WHEN reading any of the national newspapers or listening to any comments from politicians, it is very easy to forget that the UK livestock industry is approaching meltdown.

As a reflection of the interest in such matters by the ruling party, it is doubtful whether there is even going to be a debate on agriculture at the Labour Party conference.

Had there been a public inquiry of the debacle of the foot-andmouth crisis of six years ago it would have been well established that the Labour Party has little understanding of rural life outside the rarefied air of the Westminster Village.

Peter Troy, Sedgefield, Co Durham.