Why Nato is calling for Cold War levels of defence spending

Nato chief Mark Rutte has called for a 400 per cent boost to air and missile capabilities and his demand to raise defence spending across the alliance to five per cent has raised the voices of doom to a scream.

A return to Cold War levels of defence spending is not, however an hysterical plea from a lackey of the military-industrial complex.

It is a sad acknowledgement that the peace dividend that came with the collapse of the Soviet Union has been squandered by the West in a pointless war in Afghanistan and a criminal conflict in Iraq which expanded the lists of peoples with a good reason to hate democracy.

But there were plenty around already. Vladimir Putin is one of them, Xi Jinping is another – Donald Trump is rushing to their ranks. Autocracy is on the rise around the world while democracies have been consumed by complacency.

“Wishful thinking will not keep us safe,” said Rutte, who called for Nato to become a “stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance”.

“The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence. The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defence plans in full.

“The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends.”

He’s right, of course. But he is the secretary general of a military alliance. He is banging the drum for more money because he wants to see the return to the days when MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction, was the sword that hung over every head on the planet.

In the bad old days, nuclear war was the horror that kept the peace between the superpowers. They pursued their rivalries through proxies – often in Africa.

Marxist Mozambique, Angola, and Ethiopia endured civil wars for decades while western-backed rebels battled the Moscow-backed governments from the 60s to the 80s.

Sometimes, as in Vietnam and Korea, the west sent its forces into war – but overwhelmingly the suffering for the ideological schism that split the world was in what was then known as the Third World.

In South America, CIA-baked coups removed leaders who were deemed too “commie-inclined” by Washington where republicans and democrats were terrified of reds getting under beds in their back yards. Kennedy’s clash with Khrushchev came close to WW3 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

But it was the ability of the West to outspend the Soviet Union that brought the Iron Curtain down on the Soviet Empire.

The Soviets spent between 10 and 20 per cent of GDP on the military while Nato was spending half that. Moscow depended on high oil process for its economic wellbeing while its collectivisation of farming and industrial policies stifled innovation. When oil crashed from $120/barrel to the mid $20s/barrel in the 1980s, the social and political necessity for reform became overwhelming.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia is estimated to spend at least 7.2 per cent of its GDP on the military, but this does not account for social welfare payments or the costs of administering the occupied territories in Ukraine.

A cheap option for Putin in splitting the attention of the West has been to encourage semi-autonomous private military companies to operate in north Africa – like the proxies of the Cold War.

Groups like Wagner have expanded their operations in Mali, Niger, from the Sahel to Khartoum, drawing resources and focus away from Ukraine.

But in Europe, Rutte said, Nato seems to be no match for Russia.

“Our militaries also need thousands more armoured vehicles and tanks, millions more artillery shells, and we must double our enabling capabilities, such as logistics, supply, transportation and medical support,” he said.

Cuts in military spending after the Cold War ended were based on the assumption that a western-style way of life would be adopted in Russia.

But the country largely fell into gangsterism and is seen by many there to have been rescued by Putin’s more organized oligarchic kleptocracy underpinned by vigorous Soviet-style fear and denunciation of “The West”.

It may be a Moscow myth that Nato covets the Russian Federation but it is one that is believed widely in Putin’s realm.

That the West is somehow always going to be safe for democracy is an equally dangerous delusion, Rutte suggested.

“Wishful thinking will not keep us safe. We cannot dream away the danger… Hope is not a strategy. So Nato has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance.”

In the UK, Sir Keir Starmer has committed to spend 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence from April 2027, with a goal of increasing that to 3 per cent over the next parliament, a timetable which could stretch to 2034.

But this is well short of what is needed, according to the Nato chief.

Mr Rutte’s visit to the UK comes after he proposed members of the bloc spend 5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence as part of a strengthened investment plan for the alliance.

The target would require nations to raise core defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP, while the remaining 1.5 per cent to be made up of “defence-related expenditure”.

Nato leaders will meet in The Hague later this month, when the 5 per cent spending target by 2035 will be discussed. The leaders gathered in the Hague will all agree that more must be spent.

