Previous issues of the terra firm have frequently highlighted the role played by what we’ve called the oxford boys’ - a group of former oxford academic statisticians who used to work with richard southwood. These statisticians, headed by roy anderson who is also on seac, are now based at imperial college in london. Ever since the days of richard southwood they’ve been dismissing predictions of a substantial bse-cjd epidemic. Anderson must have regarded ironside’s predictions as extremist. A member of anderson’s team at imperial, azra ghani, publishes a statistical analysis which rubbishes claims about an epidemic. This analysis seems like a quick response to ironside’s predictions - almost as if it is meant to be a spoiler to prevent anyone taking ironside’s predictions seriously, “Reports of a surge in the number of cases of variant cjd were yesterday branded “misguided”. Experts claimed the national cjd surveillance unit figures pointing to an increase of up to 30% in the last year were comparing 1999 with 2000. There have been 17 new cases this year compared to 19 reported last year. Azra ghani, of imperial college london, said, “The incidence of cases pretty much mirrors last year. The epidemic doesn’t appear to be worsening”. The total of confirmed or probable cases of vcjd reported in britain is 106.” [49] Ever since richard southwood announced to the world in the late 1980s that bse would not spread to other species and that was no threat to ooman health, a pattern of events has emerged - whenever a scientist publishes an analysis suggesting that the scale of the bse-cjd epidemic is going to be substantial, one of anderson’s team almost immediately produces a report dismissing this conclusion.

It’s surprising how fast the government can move over bse - especially where a cure for the disease is concerned. It had taken the government 9 years to decide that four year long tests needed to be conducted on Sheep that had been dead for 7 years whereas a cure for bse has to be put on the fast track, “A drug which may offer hope to victims of the human form of mad cow disease yesterday received government backing. Health bosses have told the medical research council to fast track trials into the drug quinacrine. The move comes after u.s. researchers diagnozed with suspected variant cjd using quinacrine.” [50] This seems to suggest that the government isn’t concerned about preventing the disease only curing it. The drug in question seems to be that discovered by pruisner’s team in the u.s.

“Chinese traders who were wrongly blamed for starting the foot and mouth crisis won £20,000 compensation yesterday. The government cash went to restaurants and stores in newcastle upon tyne’s chinatown where takings fell 40%. They said agriculture ministers fuelled rumours that leftovers used for pig swill at a northumberland farm started the outbreak.” [52]

Despite the efforts of anderson’s team to dismiss the threat posed by bse, it is announced that, “All Britain's 40 million sheep may have to be killed if bse is found in the national flock, the Government will announce today. The slaughter would be a "worst case scenario" if research shows the disease is present in sheep. So far no bse cases in sheep have been found.” [53] The government hints there might be substantial compensation for those pharmers with infected flocks, “A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said he believed that farmers would accept their flocks being killed so long as they were properly compensated.” [54]

There’s not many people who know this but apparently Sheep have given up waiting for the maffia’s corrupt scientists to invent a cure for bse in Sheep and have decided to develop their own form of immunity to the disease. Unfortunately the only person who has discovered this is john thorley, “John Thorley, chief executive of the National Sheep Association, said: "The most important thing to remember is that British sheep have not got bse. "These are contingency plans. I honestly believe that the slaughter of the British flock would never happen. It would be ridiculous. We have the most resistant national flock in the world."” [55]

There is a considerable time delay factor involved in this story despite the availability of instantaneous global communications. The following events took place sometime during september, “The Japanese agriculture minister, Tsutomu Takebe, took up chopsticks yesterday in defence of the country's livestock industry, which has been under attack since Asia's first case of mad cow disease was found last month. He was one of 100 politicians at a hastily arranged "beef party" designed to reassure the worried public that there is nothing to fear from domestically produced meat, despite reports in the media. The government banned imports of British feed in 1996, but did not close the door on imports from other European countries until January, despite warnings from the World Health Organisation about the risk of infection. In the interim 80,000 tonnes of feed was imported from Europe.” [56]

The results of the ‘wrong brains experiments’ on bse in Sheep cause shock and dismay - not in the form of a revelation about the scale of bse in Sheep but in farce as it’s alleged the tests have been carried out on the wrong Animals, “A four-year study into whether the national sheep flock is infected with bse has been ruined after it emerged that scientists were mistakenly examining cow brains believing them to be sheep's. The blunder means the results are worthless and has prompted calls for the exclusion of lamb from baby food products as there is no proof that the meat is bse-free. The error in the research is a blow to the reputation of scientists.” [57] In james meikle’s article covered in diary entry August 4th 2001, he’d reported the fsa’s fears about the possibility that the experiment had been contaminated. Whether the authorities had mentioned this possibility to the press in order to cushion the news when it was finally released is not known.

