Self-Sufficiency in Style

stop the world?

part six

In parts one to five we introduced you to Britain's Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth epidemics and made some startling claims about their worldwide significance. 

The writer introduced himself and his wife into the story and told you that a government veterinary surgeon faked a blood test and traveled between clean and infected farms.

We told you how the police warned us to be careful and how we used many different channels of complaint, even notifying a Select Committee of the House of Commons that there was a cover-up under way.

We introduced the possibility that Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne of England was involved - and risked ridicule.

Today, nobody is laughing at the writer, St James's Palace is in disarray with a whole series of allegations.

Little did we know what was to happen after the decision was made to kill our healthy pigs.

There was actually no risk, the killing was illegal - the pigs healthy.

We did not know this and had not connected the killing to our complaints about the incident of blood test faking.

We thought we were protecting the farming industry in allowing our pigs to be slaughtered.

Healthy pigs to die.

Four visitors around the kitchen table - this table.

Six people were present -

The writer and Mrs P.

The government vet that was to kill the pigs.

A government Animal Health Officer who was assisting him.

A Ministry employee who was later described as our "top decontamination man."

An "independent" valuer.

"value pigs and discuss procedures for slaughter of pigs and cleansing and disinfection of the premises. This will include a Health and Safety assessment."

These are the government's words, not the writer's. They are important.

We made no mention of the blood test faking, although it was clear that one of the participants were studying Mrs P with quite some curiosity. 

We imagine that someone knew of her connections and that we had made a complaint. 

The writer, technically uninvolved, was watching like a hawk and gained the clear impression that it was not the government people that were so interested. 

That meant nothing at the time, but means a great deal now.

"value pigs and discuss procedures for slaughter of pigs and cleansing and disinfection of the premises. 

This will include a Health and Safety assessment."

Money from pigs.

The valuation seemed generous and the form was signed accepting.

We moved onto the question of cleansing and disinfections. 

This was quite tricky. Hangman's Cottage is not a farm and we had not lived there long enough to be sure of the non-return valves on the water system. The layout is unusual too.

In short, if it was bungled, the sheep and cow could have starved and we could have been unable to move either in or out of the premises. 

These matters were handled amicably enough and agreement easily reached. The vet that was to do the killing was there, together with the people who were actually going to do the cleaning and disinfection.

There were to be two cleaning operations, one on the day of the killing and one later. Both were amazingly thorough, employing a lot of equipment and skilled operators.

We had to be able to get from our home to the cow - commonsense.

Much of rural England was to cry at the devastation caused by repeated culls of healthy livestock.

Mrs P was indoors crying her eyes out - a situation that was to be repeated many, many times all over the country. Non-farmers always wonder how people who raise animals for meat can be so upset by a cull.

They most certainly can. They see no conflict between being fond of animals, treating them well and eating meat. A cull is always wrong. It feels wrong and, as we now know, usually is wrong.

The writer was feeling pretty depressed on that cold damp morning as the vehicles poured in.

Then something quite extraordinary happened. The writer was pulled behind a heavy vehicle by one of the contractors. Out of sight of the government people, he was asked to confirm his name, which, of course, he did.

The man apologised for being involved in the killing and explained it is "just my job." Then he said something quite extraordinary. He told the writer he "was right" and that he must continue to complain.

The writer had barely recovered from this when, unknown to the first man, he was again carefully manoeuvred behind another heavy vehicle. Another northern English voice said much the same as the first. "Sorry - you are right - you must keep going."

It seems that the writer's website "Pigging It" had been printed out and was circulating amongst the contractors.

These lads, mostly from the north, knew they were witnessing a scandal that will stain England for ever. They were not happy.

The writer was, by then, virtually in tears himself.

The quiet lane resembled the Normandy Beaches - vehicles everywhere.

The pigs, we had tried so hard to look after through the mud and floods of winter, were dragged from their paddocks and killed.

