An outbreak of Foot and Mouth has occured in Surrey prompting a ban on moving sheep, goats and cattle across the UK.

A 3km exclusion zone has been established around the farm and all exports to Europe have been automatically banned under EU rules.

No Mandate Brown has cut his holiday short so he can look concerned at the TV cameras and the COBRA Committee, which is used to co-ordinate photo opportunities national emergencies has already met overnight.

So far the outbreak appears to be confined to only one farm but the farming industry will suffer heavily.  How heavily they suffer depends on whether the outbreak can be contained, how long it takes to convince our EU masters that it’s not a problem any more and how many times the French have to be hauled in front of a judge before they’ll lift the ban.

On a related note – why is the exclusion zone measured in kilometres?  Metric measurements are being used increasingly by the British government despite the fact that most people still use imperial.