Meikle points out that even if Sheep are infected with bse then not all organs would need to be banned, “Some offals are already removed from Sheep, as from cattle, a process that started because some scientists were worried about risk to human health as long ago as 1989. But laboratory tests on sheep deliberately infected with bse have shown more tissues to be infective than in cattle.” [62]

The fsa is forced to admit it was wrong when it claimed there was no lamb in baby foods. It has now been confirmed that lamb is used in such foods. However, it is claimed that the lamb comes from new zealand not brutland - if you can believe this, “Most leading baby food manufacturers already source their lamb from New Zealand because of the long recognised possibility that British sheep were infected. But any move to protect infants from possible exposure would raise serious doubts in the public mind about the threat to adults from British lamb and mutton. "It is unbelievable," said Mrs Kimbell. "How are we going to tell the public anything about lamb?" The food agency should consider the issue of risk to children, she said, because it seemed animals caught bse when they were young. The food agency said it would not be advising against eating lamb. "Our view is this is still a theoretical risk. We are not changing our advice."” [63] It is amazing that the government dare not take action to protect children against bse in lamb because of the threat this would pose to pharmers’ sale of livestock.

“Export of british pork will resume this month for the first time since foot and mouth the government said yesterday.” [64]

George venters produces another statistical model of the bse epidemic which concludes that brutish bseef might not have been responsible for spreading bse-cjd, “Humans are unlikely to catch mad cow disease from eating infected beef, a leading doctor claims today. There are serious doubts whether the virus which causes the deadly brain disease can jump from cows to people. The link between bse in cattle and cjd in humans is “open to question” according to dr. george venters, a consultant in public health medicine. He maintains there is no evidence that the bse virus is infectious to humans. He says that if it was, thousands more people would have been infected. In fact there have been just 100 cases since 1994. Instead, according to a report in today’s medical journal, what was identified as new variant cjd after the emergence of bse in the 1980s was probably not a new disease at all. It was simply the original condition first identified in 1913, cases of which have remained steady as less than 25 per year.” [65] There may be some temptation to dismiss this as yet another example of denialist scientism however it needs to be borne in mind that according to james ironside, the illness of one of the supposed victims of bse-cjd, vicky rimmer, had more to do with sporadic cjd than bse-cjd - see the diary entry April 28th 2001: Surprise Announcement about Bse-Cjd Victim.

It’s quite a coincidence isn’t it, that all of the alternative theories about the nature and spread of bse suggest that bseef is safe to eat, “A test for bse in live animals, which could eradicate the need to slaughter young cattle and lift the threat of a national sheep cull, has been proposed by a government funded study. The full report, which has only recently been sent to the Department of Environment, supports the theory that bse is an auto-immune disease caused by a common bacteria. The theory, first proposed by Alan Ebringer, professor of immunology at King's College, London, and his colleague the late Prof John Pirt, opposes the accepted idea that rogue prions are responsible. If bse is an auto-immune disease it would mean that British beef is safe, Prof Ebringer believes, and that the mass slaughter of cattle over 30 months of age and other measures costing the taxpayer several billion pounds, were unnecessary.” [66] This seems to imply that either there are a lot of scientists who love pharmers or that there are a lot of pharmers posing as scientists.

Sales of bseef plummet in japan after the news that bse has been found in a solitary Cow in japan.

