North Yorkshire County Council

STEVEN McCulloch's recent article raises important and timely questions about the role of the veterinary profession in addressing climate change, public health and animal welfare (VR, 17/24 January 2026, vol 198, p 95). Few farm vets would dispute the scale of the challenges outlined, nor the need for science-led change across global food systems. Where many in the profession may wish to add nuance is in how those changes are framed, implemented and communicated – particularly in a UK context. Farm vets work at the intersection of animal health, food production and environmental stewardship every day. We see firsthand that ‘animal agriculture’ is not a single, homogeneous activity. Different farming systems have markedly different impacts, and UK livestock production – across ruminant, monogastric and mixed systems – operates within a very different environmental, regulatory and welfare framework from many intensive global models that often dominate international datasets. UK farmers manage around 70 per cent of the country's land, much of which is permanent pasture, unsuitable for cropping, but well suited to ruminant livestock. These systems can support biodiversity, maintain soil carbon, protect landscapes and convert grass into high-quality, nutrient-dense food. Alongside these land-based systems, other UK livestock sectors, including poultry, play a key role in providing affordable, efficient sources of high-quality protein within tightly regulated production frameworks. From a planetary health perspective, the issue is therefore not simply one of ‘less versus more’ meat, but of what kind of meat, produced how and where. Balanced diets that include appropriate amounts of meat and dairy are well supported by nutritional science, particularly when those foods are produced to high welfare and environmental standards. UK-reared meat has relatively low food miles for UK consumers. It is produced under some of the world's most stringent animal welfare and antimicrobial use regulations and is subject to continuous veterinary oversight. Across sectors, this includes ongoing efforts to improve environmental performance, such as reducing reliance on imported feed ingredients, improving feed efficiency, and lowering the carbon footprint of production systems. Replacing this food with imported alternatives – whether animal or plant based – risks exporting environmental impact rather than reducing it. Farm vets also recognise the progress already made. Antimicrobial use in UK livestock has fallen dramatically over the past decade, driven by close collaboration between farmers and vets, improved husbandry and better disease prevention. Welfare outcomes in many sectors have improved for the same reasons. These gains are rarely the result of blunt targets alone, but of sustained, sector-specific change supported by veterinary expertise. At a time of significant economic pressure on UK agriculture, it is also vital to consider resilience and food security. Supporting domestic production reduces reliance on imports from countries with lower welfare or environmental standards, helps maintain rural economies and preserves the skills and infrastructure needed to adapt farming systems for the future. This applies across all livestock sectors, including those with more intensive housing and supply chains that face distinct sustainability challenges. Championing UK farmers is not about protecting the status quo, but about enabling them to continue improving while remaining economically viable. The veterinary profession is well placed to lead a constructive, evidence-based conversation about sustainable diets – one that acknowledges the need for moderation, reduction of waste and improvement in production systems, while also recognising the value of responsibly produced animal-source foods. Many vets already advocate ‘less and better’ not as a defence of profit, but as a pragmatic route to higher welfare, lower environmental impact and better public trust. “Rather than framing the debate as a binary choice between meat reduction and professional integrity, there is an opportunity to emphasise shared objectives

This article argues that there is no strong evidence for the continuity of the cult of St Alban at Verulamium from the fifth to the eighth century. The written evidence suggests rather that the martyr narrative and cult of Alban was created in Gaul and reimported to Britain through texts. The activity at late and post‐Roman Verulamium is contextualized by comparing it with archaeological evidence from contemporary British sites. The article explores how the contrasts and connections between Britain and the Continent determined the survival of devotion to Alban.

Head acceleration events (HAEs) can potentially have adverse consequences for athlete brain health. In sports, in which head injuries have the highest incidence, identifying strategies to reduce HAE frequency and magnitude is a priority. Neck training is a potential strategy to mitigate against the magnitude of HAEs. This two-part study aimed to (1) systematically review the literature of neck training interventions in sport and (2) undertake an expert Delphi consensus on the best practices for neck training implementation to reduce HAEs in sport. Part I: a systematic search of four databases was undertaken from the earliest records to September 2024. The PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis) guidelines were followed, and a quality assessment was completed using a modified Downs and Black assessment tool and the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation). Papers were eligible if they both (1) implemented a reproducible exercise intervention targeting the neck within collision, combat or motor sport, and (2) assessed outcomes relating to either: the physical profile of the neck; head/neck injury incidence; and/or HAEs. Part II: 18 international experts, with experience in research and/or applied practice of neck exercise training, concussion and/or HAEs, reviewed the part I findings before completing a three-round Delphi consensus process. Part I included 21 papers, highlighting the heterogeneity of existing interventions. Part II resulted in 57 statements coded into five categories: contextual factors (n=17), neck training periodisation (n=12), training adaptations (n=10), neck training content (n=15) and athlete adherence (n=3). This study presents recommendations for neck exercise training aiming to reduce HAEs in sport, supporting both practice and future research.

Abstract A geriatric, 16‐year‐9‐month‐old, male snow leopard ( Panthera uncia ) under human care was necropsied after euthanasia over concerns for worsening chronic kidney disease and bilateral blindness. Gross and histological examinations revealed necrotising frontal sinusitis and osteomyelitis with mixed‐cellular rhinotracheitis, affecting the right frontal sinus, right nasal cavity and trachea, respectively, with intralesional and cilia‐associated Gram‐negative bacilli detected. Microbiological cultures were inconclusive, although Bordetella bronchiseptica and feline herpesvirus 1 were positive on PCR analysis. Immunohistochemistry, however, refuted active feline herpesvirus 1 involvement. Marked, chronic, bilateral, renal degeneration and fibrosis (chronic kidney disease), mild hepatic cirrhosis, bilateral chronic degenerative stifle joint disease and testicular intratubular seminoma were also detected on postmortem examination. No gross ocular or optic nerve lesions were identified; however, histology indicated bilateral diffuse outer retinal atrophy and retinal detachment, supportive of clinical blindness at time of death. This case represents the first report of chronic rhinosinusitis and osteomyelitis in a snow leopard.

The detailed study of the β + /EC decay of the very neutron-deficient and alpha-unbound nucleus 115 Cs is presented. The measurement was performed at the ISOLDE, CERN where delayed charged particles and γ rays were detected. The observed delayed γ rays are in agreement with the previously reported characteristics γ rays of 115 Xe. Based on the experimental observations, the tentative ground-state spin of 115 Cs is suggested to be 7/2 + or 9/2 + . Furthermore, the measured decay branching ratio of delayed protons exceeds the previously reported value. Additionally, new delayed α-branching ratio and several reconstructed proton and α-unbound excited states of 115 Xe are being reported for the first time. The properties of proton-unbound states at excitation energies from 3.9-7.9 MeV have been obtained by fitting the delayed proton spectrum via the Bayesian method. The measured lifetimes of these proton-unbound states are in the order of zeptoseconds.