William Underhill
|
Aug 7, 2007 11:38 AM
A single cow is stricken with Foot and Mouth Disease. At once, Britain's new Prime Minister Gordon Brown heads home from holiday. Not to be outdone, Conservative party leader David Cameron postpones a family trip to France. Then there's the export ban, the prohitibion on all cattle movements beyond the farm gate, the roar of comment in the press and the round-the-cock coverage on the braodcast media.
An over-reaction? Okay, it's clear that Foot and Mouth is a nasty disease with sad and expensive consequences. Already more than 100 cattle have been slaughtered to prevent contagion. But these days Britian barely figures as an agricultural nation. As a fraction of the country's economic output farming figures behind tourism or financial services. The ordinary citizen's attachment to the land is almost wholly sentimental.
More