Few, if any, will know how to sell that idea to their voters.

But, as Rutte warned: “If we don’t do this you better learn to speak Russian.”

Secret video reveals gas chamber deaths of egg industry hens

Secretly recorded footage reveals hens apparently writhing in distress and desperately trying to escape as they are suffocated to death to provide meat for supermarkets including Tesco.

In what’s thought to be the first-ever video of its kind, the birds are seen twisting their necks as they are killed with carbon dioxide. They are also heard gasping for breath and emitting high-pitched shrieks.

The recording – which activists say was made at an abattoir endorsed by RSPCA Assured – shows hens being lowered into the gas chamber and dying over the course of several minutes.

Critics said the scenes laid bare the “horrors” behind egg production in the UK, including the fate of even free-range and organic hens.

Hens whose egg production has declined are dubbed “spent”, before they are killed and their carcasses are packaged for meat.

Animal-lovers have for years objected to the gassing of pigs with carbon dioxide, warning the animals “burn from the inside out” and suffer immensely in the last minutes of their lives.

Last year 99 per cent of “spent” hens were stunned and slaughtered with CO2; and 77 per cent of meat chickens were killed this way, according to government figures.

In recent years carbon dioxide as a slaughter method has gradually replaced electrical water bath stunning, which raised concerns over the inconsistency of stuns.

The footage, taken with hidden cameras, shows hens – female chickens used for laying eggs – twisting in distress as they die, and some birds apparently trying to escape.

The floor of the gas chamber was littered with dead birds that had jumped out of the crates, according to activist, filmmaker and vegan advocate Joey Carbstrong, who installed the cameras.

Mr Carbstrong and other activists say they shot the video at an abattoir in West Yorkshire run by HCF Poultry. The company denies it was shot at its premises.

HCF supplies Cranswick Foods, one of the UK’s largest meat producers, which processes the hens into chicken meat products widely sold in Britain.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by either Cranswick or the abattoir as using CO2 is an entirely lawful way to slaughter chickens. However, Mr Carbstrong said the video exposed “the callous treatment of free-range hens when they are no longer profitable”.

“This footage dismantles the industry’s carefully curated image of ‘happy hens’ and reveals the horrifying truth of how these sensitive birds are discarded,” he said.

“The public are being misled by labelling and have a right to know the reality behind what they are buying.”

Mr Carbstrong added: “Egg-laying hens have been genetically manipulated to produce around 300 eggs per year – far beyond the 10 to 15 eggs naturally laid by their ancestor, the red junglefowl.

“This excessive egg production takes a severe toll on their bodies in multiple ways. Regardless of whether they are free-range, barn-kept or caged, most hens are crammed by the tens of thousands into filthy sheds, where disease runs rampant and cannibalism of dead and dying birds is widespread.

“After just 18 months of relentless exploitation, they are forced to experience a terrifying and agonising death, before being processed into food products.”

The Independent has previously revealed one case of hens being kept in “cruelly overcrowded” cages with insufficient water and another when sick and dying hens were found alongside living ones at a free-range egg farm supplying leading supermarkets as well as Marks & Spencer.

Around 35 million “spent” hens a year are killed for their meat, figures show. HCF can process 10,500 birds per hour, according to a document from 2018, the latest available.

Jenny L Mace, an associate lecturer in animal welfare at the University of Winchester, wrote in a report on the footage that the most concerning findings were the high-pitched shrieks, gasping, collisions with equipment, and chickens falling against one another and out of the crates.

“Without use of a significantly less aversive gas or gas mixture, it is difficult to see how this method equates to 1) a viable (high-welfare) replacement to the former slaughter method of shackling chickens upside down and stunning in a water bath, and 2) a humane death or the purpose of stunning,” she wrote.

She said CO2 caused respiratory distress, and describing it as an anaesthetic “may be misleading” because of the distress inhaling it causes.

“There is no suggestion of this case being a ‘bad apple’; this is standard practice and in accordance with legislation,” she wrote.

Andrew Opie, of the British Retail Consortium, said on behalf of Tesco and other supermarkets: “Our members know how important animal welfare is to their customers and take their responsibilities to animal welfare very seriously to ensure that expected standards are being met.”

