Weather: A sunny start turns to cloud and some very heavy showers. 10 is about tops, but it gets a lot colder during the rain.

Travel: Fine out, and a lift gets me to the 1649. Cross to the 1707 (+5), behind the stopper, and held at Smethwick to reach Galton Bridge around 13 late. No obvious reason. With the 1742 "delayed" (missing in action) catch the bus. Make it home just before the train.

It's a very, very busy day. Regular servicing of the training suite goes a bit manky, as two computers refuse to respond to the modems. Uninstall, reinstall, nothing works. Swap the modems over, and they're suddenly working again. It's all most odd. Sounds like those computers and those modems just didn't get on.
Then a call to merge some data from a spreadsheet into a "vitally urgent" letter. It's quick and easy stuff, all wrapped up in an hour.
As if that wasn't enough, then I get pinned to move some equipment round an office. Phew. Hard work.

The number of confirmed cases of foot and mouth disease rises to 181 today. Agriculture minister Nick Brown warns that farmers must be prepared for further outbreaks before the disease is eliminated.
He defended the government's handling of the crisis, saying the new cases did not mean the disease is raging out of control. "The disease was already incubating, particularly in Cumbria and Devon, and to that extent we have it under control."
Chief veterinary officer, Jim Scudamore, played to the party line, claiming the "major problem" was still characterised by a handful of regions which had been most affected by the virus. He said the "bulk of cases" were still known to have been spread by movements through Longtown market in Cumbria and by a sheep dealer in Devon.
If the foot-and-mouth outbreak really has been under control since the disease was first identified last month, as Nick Brown has repeatedly claimed, then it does not look like it. When there were just two locations where it had been diagnosed, Brown said he thought there were grounds for "cautious optimism" that the outbreak could be contained. Last week, Jim Scudamore, the Government's chief vet said it was "under control" and gave the impression that the number of cases might have peaked. Yet the new cases keep coming, and the animals are being slaughtered so fast that they cannot be burnt quickly enough - which means some are being left to rot, with all the risks of rats and further transmission.

Is the Foreign Secretary a liar? Radio Four's Nick Jones says that he is. He claims Robin Cook showed detailed knowledge of a report on the Arms-to-Sierra-Leone affair before it was published. He then said to the reporter: "Remember, this conversation did not take place." He then, on three occasions, made statements to the House of Commons to the effect that he had not read the report, that there had been no briefing, no leak to the Press.
This Government has a dyspeptic Prime Minister who has somehow managed to present himself as a tough, straight, lovable kinda guy, as he would no doubt put it. It has a half-way decent Chancellor of the Exchequer. It has a lot of also-rans who are no better and arguably worse than their Tory equivalents. But it has one Cabinet member who is a real disaster, a true embarrassment to this country, right from Day One. That person is Robin Cook.
We all cringe to think of his pompous, garden-gnome, know-it-all manner. It make our toes curl to think of him representing Britain abroad. The way he dumped his wife and married his girlfriend on the say-so of Alastair Campbell, in order to save his own career, makes us despise Robin Cook.
There is now a chance to get rid of him on the technicality of some untruth he told Parliament. Hurrah! Hurrah! And Hurrah again! Who would replace him, you ask? Someone with social grace, charm, possibly two dogs, a fondness for travel and a significant other from another country - Brazil, say? If you can think of anyone who fits this description, do let Tony know.

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE

Imperial London, winners in 96, took out the title holders Durham last time out. Manchester has taken two convincing wins so far. My betting line: Manchester by 15.

A level first quarter turns into a one man match, Campbell versus Telford. Telford has all five Manchester starters at the half, Campbell four of Imperial's five. Imperial takes a slight lead, but logic gates and THE EXORCIST gives Manchester a slight lead. Manchester comes 2/3 on BLUE PETER, but Imperial is also doing well. Back and forth goes the lead. When the music winds down, three starters go a'begging, and Imperial has their largest lead of the game.

Box scores
Person (starter) total

IMPERIAL LONDON (23 bonuses)
Hodgson  (10) 34 Douglas  (15) 41
Estcourt (25) 57 Campbell (60) 93

MANCHESTER
Quince (10) 28 Telford (70)102
Bishop (30) 52 Beattie (-5) 13

IL 60 40 40 85 = 225
MA 45 60 45 45 = 195

Weather: Sunny, pretty much through the day. 11

Travel: Pretty much a repeat of yesterday; back is 1649 ex Longbridge --> 1703 (+12) ex London --> Bus as 1742 is +20 (or so).

