Press tracks foot-and-mouth

28 February 2001



Press tracks foot-and-mouth

By FWi staff

BRITAINS newspapers continue to devote acres of space to the foot-and-mouth epidemic expected to engulf more farms.

The Times says the Army is on standby to contain the disease and reports that two farmers have breached a ban on animal movements.

And it is widely reported that one of the brothers at the centre of the crisis has admitted that the swill he fed his pigs came from the plates of schoolchildren.

Robert Waugh, whose unit at Heddon-on-the-Wall, Northumberland, is the suspected source of the outbreak, collected waste food from local school.

The The Independent asks where the Government should draw the line on compensation, saying compulsory insurance should be introduced.

Chillingly, it adds: “It is too late to cover the present outbreak. But whatever our best efforts now, foot-and-mouth will surely strike again.”

The Daily Mail rounds on the Government for allowing the Bill to ban fox-hunting ban to dominate the Commons agenda on Tuesday (27 February).

Agriculture minister Nick Browns rejection of calls for a debate on foot-and-mouth widens the gulf between ministers and countryfolk, it says.

“Foxes take preference over stricken farmers. No wonder millions of country dwellers have lost all faith in New Labour.”

An emergency debate has now been forced by Opposition leader William Hague and will take place on Wednesday (28 February).

In its editorial, The Times warns against what it describes as the “the murky trade” in meat from overseas.

“As long as Britain allows even limited imports from countries where foot-and-mouth is endemic, the disease will break out again.”

In The Guardian, columnist Jonathan Freedland claims the crisis has exposed the indifference of the public to farming.

Farmers are reaping the bitter harvest of globalisation and the cheap food which consumers seem happy to buy from anywhere, he writes.

In its editorial, The Guardian says a sense of proportion is needed as farming accounts for a small proportion of the national income and employment.

The Daily Telegraph speculates that foot-and-mouth could mean the postponement of the general election until October.