More cases generate more fears.When the EU testing programme begins in the new year, there will be a rash of confirmed cases in Germany, Spain and Italy, which will foment more consumer panic. Is the panic justified? If the scientists are right in saying that red meat cannot transmit BSE in its human form, then it is not justified.However, when people suspect they have been lied to about one thing (the absence of BSE on the Continent) they assume they are being lied to about everything Irrational responses rule. Last week, a false report of a case of new variant CJD in France led to a strike at a hospital where the patient was being treated. The medical staff would not return to work until all materials which had come near to the patient were burned.Politically, Europe now faces the threat of a very serious contagion indeed. Unless the EU takes concerted action, we face a panic-driven series of unilateral tit-for-tat beef bans, and wildcat actions by farmers, which could close European borders to more than beef.The third EU BSE crisis (after 1996 and 1999) is only just beginning and it risks being infinitely worse than its predecessors. An uncheckable chain reaction – in which exaggerated fears of a modern plague combined with national animosities to shut down borders – would strike at the very heart of the European Union’s existence.

(What a wonderful Conservative europhobic achievement that would be: a form of political germ warfare). European Union governments – heads of government at their summit in Nice next week if necessary – must finally agree a Europe-wide response to BSE. This should, at a minimum, include a Europe-wide ban on cattle remains in animal feed, to ensure that the disease spreads no further.But there is also a case for tougher action to pre-empt the further consumer panic which can be expected when the new pan-European BSE testing programme begins next year. As costly and as painful as it may be for some European governments, the EU must now move to something like the British policy of allowing only “young” beef, from animals less than 30 months old, to reach the food chain.Such a programme would mean a vast holocaust of older beef and dairy cattle in Europe, when their useful calf-rearing or milk-producing lives were over The cost would be astronomical The alternative could be disastrous.. It is hard for Republican presidents to be taken seriously by European liberal commentators. Richard Nixon was dismissed as a crook; Ronald Reagan as an airhead. The great achievements of the Reagan presidency, and the flawed ones of the Nixon era, were all disregarded.

It is hard for Republican presidents to be taken seriously by European liberal commentators. Richard Nixon was dismissed as a crook; Ronald Reagan as an airhead. The great achievements of the Reagan presidency, and the flawed ones of the Nixon era, were all disregarded.
If he does become President, George W Bush will find it even harder to get a fair hearing over here. He is now only a few pimples away from the Oval Office and should he prevail, many commentators will no doubt try to turn that into a symbol of his administration. He will be seen as illegitimate from the outset and a mere interim figure like his father: President Pimple.Fortunately, transatlantic opinion has negligible influence in the United States.

A decent and generous-spirited man, George W Bush has it in him to rise to the challenges of the presidency and to restore dignity to the White House. George W would also appoint a good cabinet, which would include blacks and other minorities who would be there on merit – unlike Bill Clinton’s collection of bizarre mediocrities.But there is a double irony. The main threat to the Bush presidency would come from his natural supporters; one of the principle benefits might well be conferred on his implacable opponents. America has enjoyed the longest boom in history, thanks to Alan Greenspan’s wise monetary management – and to Wall Street But no boom lasts for ever. There are now reasons to fear a slump in stock prices, especially given the stricken state of the US bond market.