One major annoyance. Important chap from a region brings his PC in for attention. It's one he bought himself, and has wangled an upgrade. 512MB of *memory*. (This is not a misprint. 512 (FIVE HUNDRED TWELVE) megabytes.) That's more memory than the *three* biggest servers put together. Just 20GB of disc drive, split (for no obvious reason) into a 2GB system partiton and 17GB data partition. Into which Mr Region has put naff all.
He has installed an anti-virus free product known as Achilles' Shield (no link, I don't think it works correctly) which seems to have been causing most of his problems. Blighter.

One piece of good news - the Next Door Dept have confirmed their appointment, and it's just when she starts.

Army marksmen are on standby to shoot farm animals on open land as the foot-and-mouth crisis hits a new peak. The prospect of a Europe-wide epidemic grew with confirmation of two outbreaks on the Continent. France said 114 cows had been destroyed in Mayenne in the north-west. The cattle were in a field next to British sheep. A second outbreak in sheep on a farm in Seine-et-Marne, east of Paris, was also reported.
The crisis is costing £100 million a week in lost bookings for the tourist industry and the Government may soften its advice on staying away from the countryside. London has had cancellations from tourists planning to travel on to affected areas. Today's outbreaks take the total to the 200 mark
The Government is on the defensive over earlier assurances that the contagion was under control. Some 170,000 animals have so far been condemned in Britain. 121,000 have been killed. Min of Ag vets can no longer keep pace with the necessary slaughter programme. There is a serious danger that half-a-million lambing ewes will have to be killed, because it is too dangerous to move them to safe quarters. In the face of these developments it is not surprising that scorn has been heaped on Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, for his broadcast claim on Sunday that the epidemic was under control.
Foot-and-mouth has inflicted a disaster far beyond the farming community. Beyond the 200,000 animals which will have been slaughtered by the end of this week, and the farms paralysed by restrictions, all manner of rural leisure industries are being hard hit. A sense of deep gloom hangs over the countryside, which tips over into bitterness towards a Labour Government which, they believe, cares nothing for rural people.
Nick Brown lacks conviction as a minister - but so did Douglas Hogg and John Gummer in the Tory era. Prime ministers are prone to send to Agriculture their less impressive acolytes. Min of Ag vets and officials may have lagged in responding to each new outbreak, and their rhetoric has sometimes been rashly optimistic. But they may reasonably claim that large parts of the country have so far escaped infection.
The worst of the plague is still concentrated in Devon and the north-east. Everything now hinges on whether a further spread develops. If it does not, then most of Britain's farmers may yet escape the worst consequences. Mr Brown could then look less wrong-headed. But if the spread continues and the crisis worsens, then the credibility of the Agriculture Minister and his chief vet Mr Jim Scudamore will be in tatters. Everyone who cares about Britain's countryside and those who live in it should be holding their breath for the next few days.

Weather: Sunny for much of the day, though a couple of showers are *heavy*. 9.

Travel: Fine both ways, with another wait for the clock at Wolverhampton. No thanks to the gutlord I was by on the train home. Reluctant in the extreme to shift his lardy butt and let me sit down, or get out, and so large he tried to take one-and-a-half seats *and* a chunk of the aisle. Do they not charge extra for excess baggage?

Share prices slump to their lowest level in more than two years. The sell-off is a correction to the gross exuberance of the internet boom in 1999. It's also caused by new uncertainty in the telecoms sector, primarily caused by the massive debt burden companies took to obtain mobile phone licenses last year. This is the payback for Gordon Brown's massive debt repayment, folks. Sorry it's so painful.

Ministers are to order the mass slaughter of at least 100,000 sheep in a desperate "pre-emptive strike" against the further spread of foot-and-mouth disease. Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said moves would be made to "take out" apparently healthy animals that were transported throughout the country by two firms of livestock dealers before the recent outbreak was detected. Government scientists believe these movements - which number around 1,000 - were responsible for much of the spread of the outbreak that has left large parts of the countryside in quarantine.
The question of exactly what steps HMG will take to reform the farming system and prevent mass movements on this scale is yet to be answered.

If the British response is lax, the American one is mad. Officials announced a series of panic measures to combat the distant threat of foot-and-mouth disease. Anyone going to the colony from Britain will be subject to stringent controls including having their shoes, luggage, laptops, cameras and mobile phones scrubbed with disinfectant. Customs refused to confirm that they would compensate for damage caused by their desperate policy. "It's a mad step to take," said John I. Q. Maasive, an expert in Government Must Be Seen To Do Something Studies at the University of California. "Slam the door quick, before the damage is done. They're only Limies, they don't count."

Weather: Sunny to start with, but getting progressively wetter.

Travel: Annoyingly slow on the bus through Northfield, and it's a split second decision to get the 1722 - the whistle has gone as I'm on the platform. Just make it.

