‘Royal Welsh’ greater threat than Shambo?

A real threat?

7623 animals are at the Royal Welsh show this week including 828 beef cattle. They will share the same patch of earth for a week breathing and excreting in close contact with animals of their own species. There are controls in check but diseases are subtle and unknown. Who knows whether bovine TB, blue tongue virus lurks among this immense concourse of animal life? Nobody does. But this jamboree is supported by the immensely powerful Welsh farming establishment. No problem. No Worry.

In Llanpumsaint, among the community of the many names of God, one gentle animal lives out of contact with other animals. He is not known to be suffering from any disease and he will never enter the food chain. . His life is respected by the Skanda Vale Monks. People in animal centres in one country have offered to provide a home and treatment for Shambo, for the rest of his natural life. Will the Welsh Assembly Government allow him to travel?

The test on Shambo is crude and does not prove that he is a threat. The monks argue convincingly ‘that farmers have the most to lose if a different approach to treating TB were to come about..

It cost the taxpayer last year £80 million in compensating farmers and paying vets for mass slaughter of cattle. But TB testing is an unscientific shambles. Which farmer or vet wishes to bite the hands that reward them handsomely? Why is the Government paying out so much in compensation and putting so little into developing a vaccine? In other countries cows are treated successfully for TB and there is no need for slaughter.

One vet has written to me suggesting that cattle to cattle transmission are rare. She says she is number one on the list calling for mass slaughter of badgers. The Defra site says: - Cattle to cattle transmission is a serious cause of disease spread which is substantiated by scientific evidence, most recently in Nature

There are possible risks of disease transmission at the Royal Welsh. Virtually none at Llanpumsaint. Ignorant comfortable subsidised prejudice is favoured against scientific rational compassion. It is a small act of barbarism.

Human wrongs

One very talented member of the British delegation of the Council has resigned following the election of Preeza as the Leader of the delegation by 12 votes to 8. There is speculation that the four Lords on the delegation voted for the former Leader of the party leaving the MPs evenly divided. Probably no women voted for Preeza.

One former distinguished member reinforced the view that Preeza sends all the wrong messages. There is another twist in the plot. Opposition members are asking for their say in the election of the leader of not only the Labour delegation but the delegation of all parties.

This is a sad day for a body devoted to human rights and international harmony. Preeza will attract the worst attention to the Council of Europe. The best will now desert.

Hug a Hutu

Pity Calamity Cameron.

The Tory Leader is back in this country from his entirely admirable attempt to draw attention to world hunger. He will get no credit or thanks. His party is furious because he deserted his constituency and country at a time of flood peril. What is worse to them he moved away out of the focus of media attention.

His foreign cavorting could not grab publicity away from the dramatic images of the floods. The trip is mocked as his ‘Hug a Hutu’ moment. It’s not his fault. But it’s atrociously bad luck that the two events coincided.

Being out of luck is a fatal flaw for party leaders.

Cannabis sense

Before we are carried away with a wave of hysterical nonsense on drugs policy, a sobering article was printed by today’s Independent on;-

http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/johann_hari/article2758791.ece

Johann Harri crushes the new exaggeration on the drugs effect on mental health and the potency of skunk. For 36 years the UK has believed that harsh penalties and the criminal justice system will cut drug harm. All parties have relied on ‘Tough’ policies. When they fail, they push for even tougher policies.

When will we have ‘intelligent’ policies?