“Farmers were warned yesterday of the real danger of a rise in foot and mouth disease cases over the next few weeks. Rural affairs margaret beckett said it would be “almost a miracle” if this did not happen. The last case was 17 days ago.” [67]

Isn’t it peculiar that japan, after boasting for the last fourteen years that it has been free of bse, suddenly, announces within a few weeks two vital discoveries - the first case of bse in Cattle and the first case of bse-cjd in a ooman. The reaction of the japanese government to these discoveries is exactly the same as that in brutland - although organizing bseef parties does seem to be going overboard a little, “Little more than a month after the discovery of Japan's first case of mad cow disease, the government declared yesterday that all domestic beef was safe to eat. But its assurances were overshadowed by reports that a Tokyo teenager may have contracted the human variant of the brain-wasting illness. The health minister, Chikara Sakaguchi, played down the threat, but he said the health ministry was monitoring the situation. "We were notified by the hospital on September 20 that there is such a patient but it is too early to be certain," he told parliament. Even if the teenager is found to have contracted cjd, it is extremely unlikely to be connected to the discovery on 10 September of mad cow disease because the incubation period of the human form is thought to be several years. But this fact will do little to allay consumer fears. According to a recent poll by the Asahi newspaper, one in four families has stopped eating beef entirely, while 80% say they are dissatisfied with the government's handling of the problem. Last month, agriculture minister Tsutomu Takebe was the chief guest at a "beef party" organised by lawmakers from Hokkaido and Chiba - the regions where the infected cow was born and slaughtered respectively. In Gifu, the prefectural governor ordered that every cut of meat bore his stamp of approval. The governor's face now adorns every packet of locally produced steak, alongside a guarantee of safety. But consumers are buying neither the meat nor the politicians' assurances. Doubts have continually surrounded the (japanese) authorities' willingness to dig deep into the problem. Earlier this year, when a European commission study was set to conclude that Japan's 4.6m-head cattle herd was at risk of bovine spongiform encephalitis, the government withdrew co-operation from the researchers. A month has passed since then, but the authorities have failed to trace the origins of the infection beyond speculating that it came from animal feed imported from Europe. Which company distributed the infected feed and how many other cows might have eaten it are questions that remain unanswered.” [68]

It is reported, “There is strong opposition to "Downed Animal Protection Act" now. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association wants to sell "carcasses" of sick downed animals and expressed concerns about a federal ban. Meanwhile, Rendering plants, which used to buy "carcasses" for processing into "animal feed" and other "products", now is opposing "Downed Animal Protection Act". “The cattle industry wants to sell the downed animal "carcasses" to the rendering plants. However, many articles showed that Mad Cow outbreak may have been caused by animal Rendering plants. The Rendering plants blend the raw product in order to maintain a certain ratio between the carcasses of pets, livestock, poultry waste and supermarket rejects. These are dumped into giant grinders at rendering plants, as are the entire bodies of cows and other farm animals known to be diseased. About 75 percent of the ninety million beef cattle in America are routinely given feed that has been “enriched” with rendered animal parts. The gruesome mix is ground, steam-cooked, the lighter, fatty material floating to the top gets refined for use in such products as cosmetics, lubricants, soaps, candles, and waxes. The heavier protein material is dried and pulverised into a brown powder —about a quarter of which consists of fecal material. The powder is used as an additive to almost all pet food as well as to livestock feed.” [69]

“Akaka-Leahy Downed Animal Amendment - to Prevent funding for inspections of meat obtained from "downed animals," farm animals (cows, steer, sheep, and pigs) who, because of illness or injury, are completely unable to walk. Currently, these animals are kicked, dragged, prodded with electric shocks, and even bulldozed in an effort to move them at stockyards, auctions and other intermediate markets, en route to slaughter. By prohibiting inspections of meat from downed animals, the Akaka-Leahy Amendment will ensure that such animals can't be used for human food, thereby creating an incentive to treat animals better so that they don't become too weak or sick to walk.” [70]

“Leahy-Fitzgerald Forced Molting Amendment - to Prevent taxpayer funding, under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, for the purchase of eggs produced at facilities that intentionally starve their hens for up to two weeks as a form of "forced molting." Forced molting, aside from being patently inhumane, also dramatically increases the likelihood of salmonella transmission to humans.” [71]

“A meeting of the Government's spongiform encephalopathy advisory group (Seac), which was due to discuss the results today, has had to be cancelled. Prof Peter Smith, chairman of Seac said: "We were all completely amazed when the Government laboratory said it could not find any trace of ovine material. It is a fairly disastrous error. It is an amazing result that no one expected."” [72]