Tony Blair is running into problems over the date of the general election. It's been a poorly kept secret since about 1997 that the next GE would be on May 3, 2001. Only, the little matter of foot and mouth looks set to put paid to that notion, on the grounds that if real beasts can't go tearing up the countryside for no obvious reason, neither should political animals.
Ever resourceful, though, we recall The Pools Panel - a group of top former footballers, who are closeted in a hotel in London each weekend during the winter, and decide what would have happened in the football matches called off due to rain, snow, frost, or the involvement of Airdrieonians.
So, let's hear it for The Election Panel. It'll take into account regional swings, national swings, roundabouts, see-saws, the sitting MP, the standing MP, and the direction of the wind. They'll eventually decide who would have won the election in that seat.
Naturally, the Americans are claiming this idea as their own. In the first exercise for The Election Panel, we asked them to circumvent the official count - now well into its fifth month - and tell us who won the presidential election in Florida. "Al Bore," reported Panel chair Pieter van der Neij.
With one correct result behind them, The Election Panel will go far!

Weather: Cloudy, with an increasing wind. Drizzle threatens to turn to snow overnight. 5.

Travel: At the solicitors, so normal rules don't apply.

At the solicitors, to sign contracts for my new house. Moving date is pencilled in for next weekend. The waiting is almost over.

Stop off in the city centre on the way home. There's even more interest in Eva Cassidy than last week. There's been an appearance on Richard & Judy, and the BBC News. Last night an item on Tonight With Trevor McDoughnut, and Over The Rainbow features at least twice in tonight's Comic Relief telecast. Three singles - led by Over the Rainbow, Fields of Gold and Time After Time - also appear. Could these be the first real growers in over a year?

There's growing discontent over MAFF's policy. The Men From The Ministry reckon it's a smart idea to kill all animals within 3km of known outbreaks in Cumbria and Dumfriesshire. Farmers are banding together to take legal action against the government. They're led by David Handley, one of the leaders of last September's petrol protests. Agriculture minister Nick Brown huffs and puffs, but doesn't make any attempt to give a scientific or emotional justification for this action.
Finally, farmers have lost confidence in the ministry that purports to hold their interests to heart. MAFF officials may turn up on farms, and be told to go away by the farmers. If the ministry has lost the confidence of the farmer, who does still have confidence in it? Not the man in the street, who holds MAFF responsible for keeping food prices high and quality low. Not fishermen, who have lost out from MAFF's spineless lack of defence of traditional British waters. Now farmers have lost interest. If one result of this tragedy is the demise of the Ministry of Agriculture, it won't be a bad thing.

Weather: Snow showers on and off all day. +3.

OPEC cuts crude oil production by 1 million barrels a day. By cutting production for the second time this year, OPEC hopes to halt the recent slide in oil prices that offered hope of cheaper fuel for consumers. Official output comes down by 4%, in an effort to avoid supplying markets with too much crude at a time of economic turmoil and weak seasonal demand. Energy analysts suggest next month's production cut won't have a significant impact on the prices consumers pay for gasoline and other refined products. "On a retail level, prices will probably firm up a little bit, but they're not going to spike as they did last year," said Lawrence Eagles, head of commodity research at the media whore London brokerage GNI Ltd.

Football: Manchester United lives up to the high standards of Wycombe by inflicting the second straight home loss for Leicester. 2-0 this week, both goals coming in the last three minutes.
Leeds takes a 2-1 win at Charlton following a scrappy match. Man City comes from behind to draw 2-2 with Bradford, a result that does no favour to either side. Southampton beats Everton 1-0 to go eighth in the points league and the dizzy heights of third in the Trackers.
Spurs beat Coventry 3-0, following the firing of manager George Graham on Friday. Ipswich moves back into the top three overnight after a 1-0 win at West Ham. Sunderland keeps up the pressure for European League football with a 4-2 win at Chelsea. Middlesborough wins the NE derby, winning 2-1 at Newcastle.
In Sunday's matches, Liverpool ties 1-1 at Derby, Arsenal is held 0-0 at Aston Villa.

League tables:
1 (1) Man Utd pl 30 - 70
2 (2) Arsenal    30 - 54
3 (7) Ipswich    30 - 49
4 (6) Sunderland 30 - 48
5 (5) Leeds      30 - 47
6 (3) Liverpool  28 - 46
7 (4) Leicester  29 - 45

16 (16) Everton        30 - 32
17 (17) Middlesborough 30 - 31
18 (18) Man City       30 - 27
19 (19) Coventry       30 - 24
20 (20) Bradford       29 - 17

Tracker points:
1 (1) MUN 1239
2 (2) ARS 1098
3 (3) SOT 1085
4 (4) LEE 1085
5 (7) SUN 1064

16 (17) EVE 928
17 (16) NWC 926
18 (18) MCY 885
19 (19) COV 867
20 (20) BRA 835

Weather: And the snow continues, off and on (but mainly on.) +3.