RSPCA Assured said the birds in the footage were already unconscious and were not in pain.

A spokesperson said the footage was deeply upsetting but that carbon dioxide was permitted under RSPCA welfare standards, adding: “However, RSPCA standards set requirements that go above the law to ensure a more humane process.

“Due to their physiology, when birds lose consciousness their brains no longer have control over their bodies – which can cause involuntary movements as seen in the footage. This can be incredibly difficult to watch but the birds are actually unconscious when this happens, and are not experiencing pain.”

Cranswick Foods did not respond to a request to comment.

Trump stumbles on steps up to Air Force One

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both stumbled as they boarded Air Force One on Sunday on their way to Camp David.

The stumble came after Trump gaggled with reporters in Hagerstown, Maryland, when he was asked if he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to the protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles.

“Depends on whether or not there’s an insurrection,” said Trump.

A reporter asked if he believes there is an insurrection taking place.

“No, no, but you have violent people,” he added. “And we’re not going to let them get away with it.”

Asked if he would deploy troops even without invoking the Insurrection Act, Trump said, “We’re going to have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden.”

Trump frequently mocked former President Joe Biden for the stumbles he took during his time in office. This time, it was Trump facing the mockery of social media users.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t replaced those stairs with a portable escalator of some kind,” RC Huffman said.

“Time to get Old Man Trump fitted for a wheelchair,” said Ron Filipkowski.

Northwestern law lecturer Jason DeSanto added: “More beta energy.”

“When Joe Biden did stuff like this, Fox would play the clips over and over like it was as significant as the moon landing,” journalist Aaron Rupar noted.

“Cannot wait for all the books and wall-to-wall coverage,” political strategist Marco Frieri said.

In the summer of 2023, Trump mocked Biden for falling at the Air Force graduation ceremony in Colorado.

He said it was “not inspiring” for the graduates to have seen the then-president take a tumble over a sandbag.

“I hope he wasn’t hurt. I hope he wasn’t hurt…You don’t want that,” said Trump during a campaign event in Iowa.

He then pointed back to when he tiptoed down a ramp in 2020 at the Army’s West Point graduation ceremony.

“The whole thing is crazy, you have got to be careful about that, you don’t want that even if you have to tiptoe down a ramp,” he said at the time.

He added that the ramp was “like an ice-skating rink.”

Following the 2024 election and Biden’s departure from the campaign in the summer of 2024, leaving then-Vice President Kamala Harris to pick up the mantle, there has been widespread reporting regarding Biden’s physical and mental struggles as he aged in office.

It has been reported that aides discussed the use of a wheelchair if Biden had won a second term in the White House.

Family pay tribute to ‘funny, caring’ boy, 14, stabbed to death

A 14-year-old boy who died after being stabbed in north Manchester on Sunday has been named as Ibrahima Seck.

Ibrahima’s parents paid tribute to their son on Monday as a “funny, caring and hardworking” boy, who was “so smiley and always made everybody laugh”.

He was found with stab wounds as officers responded to reports of a serious assault on Nevin Road in New Moston at around 5pm on Sunday.

The teenager ran to a house nearby after being injured, telling the resident, “I don’t want to die”, the Manchester Evening News reported.

After being found by police, Ibrahima was rushed from the scene in an air ambulance but later died in hospital, according to police.

Following initial investigations, detectives established the identities of possible suspects and – after attending a nearby property – a 37-old woman was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

Shortly afterwards, two boys aged 14 and 16 were arrested on suspicion of murder. Another 14-year-old boy was later also arrested on suspicion of murder.

A 14-year-old girl was also arrested overnight on suspicion of assisting an offender.

All four suspects remain in custody for questioning, Greater Manchester Police said.

In a tribute to their son, Ibrahima’s family said: “Ibrahima was a well-liked young boy. He was funny, caring, and hardworking. He was our best friend, and he looked after me.

“He was so smiley and always made everybody laugh. He was a good boy. The killers have killed two people: me and my son. Why would anyone do this to him?”

