AFTER the hysterical reaction of the national newspapers on Sunday to the discovery of bird flu in this country, Monday was a bit like the good old days of farm scares.
Unfortunately our present government cannot bring itself to join into the “cut and run” of good old fashioned food scares like BSE and foot-and-mouth disease.
Unfortunately it prefers the more bureaucratic approach of a DEFRA-mounted rule book of biosecurity controls.
However, in this case, what was missing was any statement from DEFRA secretary, David Miliband.
Hardly the man of action who wanted to be seen to be in charge from the front line, we had to wait for five days for anything to happen.
Whilst Suffolk is probably less than 100 miles from the sunny climes of Westminster, the best our young minister could manage was a limp response from Downing Street.
Unaccustomed as he may be to the countryside in general, perhaps he did not think it part of his brief as secretary of a department which is largely administered by bureaucrats who are more interested in minimising government expenditure?
But surely he could have found a more realistic rural setting than Downing Street to make his statement?
Even when he did, it was a very limp and pathetic affair which received minimal press publicity.
His claims that he was satisfied the response has been rapid (five days!) and appropriate seems to be in conflict with the truth about what actually happened.
What was headline news on Sunday was swiftly abandoned by the government less than two days later: not just because of its own inappropriate response, but more likely because supermarket bosses made few telephone calls saying how much bird flu would affect the sales - and profits - of poultry products.
Far better was the response of a meeting of local community councils held in Suffolk where a representative was able to commend DEFRA on its response to the situation.
But one has to suspect he was only a good party hack who was specifically put up for the job of containing a rapidly growing shambles.
