KitNotes

Living out in the green and pleasant lands of Surrey, as one does, I am more affected by the foot and mouth outbreak that most. Mainly because I live in the original F&M control zone (the outbreak caused by leaky pipes at the Government lab in Pyford - the first one - which happens to be just around the corner from my house) and all I see is closed footpaths and DEFRA tape closing up anything that isn’t a main road, the disinfectant pads outside Sandown Park race track, and the DEFRA/Surrey CC notices warning you that even just looking at a cow could cause it to catch F&M and will leave you liable to be shot.

 Maybe.

It’s alright for you city slicker KitNoters. Just because you’ve been so insulated from grass and moo-cows to the point where you can’t even visualise what one looks like (I’ve put a picture up just in case) - out ‘ere, in th’a coun-tree, it’s a pritty big deal. Obviously, farmers are pritty devistated, what with incomes taking an absolute dive and mass culls (read: slaughter) taking away a farmer’s livelihood generally not being good things, and huge swathes of Surrey’s countryside being shut off (not that I ever have the chance to put the walking boots on and take advantage of it, but the intent is good enough, right?) meaning what little tourism Surrey has (why else would you come here?) is being withered away.

Now, according to the BBC, I won’t be living in the closest thing to the North/South Korean border on the British Isles. Seems we’ve beaten it. Tally ho, chaps! We’ll fight them in Woking, We’ll fight them in Guildford…

But what of a socialist response?

There are serious questions about food security - OK, so we call for collectivised farming and planned production of meat and crops, but that ain’t gonna be enough. We cannot import everything - for a start, it’s not enviormentally sound. We can’t just become vegetarians overnight (has the militant Vegan movement never heard of Iodine deficiency?).

When the 2001 outbreak was confirmed, a mass cull took place. This is not sustainable for human consumption - the UK has a population of 60 million, and even if I’m being overly generous in saying that a quarter of the population doesn’t eat beef or drink milk for either dieticial, ethical or religious reasons, that’s still 45 million people feasting on the wonders of Daisy.

Should we just eat locally? Only feast on the wonders of Daisy if Daisy is local cow for local people? That’s impossible; when was the last time you saw a cow down Stoke Newington High Street? (The time you were tripping on LSD doesn’t count.)

One thing has been overlooked; the only lab in the United States that can store live F&M virus samples is on an island. About 10 miles out to sea. Where the only sight of a cow will be inside a researchers’ burger, dude. In Britain, we do our research into cattle-prone diseases in a big field. In the country. Near cattle. And when we’re done with it, we wash it down the drain.

Who thought up of that idea, eh?

Nevermind the fact that you actually can immunise cattle against F&M. So why didn’t we do this? Er, because it would cost money; some estimates range between £5 million to £20 million. Fuck me, that’s a small price to pay to make sure Daisy and her cuddly calves don’t get diseased before they go on my plate.

Anyway. The point is this; food security and sustainability is something we need to think about. Have I got the answers? No. But, if I don’t have food on my plate because it’s all diseased, boy, will I be pissed.