January gets a bad rap. As the first Creme Egg muscles its way past the last yellow-stickered box of mince pies on the supermarket shelf, the return to work is made all the more painful by the dark, chilly mornings, and the tree – once a beacon of eager anticipation and festive sparkle – being reduced to a crispy carpet of brown needles on the floor.
As for accountants, most are so deeply entrenched in busy season, drowning in a sea of tax returns, they barely have time to make new year’s resolutions, let alone stick to them.
Personally, I’m not a fan of Dry January. Not least because it’s my birthday this month and I want everyone to party with me. However, I did indulge in one January trend six years ago and never looked back. Veganuary – going vegan for January. Everyone knows that vegans love talking about veganism. (How do you work out if someone is vegan? You don’t need to, they’ll tell you!) So it would be remiss of me to let the chance of my column falling in Veganuary slide by.
Most people are aware by now of the compelling environmental, health and animal welfare arguments for ditching animal products, with many conceding to a flexitarian diet, or meat-free Mondays at a push. But taste is king and despite the exponential rise in plant-based offerings in supermarkets, restaurants and fast-food chains, very few have made the switch to a vegan lifestyle.
I spoke to Keith Lesser, founder of Vegan Accountants UK, to explore whether the answer could lie in taxation…
