ABSTRACT
Moral values habitually cast as absolute and eternal are demonstrably anything but: what is seen as morally acceptable can and does vary enormously between individuals, places and periods. Perhaps as crucially, the definition of those regarded as 'like ourselves' and so deserving of consideration, is seldom a simple matter. When, amid an epidemic of BSE publicity, stories spread of Indian Hindus offering sanctuary to British cattle threatened with culling, the British media responded mainly with facetious amusement at such sentimentality towards beasts.