In public, Sheep pharmers have been whinging loudly about the huge length of time taken to conduct the ‘wrong brains experiments’ which has put their future in jeopardy since the whole Sheep population might have to be eradicated. In private, they’ve been celebrating the fact that they’ve managed to prevent any scientific evidence emerging as to the presence of bse in Sheep ever since the disease was first discovered in 1986. They’ve been able to prolong their disease ridden industry over this period of time thereby enabling them to continue receiving substantial quantities of subsidies. The Sheep industry hasn’t been slow in celebrating the scientific disaster of the ‘wrong brains experiments’ because, as must be all too obvious to even the most highly trained government scientist, the failure of the ‘wrong brains experiments’ is proof that the country’s Sheep are free from bse, “The one positive aspect of the affair is that the national flock is safe for the foreseeable future. John Thorley, the chief executive of the National Sheep Association, said: "I am delighted that this is the outcome. There is no evidence that there is one shred of BSE in sheep."” [73]

Attempts are being made to discover how the ‘wrong brains’ error occurred, “Two independent investigations were launched yesterday into the "wrong brains" fiasco that wrecked an experiment to find whether bse had moved from cattle into the national sheep flock. As more than four year's research was ditched at the cost of £217,000 to the taxpayer, investigators were expected to examine the possibility of a simple laboratory labelling error being behind the blunder in which cows' brains were tested instead of brains from sheep.” [75] Was it a simple spelling mistake, “The inquest into the bse test blunder began in earnest yesterday. The investigation of how what were thought to be sheep brains turned out to be cattle brains will consider if a simple error, such as missing out a "b" on a container - so "bovine" became "ovine", led to the fiasco. And what became of the sheep brains? Auditors may also have to consider whether there was tampering, and whether other bse experiments were compromised. Scientists at the independent Institute for Animal Health in Edinburgh who began work in June 1997 thought they were using brains left from experiments on animal rendering. The brains, from 2,867 sheep dead of scrapie - a disease similar to bse but not thought harmful to humans, had been collected from 18 veterinary centres between 1990 and 1992 but not under stringent sterile procedures; this had already caused concern as to whether they had been contaminated.” [76] There is a suspicion that the material sent to the science lab for analysis was not from the original experiment, “The sheep brains offered the chance of establishing if it (bse) had ever taken hold in the national flock. The material had been turned to a paste, so a difference between cattle and sheep would not be obvious. It seems a pool of cattle brains was accidentally used instead, although researchers did run a test that indicated a sheep "signature". The paste was fed to mice and then material from the mice brains was fed other mice. Researchers still worried by possible contamination say they sent material from the pool, but not necessarily from samples they tested, to the government's veterinary laboratories agency in Weybridge, Surrey. No bovine trace was found.” [77]

John collinge takes the opportunity created by the ‘wrong brains’ blunder to condemn government scientists for ignoring his work on bse, “After the collapse of four years' research into bse in sheep because scientists used the brains of cows by mistake, a leading government scientific adviser openly criticised the ministry's delay in acting as "disgraceful". Prof John Collinge, the director of the Medical Research Council's prion unit and a member of the Government's Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee, said the scientists who committed the blunder had not only been using the wrong brains but were using the wrong experiment. Prof Collinge of Imperial College, London, who discovered that variant cjd was the human variety of bse in 1996, suggested that year that veterinary laboratories should adopt his test which would have found bse, if present in sheep, in two days instead of two years. Prof Collinge added that the risk of bse in sheep was not a "theoretical risk" - as the Food Standards Agency put it yesterday - but a strong possibility in the early Nineties. Sheep, he said, were known to be susceptible to the disease and could be infected with half a gram of infected material in contaminated feed. Prof Collinge said: "It is likely they were fed contaminated meat and bonemeal in the late Eighties and early Nineties. It would be very surprising if some weren't infected. The question is, has it died out? This is a serious problem." Prof Collinge first suggested using his new molecular strain typing test in the Seac committee in 1997 and assumed that the advice had reached ministers. He said: "Nothing happened. At the end of 1999 I wrote to the highest level in Government and said my test could be used to test the health of the national flock much faster than the tests used before. "We could have sorted it out two years ago. But we are five years on and we are no further forward. It was as if they did not want to find the answer."” [78]

