"Another point is the authority of the government to restrict the movements of the population."

And that's exactly what's happening.

I live in rural Wiltshire, close to one of the areas affected by Foot and Mouth, and there are now stingent restrictions on free movement across farmland, rural footpaths and walkways.

All of this has been imposed on the pretext of preventing the spread of Foot and Mouth disease. But as Hobie's posting pointed out it is not quite as dangerous or infectious as the authorities would have us believe.

In effect rural England is being turned into a vast slaughterhouse with herds of healthy sheep and cattle being slaughtered on the pretext that they 'may' contract a dangerous disease. Meanwhile vast tracts of this once green and pleasant land are being turned into no go areas whilst the sky is blackened with smoke from incinerated herds of otherwise healthy farm animals.