The pigs were killed by the vet and his team. He did have the good grace to apologise. He said he was sorry and that he would "not do it that way again" and explained that he would have shot the five, but that the place was "too close to the road."

That apology was accepted by the writer and remains accepted. The only reason for mentioning it, is that this very method of slaughter also caused consternation during the Foot and Mouth Epidemic. The government vets did not learn the lessons.

The carcasses were loaded to a vehicle and taken away. The team remained to finish the first cleaning.

At no time was the blood test faking incident mentioned. The writer has no idea if the vet knew anything. The secretly supportive contractors also would have known nothing about these specific complaints at that time. 

There was no mention  of our complaint and no other contact, so we decided to go ahead with our evidence to the Select Committee of the House of Commons. 

Perhaps the attitude of the two kindly contractors influenced us. They were obviously troubled by what they had witnessed elsewhere. 

Anyway, the information was true and relevant. It was our duty to report the matter. A duty that could have cost the writer his life.

Routine correspondence.

Why they were cleaning a site that had healthy animals was a mystery to us. 

They did the same thing during Foot and Mouth.

Exactly when the Ministry "top decontamination man" arrived has been forgotten, his message hasn't.

It seemed so harmless. He had decided to replace the northern contractors who were supposed to do the final cleansing.

He told us that a local man would undertake the work.

We had no reason to query this. The thought did cross our mind that the disaffected northern contractors had walked off the job or refused to return to Hangman's Cottage. But that seemed unlikely. The rotten job of killing someone's animals was over. 

This was just final, very thorough cleaning, the details of which had been agreed.

During the period when Parliament had our formal complaint, but had yet to pass it to the Select Committee for the meeting on the 11th December.

A former senior SAS officer arrived. He was actually a Major, but that does not give a true reflection of his seniority. He knew perfectly well that the writer was able to identify his former rank and regiment. 

He had been put in charge of decontamination with "full authority from the Ministry to over-rule the previously agreed arrangements." 

He disclosed the name of the MAFF official instructing him. It was not Mr X.

What he did not disclose was that he had come from a meeting with Nick Brown, Britain's Minister of Agriculture, at own his home in company with Ministry officials.

By sheer luck, the writer had witnessed the visit with his own eyes.

SAS

 Special Air Service

stuff of legends and secrecy.

The Special Air Service are Britain's elite regiment. They are the highly secretive special operations unit that usually operates behind enemy lines. Iraq, the Falklands and in many other areas. They were the televised rescuers of the hostages in the Iranian Embassy in London some years ago.

They are never named, even after retirement, and treated quite harshly if they disclose anything of their activities.

Of course, with such a colourful background, many ex-soldiers probably do hint of some association with the SAS when in their cups - and many of the writer's acquaintances are convinced that he was the victim of just such boasting.

If they wish to think so, they may also wonder just what the Ministry was doing employing a fake SAS Major.

No, this was the real McCoy, unfortunately because the regiment has been disclosed this precludes details of his location and former business being given - a situation which must give Britain's infamous State Veterinary Service much comfort.

The writer made the blunder of admitting what he knew when being goaded by the denizens of uk.business agriculture - an influential newsgroup generally highly supportive of the Foot and Mouth cull. They were being monitored by the Government to help assess farming opinion.

You can see the circumstances yourselves by using Google Groups search facilities.

The ex SAS man was younger, bigger, fitter and probably cleverer, but we had right on our side.

Both knowing perfectly well who the other was, the irresistible force had run into the immovable object.

Anyone who has ever met an SAS officer knows that the description "irresistible force" is pretty fair. 

Officers of this regiment are clever and determined.

He had just met a Cabinet Minister and been given a set of very specific instructions by a top dog in the Ministry. He was going to carry them out.

Indeed, although we did not know it at the time, government officials had decided that we were to be thrown out of our home for threatening to expose their cover -up. We were being framed.

