A political hot potato THE Government has, for once, got the presentation wrong and the policy broadly right. But on food issues, presentation is all since what matters is maintaining public confidence. Next to sex scandals, food scares are the trickiest political problems for any government to handle. They are often a recipe for irrationality, fear of the unknown and irresponsible and exaggerated political and media reactions. Even such an experienced minister as Michael Heseltine described BSE as one of the most intractable issues he had faced.
Food is, after all, the most basic of needs.
Food scares have a familiar pattern. Either people fall ill, and sometimes die, or an allegation is made about the threat to health. A consistent theme has been suspicion of expert advice - a sense that scientists, officials, and particularly politicians, have hidden what is happening from the public. That has dominated the BSE inquiry. The debate is really about reassurance.