In a statement on Monday morning, Detective Chief Inspector John Charlton said: “This incident will have shocked and saddened the local community, and distressed anyone who witnessed it.

“We are deploying significant resources to this murder investigation, and this led to quickly identifying potential suspects.

“We are still trying to establish the full circumstances around the incident – there will be a large police presence and several scenes in place while we continue to investigate this horrific incident.

“The boy’s family are being supported by our officers and we are determined to give them the answers they deserve.

“Despite making several arrests, this is still a live investigation, and we are looking for information, doorbell or dashcam footage, or eye-witness accounts from anyone who was in the area at the time quoting log 2250 of 8/6/25.”

He added: “We will provide updates to the family and the community as the investigation continues.”

This is a breaking news story, more to follow…

The 7 best outdoor adventures in Sydney and New South Wales

Whether you’re lacing up your hiking boots, throwing on a wetsuit to catch some waves, or hitting the wide-open roads of New South Wales (NSW) by campervan, this Australian state is home to some of the country’s most exciting outdoor adventures – all easily accessible thanks to Qantas’ extensive domestic network.

Flying into Sydney with Qantas is the ideal way to experience a slice of Australia before you’ve even landed. And with onboard wellbeing perks, plus the option to book more discounted domestic legs using Qantas Explorer, it really is the savvy traveller’s best way to explore Australia.

Here are seven next-level outdoor adventures in NSW, and the best way to get there.

Sydney might be a modern metropolis, but it’s also home to an extraordinary natural playground, the star attraction of which is Sydney Harbour National Park. This protected area weaves through the city’s coastline, offering walking trails, secluded beaches, and panoramic views that blend wild bushland with iconic urban landmarks. Away from the National Park, you can paddle a kayak at dawn beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, go on a cycle tour and sunset cruise around Manly and North Heads coastal cliffs, or follow the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk for sweeping ocean views and refreshing swim spots.

Just a 90-minute trip from Sydney by road, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains is an endless landscape of towering eucalyptus forests and striking sandstone cliffs as far as the eye can see. There are few places quite as grand as this so close to a city. Don your hiking boots and traverse spectacular scenery to Wentworth Falls or take on the Grand Canyon Track – a 6km loop of dramatic cliffs, fern-fringed valleys and thundering waterfalls with lookouts to match. If you’re an early riser, watch the sunrise at Echo Point, where the Three Sisters rock formation is lit up by the glow of first light.

Wildlife lovers need to head north to Port Macquarie for some of the best marine encounters on the east coast. Humpback whales are almost guaranteed from May to November, and dolphins can be spotted all year round. For front-row views, jump on a whale-watching cruise, or pitch up with a picnic on a headland and watch the breaching giants from afar.

Swap the sandy beaches for subtropical rainforest in Coffs Harbour’s hinterland in Dorrigo National Park, where winding roads serpentine through flourishing banana plantations, dense palm-filled forest and endless rolling hills. The region’s cycling trails range from casual loops to more challenging rides with jaw-to-the-floor sea views.

Aussies love their surfing, and Byron Bay is the epitome of surf culture Down Under, with beaches to suit all skill levels; from the gentle swell at The Pass to barrel-laden breaks at Tallows. If you’ve got any stamina left, soak up the view from Cape Byron Lighthouse post-surf – the easternmost point of mainland Australia.

With over 8,000 islands to its name, Australia offers the ultimate in island adventures. Lord Howe is one of them, a UNESCO World Heritage-listed pristine island, where only 400 visitors are allowed at any one time. You’ll find rare birds, kaleidoscopic coral reefs, and Mount Gower, offering one of the best day hikes in the country, with epic coastline views and dizzying drops.

For those who need more than a beach stroll to get the heart pumping, grab a kayak and explore the Sapphire Coast from the water in Merimbula. Glide over crystal-clear waters, past secluded coves, pristine beaches, and the untouched beauty of surrounding national parks. Keep an eye out for dolphins and other marine life as you paddle. Once back on shore, refuel with the region’s famous fresh oysters and enjoy a refreshing dip at Bar Beach.