It should be pointed out that it was none other than roy anderson who, shortly after being invited onto the seac committee, argued that collinge’s test for the presence of bse needed more time for further developments before it ought to be used to assess the level of bse in Cattle. The first mention of collinge’s experiment was noted in terra firm 16 - see the dairy entry for September 11th 1998: John Collinge Demands Tests for Bse in Cattle, where it was stated, “The Government's advisory committee on creutzfeldt-jakob disease has recommended a new series of tests on cows that appear healthy but may be carrying the agents that cause "mad cow" disease. The tests are the suggestion of John Collinge, of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in West London, who has developed a technique that can be used to test samples from cows quickly and cheaply. The specimens would come from healthy cows slaughtered in abattoirs without any hint that they may be incubating bse. The idea is to investigate whether there are some cows that carry the infective agent for long periods, but never suffer symptoms. If such sub-clinical cases exist, it is possible that many cows could remain infectious even when the bse epidemic is over. Dr Collinge's test, using a technique called Western Blot, detects the aberrant prion proteins that are responsible for bse or new-variant cjd, the brain disease that is the human equivalent of bse. It is much quicker than the classical methods for testing infectivity, which have involved injecting mice with brain material from cows and waiting for them to become ill.” [79]

“The FSA was under pressure to issue new advice on the safety of feeding British lamb and mutton to babies and children last night after the consumer representative on Seac, Harriet Kimbell, said she did not feed British lamb to her teenage sons but would eat it herself. Prof Kimbell, the principal law lecturer at Guildford College of Law, said the agency should publish advice specifically on risks to children. "I am not necessarily suggesting there should be a ban on children eating British lamb but I believe that there should be more information given to parents," she said.” [84]

Beckett is criticized for not having adopted john collinge’s experiments rather than accepting the time-wasting tactic of using Mice experiments, “Margaret Beckett , the Environment Secretary, was under pressure last night to explain why her department ignored the advice of scientists who could have shown by now whether or not there was bovine spongiform encephalopathy in the national sheep flock.” [85]

The ‘voice of the mirror’ states, “The revelation that government scientists spent four years testing cows’ brains for bse links thinking they were sheep’s brains is beyond a joke. It is utterly, shockingly incredible that £217,000 of taxpayers’ money was wasted on such a basic and potentially catastrophic blunder. The entire national sheep flock could technically now be at risk, although that is an unlikely worse-case scenario. But it means we are no nearer knowing whether our lamb is infected with bse than we were in 1997. It is hard to know what is more sickening - the fiasco occurring at all or the way mrs beckett and her staff tried to sneak it out when, hopefully, none of use was looking.” [86]

Since october 5th america has been shaken by an anthrax attack. The lengths to which the americans have gone to prevent such an attack from being launched have been considerable. In complete and utter contrast, since 1986 successive brutish governments have gone out of their way to ensure that the Animal exploitation industry has been given full reign to subject brutish consumers to the terrifying bioterrorist threat of bse. Why is it that the american government sees anthrax as a terrifying and deadly disease and yet the brutish government has done only the absolute minimum to stop the spread of a deadly brian disease that has so far killed 100 people. If an anthrax attack in this country had resulted in the deaths of 100 people the whole country would have been up in arms about how awful osama bin laden is and yet the public is not merely indifferent to the deaths of the same number of people from bse they are hardly aware of it. Moslem fundamentalists organizing anthrax attacks are evil (which is not to imply they have organized the recent attacks) but the Animal exploitation industry waging a real 15 year bioterrorist war against brutish consumers using the deadly brain disease, bse, is of no significance at all. It is as if bse isn’t a biological weapon at all. This is just another example of spectacularism - focusing solely upon dramatic events whilst ignoring the fundamental underlying realities. Dramatic events not merely emerge from underlying realities they are far less dangerous than these underlying realities.

