Foot And Mouth Spreads

Despite the Government’s supposedly swift action in the summer to curb the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease which originated from its own laboratories at Pirbright, the disease has continued to spread.

While Foot and Mouth is apparently among the most contagious forms of viral infection for cattle, and therefore it comes as little surprise that it does have a tendency to rapidly spread, the British farming industry continues to suffer greatly due once again to Government incompetence.

As Gordon Brown enjoys the fawning attention of the media in rainy Bournemouth, and speculation reaches fever pitch about whether or not he will call an early election (not that anything meaningful would actually change, except perhaps a few new faces crying ‘me too!’) the crisis in British farming continues unabated.

Farmers in this country have had a raw deal for years, and it very much looks like little will change under Gordon Brown. In fact, I wonder whether Labour will be discussing Foot and Mouth and British farming at their annual conference at all? I would guess probably not.

Foot And Mouth Returns

A second outbreak of foot and mouth has been confirmed inside the Government’s surveillance zone in Surrey, and it now looks pretty likely that the initial outbreak will be traced back to one of the nearby government laboratories.

Despite Flash Gordon to the rescue; returning from his holiday on the south coast of England, it would appear that he and the Labour Government have still not fully learnt from the catastrophic mistakes they made six years ago.

The livestock culled in this month’s first outbreak were taken all the way to an incinerator near Yeovil, which was surely an unnecessary risk that could have led to spreading the disease. What’s more, so I’m told, the Government has not yet closed local footpaths in the outbreak area, so walkers could possibly spread the infection more widely if not careful.

That said, these are still early days, and I hope for the sake of the rural and farming communities across the country that the relatively swift action taken will prevent the returning sight of burning pyres throughout Britain.

If not, and the outbreak is eventually traced back to either the government laboratory, or the private company licensed by the government, then there will surely be hell to pay.