Book your flight to Sydney today at qantas.com and start your Australian adventure.

Full list of 19 countries hit by Trump travel ban as it comes into force

President Donald Trump’s order banning the citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States has come into force on Monday.

The directive, signed on Wednesday last week, is part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year at the start of his second term, which has also included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members, as well as efforts to deny enrollments of some foreign students and deport others.

“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X arguing the ban was designed to protect the country from “foreign terrorists”. He said the list could be revised and new countries could be added.

Follow The Independent’s live blog on Donald Trump’s feud with Elon Musk here.

The proclamation came into effect at 12:01 am EDT (04:01 GMT) on Monday. Visas issued before that date will not be revoked, the order said.

Trump said in a social media address that a recent Molotov cocktail attack on Jewish activists in Colorado, allegedly carried out by an Egyptian man, highlighted the need for such restrictions.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman, the alleged attacker, remained in the U.S. after his travel visa and subsequent work authorization expired, according to the government.

“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme danger posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas,” Trump said from the Oval Office. “We don’t want them.”

During his first term in office, Trump announced a ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Former President Joe Biden repealed that ban on nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”

Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security and have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.

“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump cited a range of reasons for placing 19 countries under new travel bans or restrictions in the U.S.

They include allegations of lax screening of travelers, “a significant terrorist presence” in its territory, a government that wasn’t cooperative enough in accepting deported citizens or residents who were prone to overstaying their visas in the United States.

Here are the 12 countries placed under the ban, and the seven placed under travel restrictions:

Trump’s proclamation declares that there is not a reliable central authority for vetting nationals who leave the country, or for issuing passports, therefore raising the risk of national security.

A spokesperson for the Taliban-led Afghan foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Citizens from Chad were accused of having high visa overstay rates in the U.S., the proclamation said.

The high rate of visa overstays by immigrants from Chad, which has a population just under 20 million, showed a “blatant disregard for United States immigration laws”, the proclamation read.

The entry of immigrants to the US from Equatorial Guinea, a small central African country of under two million people, has been fully suspended by the U.S..

This is on account of the high rate of visa overstays, The White House said.

The central African country of more than six million people sits west of the Congo River.

It was suspended for alleged high visa overstay rates, the proclamation stated.

The US says criminal records for Eritrean nationals are not available in the U.S., and accuses the country of refusing to accept back its “removable nationals”

Questioning the “competence of the central authority” and pointing to a high rate of visa overstay of Eritrean immigrants, the US has imposed a full ban on the northeast African country of around 3.5 million.

The White House said in the proclamation that “hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian aliens flooded into the United States during the Biden Administration”.

The increase in migration from Haiti has increased national security rates and the establishment of criminal networks, it said, adding that Haitian authorities do not sufficiently ensure its nationals do not undermine U.S. security.

Iran, one of the most powerful countries in the MIddle East with a population of 90 million, has a long history of tense relations with the U.S.

“Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism,” the proclamation reads. “Iran regularly fails to cooperate with the United States Government in identifying security risks, is the source of significant terrorism around the world, and has historically failed to accept back its removable nationals.”

The US alleges that Libya does not have a competent authority for issuing passports, adding that the “historical terrorist presence” in the country poses a risk to U.S. nationals.

A full ban has been imposed on the north African country.

Myanmar has failed to cooperate with the U.S. to “accept back their removable nationals”, the White House says, while immigrants from the war-torn nation have a high visa overstay rate in the US.

A full ban has been imposed on immigration from the southeast Asian nation.

Somalia “stands apart from other countries in the degree to which its government lacks command and control of its territory”, the White House said.

The Trump administration has described the east African country as a “terrorist safe haven” which has refused to accept the return of its “removable nationals” and poses a threat to the U.S.

Migration from Sudan, which the U.S. says has a high visa overstay rate and does not have appropriate vetting measures for its emigrants, has been fully suspended.

Millions of people have been displaced in Sudan and fled the country altogether, as it remains in the grip of a brutal civil war with devastating humanitarian consequences.

The Yemeni government does not have physical control over its own territory, the U.S. says, and does not sufficiently vet those leaving the country, the proclamation states.

