This poor animal is on her way to being slaughtered - she isn't actually infected but lives within an area deemed to be contagious. So, what would have happened if she had F&M? She would have taken a few weeks to recover from what vets describe as "animal flu" and that's the end of it.

BBC radio 4 recently stated that the main animals directly effected by the illness are pigs - they have a 5% fatality rate and this is the worst rate among all livestock.

The two key factors poutlined for the mass killing were that fact that allowing animals to convelesce would make the animals "economically unproductive" while also removing the UK's current 'disease free' status (try telling someone with CJD that).

Yes, apparently the UK has a massive live stud export industry with pigs being one of the most lucrative breeding animals for export.

What has been interestingly absent from every layer of debate - with the exception of a few columnists in some of the more 'enlightened' broadsheets - has been the failure to look at what role industrialisation of agriculture has played in all this.

Localised production, sales and consumption of farm-produce makes sense at various levels and allows disease to be isolated more effectively and quickly. But ... are we really going to get organic, localised, open-minded farming methods while big corporations run the show? Not likely! Revolution may be a solution.

Peace, y'all