It seems that the maffia was told in the summer that there might be flaws in the ‘wrong brains experiment’ “Senior Whitehall sources said they were told early in the summer that sheep brain material they were testing for bse appeared to contain traces of bovine remains. A month ago, the Government ordered dna tests on the experiment, which revealed last week that the five-year project to test whether eating lamb was safe had been ruined.” [87]

“A government source said yesterday that it was unlikely the experiment would be repeated, as it was now more important to check the existing sheep flock rather than the remains of sheep collected a decade ago. The source said that latest tests revealed no evidence of bse in sheep. More than 400 experiments on sheep brains carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency in Weybridge, Surrey, had found no link between sheep and bse.” [88] The only time that brutish governments mention the results of bse experiments is when they suggest there is no epidemic.

“Five days ago she (margaret beckett) issued a statement to say scientists spent four years testing the wrong brains - from cows not sheep. But yesterday, mrs beckett said it was now not clear if that was the case. The institute for animal health may have used sheep brains after all but there may have been a mix up over the brains sent for tests at the laboratory of the government chemist.” [89]

James meikle is one of the guardian’s many pharmer-lovers and in his articles about bse in persists in maintaining the maffia’s assumption that whilst bse exists only in some Cows’ organs, it is present in a much larger number of organs in Sheep, “Health officials are to consider whether more parts of sheep and lamb should be removed from meat for human consumption in continuing jitters over bse possibly spreading from cows to other livestock. Brains, skulls, eyes, tonsils, spleens and, in older animals, the spinal cord, are already removed from mutton and lamb as a precaution. But it would probably be impossible to remove all bse infectivity from sheep were it to be found in national flocks. Laboratory experiments indicate the disease spreads far more widely through the bodies of sheep than cattle, but governments will be anxious to maintain a proportionate response that does not damage the sheep industry economically or affect consumer confidence to such an extent farms have to be restocked.” [90] It is nonsense believe that bse is less prevalent in Cows than in Sheep because bse is present in blood and could thus accumulate in any bodily organs. The only point of churning out such a nonsensical idea is that it protects pharmers’ interests since it allows the Animal exploitation industry to continue putting bse infected meat into the ooman feed chain.

David king is the government's chief scientific advisor to tony mcblair, “The reputation of British science has been indelibly damaged by the fiasco over research into bse, according to the government's chief scientific advisor. Professor David King, who advises the prime minister on scientific issues, said there could be no excuses for the team that spent five years trying to find out whether sheep can get bse only to realise they were testing cows' brains.” [91] For the corrupt nature of brutish science see terra firm no.20 “The Wholesale Corruption of the Brutish Establishment.’

David king states that further attempts are being made to find whether bse is present in today’s flocks. He also indicates that, at long last, after three, four, possibly even five years, collinge’s test has been used, “Research into the area is ongoing at the moment at different laboratories around the country, including the Institute of Animal Health in Scotland. What I am doing is co-ordinating all these activities. I would expect a massive ramping up of whatever capacity there is in the UK using a valuable new molecular technique to test animals for scrapies. As far as I know 380 sheep have been tested using the new 48 hour molecular test. I can report that all the sheep are showing scrapies, not bse. I have tried to make it clear that to test the significant number of sheep to allow the Food Standards Agency to come to a clear conclusion is going take weeks.” [92] Quite when these tests took place is not known. But it’s not surprising that the results of the tests are announced because they show no sign of the disease. It was only because the ‘wrong brains’ tests on Sheep were showing evidence of bse that scientists insisted on a thorough and rigorous checking procedure. If the same thoroughness and vigorousness was imposed even on experiments producing negative results it has to be wondered what might be discovered.

‘The ban on british lamb in europe may soon be lifted - to stop the continent running out of meat. The move would see the value of british lamb double overnight, throwing cash-strapped farmers a much needed lifeline. Some 2 million uk lambs normally destined for spain and italy have been bought and destroyed by the government.” [93]

Apparently there’s been a publically funded body that has had to sit through weeks of pharmers whinges about the alleged failures of the f&m disease. Doubtlessly these whinges will conclude their public whinge-in with demands for yet more subsidies, “The handling of the foot and mouth crisis in one of the worst affected areas of the country was blasted as “lamentable” in a damning report published yesterday. The report - the first independent public inquiry into the outbreak - makes 31 suggestions for improvements. Chairman of the report, professor ian mercer from devon county council .. aid the government should be “sitting around a table and sorting it out” without waiting for results of national inquiries.” [94]