The U.S. has also engaged in military operations on Yemeni territory with the Houthi rebel group, it notes.

Burundi, the east African country of 13 million people, has seen a partial ban on immigration of its citizens to the U.S.

The validity of nonimmigrant visas will be reduced as far as the law allows, the proclamation states.

The Trump administration describes Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, adding that it fails to share “sufficient law enforcement information with the United States”.

Barack Obama had sought an easing of relations with Cuba on the back-end of his presidency, something which has since been reversed by presidents Trump and Biden.

Immigrants from Laos are accused by the U.S. of having high overstay rates. The country’s government does not accept back nationals who have been removed from the U.S., the proclamation adds.

Entry of nationals from Laos, the southeast Asian country of 7.6 million, has therefore been suspended.

Sierra Leone, the west African country where the U.S. attempted to bring peace during a civil war in the 1990s, has been added to the partial suspension.

The proclamation cites high visa overstay rates, and accuses the government of failing to accept returned immigrants.

Togo, in West Africa, has been added to the list on account of the high overstay rates of its immigrants to the U.S., the White House proclamation read.

“These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants,” Trump said.

Turkmenistan has also seen migration of its citizens to the U.S. restricted due to alleged high visa overstay rates.

The central Asian country has a population of 7.3 million.

As of January 2025, there were approximately 607,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S., according to the Migration Policy Institute.

The proclamation states that a high number of these immigrants overstayed their visa, and accused the country of failing to have strong vetting processes for its nationals who emigrate.

Chad president Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to U.S. citizens in response to Trump’s action.

“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.

Somalia immediately pledged to work with the U.S. to address security issues.

“Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised,” Dahir Hassan Abdi, the Somali ambassador to the United States, said in a statement.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro, responded on Wednesday evening by describing the U.S. government as fascist and warning Venezuelans of being in the U.S.

“The truth is being in the United States is a big risk for anybody, not just for Venezuelans … They persecute our countrymen, our people for no reason.”

Trump’s presidential campaign focused on a tough border strategy and he previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”

Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats.

Vegetarians are more power-hungry than meat eaters, research suggests

Vegetarians are more likely to seek power and prize achievements over their meat-eating counterparts, new research has suggested.

A study which assessed the values of more than 3,500 adults in Poland and the United States found that the 800 participants who were vegetarian were most likely to align themselves with values that improved their social status.

Those included higher levels of personal ambition and a keener appetite for “novelty and challenge in life”.

Meanwhile, meat-eaters were found to align themselves closer to values of tradition, such as respecting established norms, and conformity, meaning a desire not to upset others and to comply with socially accepted conventions.

They also placed more emphasis on benevolence, such as kindness towards friends and family, and security.

Professor John Nezlek of SWPS University in Warsaw, who led the research, told The Times said: “There’s this long association between meat and masculinity. It’s far more common for women to adopt vegetarianism than men, and there are three main reasons that people become vegetarians: health, the environment and animal welfare ethics.

“When you pile all of that together, you might start to think that vegetarians would be more benevolent, a little less assertive, generally more ‘huggy’ people — but I found the complete opposite.”

Participants in both Poland and the US were handed brief sketches of fictional individuals accompanied by descriptions, such as: “Being very successful is important to him. He likes to impress other people.”

They were then asked to rank how much they related to the character from a scale of one to six.

The report found that those who follow a vegetarian diet were likely to be independent thinkers who are not afraid to “march to the beat of a different drum”, given that they are a minority in many countries.

“In the face of such beliefs and in the face of the experiences of rejection and criticism that may accompany the expression of such beliefs vegetarians need to be committed and hold their beliefs strongly,” the report found.

It concluded: “The present results suggest that although vegetarians may be more sensitive to the pain and suffering of animals and may be more aware of threats to the environment than non-vegetarians, this sensitivity and awareness do not reflect the basic human value of benevolence.

“Moreover, the present results suggest that vegetarians hold values consistent with being members of a social minority who are willing to stand by their principles. Although the present studies leave important questions unanswered, they suggests a path forward.”