Chart News

Yay! Yay! And triple yay! Eva Cassidy hits #1 on the album charts, blasting past Daft Punk. A geniune triumph of quality (massive) over marketing spend (absolutely nothing.)

Personal Airplay Stats: 57 contemporary hit records passed my radar this week (53 last), for a total of 95 plays (76 last.)

Debuts:
"Love What You Do" - Divine Comedy (AAA / College, Feb 26)
"Ole Ole" - 11:30 - (Cancon / pop)

Adds:
"This Year's Love" - David Gray (AC, Mar 5)

Most Heard:
5 plays for "Over The Rainbow" - the ubiquitous Eva Cassidy.
4 plays apiece for "AM Radio" - Everclear; "Butterfly" - Crazy Town; "Here With Me" - Dido; "Stuck In A Moment" - U2; "Teenage Dirtbag" - Wheatus

LW	TW	wks		pk
1	1	11	It Wasn't Me Shaggy feat Rick Rock	1
Weekly show of hands - who is surprised by this? More hands, I think. Still huge at airplay, down to #3 on sales, strong overseas. One of those rare occasions when this chart leads with what probably isn't the nation's favourite.
3	2	7	Whole Again Atomic Kitten	1
As Outkast begins its slump, the Kittens take their place back at #2.
96	3	1	Pure And Simple Herasey	3
It turns out that the UK Popstars' single is a reject from Girl Thing. They were a girl group (duh!) who had a couple of very minor hits in the second half of last year. Their eponymous album has come out in the Far East, including a filler track entitled "Pure And Simple." It is this. Cast-off tracks for the ultimate media hype. Following eleven weeks of saturation programming on a national tv network, the group could only shift huge quantities. Over 540,000, making this the most-hyped debut ever. The best-selling debut of recent years, Birtney's "Baby One More Time" shifted just over 450,000, but with less than a fifth of the media exposure this lot have had. The biggest debut of all time - a fact conveniently overlooked by the hype machine that surrounded this track - was the 730,000 sale of Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" back in 1984. That this predates most of "PaS"s purchasers is a moot point. Arguably the biggest single of the week, certainly the one that will be most remembered in history. I don't think it'll be for the right reasons, though. For information, No Angels - the German Popstars winners - slip four to 51.
2	4	8	Ms Jackson Outkast	1
4	5	2	Uptown Girl Westlife	4
Highlights
18	15	5	He Loves U Not Dream	15
Airplay begins to kick in, but this is still woefully underperforming.
N	16	1	I Wanna B U Chocolate Puma	16
Dutch DJs ... trance tune ... all beats ... no melody ... zzz.
36	20	4	Butterfly Crazy Town	20
Wow! Watch this one soar! Having a #1 single in the US is always a good career move, as it helps to sell yourself worldwide. This single is having a similar career trajectory to "You Get What You Give," the New Radicals' breakthrough hit from a couple of years ago. Massive initial popularity overcomes radio's stubborn resistance to light rock, and translates into prolonged popularity.
40	29	3	Thank You Dido	29
No mistaking Dido's popularity as she goes #1 on American Top 40 radio with this track. UK radio is still playing "Here With Me" (no move at #9 in its 6th week) but will come over to "Thank You" at the drop of a hat.
39	31	2	Angel Shaggy feat Rayvon	31
Already confirmed as the next single, but not officially released to UK radio till much nearer its late May release date.
N	32	1	Plug In Baby Muse	32
52	35	1	All For You Janet Jackson	35
Securing its position mainly on overseas points, this track has yet to receive full service to UK radio. Watch it soar.
N	41	0	Girls Beenie Man	41
75	43	0	Rendezvous Craig David	43
The white chocolate of British soul oozes over the airwaves again.
N	55	0	25 Miles 2001 Three Amigos	55
N	58	0	Push It All Aside Alisha's Attic	58
Some allege that this is the Attic turning country. Those of us who know the band well reckon this is a firm restatement of their territory, which has always included a slight C&W tinge but nothing more.
N	60	0	I Can't Deny It Rod Stewart	60
Gregg Alexander is involved with a record that doesn't go top 10! Stop the presses!
N	68	0	Could It Be Jashiem	68
N	80	0	Dirty Beats Roni Size	80
N	86	0	Deliver Me Sister Bliss	80
N	91	0	Invalid Litter Department At The Drive In	91
More angst you will not find outside reruns of My So-Called Life. Utter class.
N	104	0	True Love Never Dies Flip & Fill feat Kelly Llorenna	104
N	107	0	I Can Cast A Spell Disco Tex	107
Remember how Sonique's "It Feels So Good" started small and grew? One or both of these could repeat the trick. Kelly Llorenna was the voice of N-Trance when they were credible, and is an under-appreciated talent. Tex is a loose re-working of "I'm Every Woman." Either could turn massive, given a push. Without it, they're bound for the bargain bin of history.