Pharmer tony martin’s conviction for murder has been quoshed by the country’s pharmer loving judges, “Three appeal judges reduced the offence to manslaughter and substituted a five year jail sentence for his life.” [95] Is it possible that the national pharmers union will demand the government provides him with full scale subsidies for the appalling suffering experienced by this criminal for shooting someone in the back. And who says the law is always on the side of the criminals? There’s one law for ordinary people in this country and no law for pharmers, “The prosecution alleged he told a number of people he would kill the next burglar he found. On the night in question he did not know who was downstairs but, without warning, he fired three shots at point blank range with a pump action shot gun for which he had no licence and which was a type banned from use since the dunblane tragedy.” [96]

“The foot and mouth crisis is not beaten yet, experts said yesterday - despite a month passing since the last confirmed outbreak.” [97]

“Tony blair was last night facing a mass revolt by labour mps protesting against plans to shelve a ban on foxhunting.” [98]

What a terrible way to die and what a terrible time to die, “Animal rights firebomber barry horne died yesterday after his latest prison hunger strike.” [99] He was one of life’s sensitive souls who found the world’s injustices too grim to bear. That he could be locked up for so long in comparison to tony martin is an obscenity. That a pharmer could fire three shots, without warning, at point blank range, with a pump action shot gun for which he had no licence and kill someone and only serve five years for his crime shows that this is not the sort of society that is worth trying to reform. This society doesn’t need reformation - it needs humiliation.

“Beef is now as popular as it was before the mad cow crisis, says a survey. Household consumption of the meat rose by 12% in 2000 to its highest recorded level since 1994.” [100]

Brian reade returns to a recurrent theme in his column for the mirror, “Take the just-published pay list 2001 - a breakdown of this year’s 500 top earners. The queen sits proudly at 24 because she was paid £15.2 million for being “establishment”. Which means she “earned” her fortune collecting rent from land, mainly in the north west, passed on to her from her raping and pillaging dark-age ancestors. At number five is another “establishment” earner, earl cadogan, who picked up £50 million because his great-great whatever raped and pillaged chelsea. But this year a new category has entered the charts which says more about people’s genius at taking us for a ride than any of the above - “compensation”. Or to be precise, the £8.3 million british taxpayers handed out to three farmers during the foot and mouth crisis. In at 149 comes dumfries farmer jim goldie, handed £4.2 million. Down at 321 is cumbrian farmer johnny thompson, paid £2.2 million. And at 392 sits fellow cumbrian farmer alan harrison with £1.9 million. Sadly the other 34 farmers given more than £1 million compensation failed to make it into the top 500. Why have there been no police inquiries into claims that some farmers were deliberately infecting their flocks and others were spreading the disease by “lending” animals to neighbours to boost their head count? The chancellor now tells us taxes may have to rise because of the war, but he really needs our cash to plug the £2 billion hole in his budget caused by foot and mouth.” [101]

Peter hetherington states, “Restrictions on animal movements imposed during the foot and mouth epidemic will be lifted next week on around 8,500 farms in the north of England, the Department of Rural Affairs announced today. While the move will allow sheep and cattle to be transported more easily between farms in North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Lancashire and Cumbria, it still means that many farmers will be unable to get animals to valuable autumn markets elsewhere in the country. The last confirmed case of foot and mouth was more than five weeks ago at a farm near Appleby, in Cumbria. The new move, effective from next Friday, also means that restrictions, imposed since the outbreak began almost nine months ago, have now been ended on 95.3% of all farms. Many roadside disinfection points will be removed.” [102]

Panorama presents a programme highlighting the possibility that bse could be passed on via surgical instruments. It highlighted a report on the poor state of brutish hospitals in being able to thoroughly clean their surgical implements. The report was suppressed by the labour government even though the author produced an almost identical document for the scottish parliament which was then posted on the web. Quite remarkably this is the first major documentary by the bbc on bse since bettina lerner’s ‘Mad Cows’ was produced for ‘Horizon’ 17.11.96 - five years ago.[103]