiot would write an article complaining that the uncontrolled disposal of fish bones was artificially changing the fertility of the local soil.

Then Andrew Brown would write that, while clearly the whole loaves and fishes thing was fictional, Jesus was using the miracle to distract our attention from the pressing need for a more inclusive 1st Century Church.

This among a load of dating ads for "Rich men looking for slave girls/boys."

So no of course you can't eat cod with a clear conscience. You can't do anything with a clear conscience. The law of unintended consequences means there will always be some downside, that you can't imagine, that the Guardian will make you feel bad about later.

But still, bright side. You may not have a clear conscience. But at least you'll know you're still morally superior to the people who don't read the Guardian.