Just when you think the human race can't sink any lower...

... we manage to outdo even our own barbarity. 90 per cent of the ocean's mega predators are gone (see here), and the practice of lopping off fins from sharks and them dumping them back in the sea to die a slow, painful death over a matter of weeks makes me sick to the core.

In many ways we are the ultimate alien species, invading every corner of this planet and leaving destruction and extinction in our wake. When we moan about pests and vermin - rats, foxes, bindweed, whatever - we're attacking species that are small fry compared to us. We're top of the food chain and consider ourselves superior to everyone else when in reality we're the worst possible form of life imaginable - completely oblivious to anything else but our own narrow, selfish desires.

You, me, everyone - we're a cancer and you know what happens when the cancer finally finishes off its victim? It too dies. But cancer isn't self-aware so has no idea about what it's doing to its host - what's your excuse?