LAST week's Phillips Report said that incompetence and complacency by ministers and officials hid the truth about the dangers of BSE from the public for years. It said that people were repeatedly misled and kept in the dark by statements that underplayed the potential risk.

Yesterday, the Food Standards Agency was open and frank about the possibility that BSE has reached Britain's sheep population. At the moment, it said, we do not know. But we do know there is a theoretical risk as, under laboratory conditions, sheep have been infected with BSE. We also know that as many as 10,000 British sheep fall ill with scrapie every year. Scrapie is very similar to BSE and may be masking incidents of BSE in sheep.

It is all very worrying, even "terrifying", to borrow a word from the National Farmers' Union yesterday.

However, it must be stressed that we are two giant steps away from a complete ban on the consumption of UK lamb and a mass slaughter of sheep. First, BSE has to be discovered in sheep. Second, it has to be decided that these are appropriate responses - and as a mass slaughter programme was deemed inappropriate for cattle, it hopefully will never happen to the sheep industry.

But it is not scaremongering to bring the potential risks to the public's attention. Imagine the outcry if, in years to come, it were discovered that risks were real and that the Government's advisors had considered this drastic action but the public had not been told.

As the NFU said yesterday: ''Of course it's a terrifying scenario, but a much more terrifying scenario is not to do something and unleash a new wave of disease on humans.''

The Government's scientists must now discover with all speed - and with all the necessary resources that they were denied during the BSE investigation - the true extent of the risks all meat-eaters face.

Bucolic assets

IT is a sad day when the English football authorities feel compelled to appoint a foreigner to run the English football team.

However, Sven-Goran Eriksson appears to be the best man for the job once the homegrown talents of Terry Venables had been considered unacceptable. Mr Eriksson is widely admired for his man-management, for his tactical awareness and for his handling of the media. His record is impressive, particularly his success in Italy's Serie A which, however much we admire the hurly-burly of the English Premiership, is the world's most challenging league.

Mr Eriksson must be given time by media and public alike to groom a burgeoning generation of young English talent. And, until the Swede arrives to take over a team once compared to an allotment of turnips, we must wish temporary manager Peter Taylor all the luck in the world as he prepares for next year's World Cup qualifiers.