There were confrontations with the ex SAS Major. We had a long heart to heart over several visits, on the 'phone and by email.

He seemed a decent enough man and was to became increasingly concerned. It seems unlikely that, although he knew more than he was telling, he knew of the blood test faking, although he may have done. 

He did not like or trust the Ministry officials either and was later to complain about the behaviour of Ministry officials himself.

In the end, arguing with this officer for hours in the cold and standing in and cleaning vehicles to avoid complaints, when he failed to turn up, was to put the writer in bed with angina for three days.

There is no reason why his wife should be a widow, because her husband had to protect her home from crooks.

Arguing, in the cold, at the gate to try to protect our home.

If it is to mean that Prince Charles has to go into exile, that's a pity, but we are all judged by the company we keep.

His crooked cronies tried to force innocent people from their home to cover-up massive fraud. Prince Charles may well have to leave Britain for good. He could sort out the transgressors himself  - they have been using his name.

We await a formal apology from his Royal Highness. If necessary, he can send it from the exile that we nearly had to endure.

Intimidated in our own home. The man was going to protect his back by getting us thrown out of our home.

He sat in this chair changing the course of English history.

He did not know that there were other people in the house.

This was on December 3rd.

On the following morning, we got a message that Mr X was on the way to see us.

"Good" we thought. "He will withdraw the SAS Major and deal with the question of the blood test faking."

We could not have been more wrong. Mr X gave the most appalling display of arrogant behaviour it has ever been our misfortune to witness.

We were told to be quiet in our own home and had to listen to a monologue delivered in a deadpan voice. He clearly intended to intimidate us. We held our tempers.

He intended to carry on with the illegal activities at our home. The former SAS Major was to stay. He was to be allowed to burn materials in contravention of the environmental regulations. He was allowed to risk the public water supply. He was being allowed to extend the controlled area. Mr "X" refused to provide any supervision.

We were horrified. They obviously intended to get us out at all costs.

In this context, we told him formally that a complaint had gone to the Select Committee  - the first time it had been mentioned directly by us.

Despite this, the tone was conciliatory. We were still seeking solutions, not confrontation.

We got an email the following day that was blatant fabrication of what had been agreed at the meeting in our home. 

The ex-SAS Major was still to stay.

The public water supply was to be risked. 

Material that is was illegal to burn was to be burnt. 

The contaminated area was to be widened.

The  Health and Safety Assessment was to be ignored.

As always, please check our facts, you are not going to be asked to take much on trust. You can do most of it from your computer.

Since Part 5 was published a few days ago, there are so many enquiries into the affairs of Prince Charles and so much press comment worldwide that we need not list them.  The CSF and FMD crisis are not yet amongst them.

Much of the information on this page, but not all, was given long ago on uk.business agriculture and on "Pigging It" where there is an account of the Swine Fever Epidemic, in arrears. 

Most readers did not believe the writer at the time. They simply did not believe that he could identify a former senior SAS officer. That was not an unreasonable position, given the circumstances, and no umbrage has been taken.

The best independent source of information on Foot and Mouth can be found on Warmwell.

On the 6th December, we went back very hard by email, disputed the contents of Mr X's fabrication and threatened to bring in our own security to protect our home.

By Friday 8th December, we were making frantic attempts to contact Mr X's boss, the Chief Veterinary Officer for the United Kingdom.

Somebody had fixed the Ministry computer to make sure we could not reach him. 

Eventually that evening, still being pestered directly by the ex-SAS Major, we managed to get a fax through to a senior official asking him to tell the Chief Vet just what had been going on in Norfolk

The following morning, we emailed the Secretary to the Select Committee making a formal complaint of intimidation and requesting the protection of the House from Mr X.

We were already completely exhausted, when all hell broke loose. Events were to take an even nastier turn.

Norfolk, March 10 2003

the world of food and agricultural crime

from

 the appropriately  named Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner.