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Don't Say a Word (Foot and Mouth One Year On)

© Bryan Stuart Kay

It has been about a year since Foot and Mouth Disease broke out across the United Kingdom; whisper it: the government is crawling back up the electorate’s satisfaction ladder. Well, unless you consider the NHS, terrorism, the railways and anything else under central control you care to mention as creating a satisfied populace – or anything that’s not for that matter.

So where exactly are we now that Foot and Mouth is no longer an issue (if, in fact, it really isn’t still around in some little nook or cranny)? I recently watched a feature on the national news about a family who lost their entire flock of sheep. They’ve been left devastated; without a livelihood that was as much their personal life as their means of subsistence. And there are countless other examples dotted around the country – it’s a sign of the times in the farming industry.

Surely the case of the woman from the borders region in Scotland didn’t escape your attention. She was the one with the rare sheep; they were her pets. The sheep had no trace of the disease, yet the cullers, complete with a cavalry of police – all dressed up to the nines – impeded her front porch to get at the innocent animals. Very swiftly, they were taken away – and neutralised. The owner was devastated. Still, to this day, she hasn’t quite recovered from seeing her dear pets executed in such vain circumstances.

What emanates from the whole saga is the government’s innate ability to handle sensitive situations with such a high level of crudeness. No matter that half of the animals disposed of were clean; they had their boundaries drawn and any of the animals within these zones were to be included in the cull – no exceptions. I’m sorry but I fail to see how this was the best approach. Do we have any common sense left in government – are we to believe that all our politicians and decision-makers are inept?

As to the question, where are we as a country now that the disease is condemned to history? - Exactly where we always were: on the receiving end of docile rule. I think I now have a clearer picture of where our farmers are now that the taboo subject is a year in the past: in the dole queue with the miners and former Motorola employees; living a nightmare, what to the rest of us is a distant memory.