Having missed the match at Twickenham, because of the Foot and Mouth and having devoted a lot of my mind to that unpleasant subject, I have only just started digesting the sporting results from the weekend. I'm not a great follower of sport but these two events were attention grabbers.

Twickenham - how could I have missed this one, of all matches, despite having had a ticket? That's life - 62-5! - that was even with JW uncharacteristically missing a few kicks but still joins the 900 club. Nine tries (four from Easter) - there can hardly have been time for a pitstop. One can only feel for the Welsh, as it all went so badly wrong for them.

As for the Hungarian Grand Prix, what it lacked in race thrills (as usual for that beastly cicuit), it made up for in politics. Lewis Hamilton and McLaren won for Britain (perhaps because of Alonso's penalty). A row between two drivers, for heaven knows what reason, really shouldn't spill over into the public domain. After all, it is the public who fund them, in the long run. Poor old Ron Dennis has a headache, now, as a result of forfeiting his team's winning points, apparently through no fault of his own and having a feuding team to cope with. It can't be good. He'd better have another glass of champers.

British Sport gets a lift, anyway.

Horses are not susceptible to the FMD virus. However, moving horses into or out of the 3km Protection Zone is only permissible by licence. Movements of those horses kept on the same premises as susceptible animals within the 3 km Protection Zone are similarly governed. Horse transport vehicles are likewise affected. This is precautionary.

I take this opportunity to remind clients that, as notified in a recent article below, that I shall not visit horses that are kept in close proximity to cattle, sheep, pigs or goats, during the current crisis. This is similarly precautionary, to prevent risk to my own or my clients' cloven-hoofed animals.

Just consider - someone tips a vial of FMD-infected material down the sink, it goes down the drain, it is well-diluted but then flood water spreads drain water over a wide area - hey presto, we have infected animals on a farm.

This is a plausible explanation for the current outbreak. It should set us all thinking that what we put down our drains and lavatories really matters.

What about that ghastly blue flushing chemical in your toilet? Even worse, what about all that bleach? Floor cleaners, washing-up liquid, surface cleaners, carpet treatments may all be harmful. The petro-chemical detergent and domestic product market is massive. Contraceptive pills, drugs of all sorts, car washing effluent - all of that revolting stuff ends up down our lavatories, down our sinks, runs out of our washing machines, drains off our drives and, yes, into the drainage system, a la Pirbright. It eventually ends up in rivers, ditches, waterways and even .... our drinking water!

It is only a small effort to exchange all our household stuff for eco-friendly products. These are easily obtainable now.

What we use in our homes has the power to make a huge environmental difference, positive or negative. Whatever we think, our effluent ends up in rivers, reservoirs and the poor old sea. Processing plants cannot remove it all.

Well, it was inevitable - another case has been found and slaughter is under way. The consolation is that it is only one case and that it is within the current Protection Zone.

http://www.defra.gov.uk/footandmouth/

In these parlous times, folk are turning to things 'natural' in droves. The feeling is that if it is 'of nature', then it has to be good and helps in some way to return us to a more natural state. While there's a lot in this, in many cases, there are some pitfalls.

Lots of people doing something rings bells in commercial hallways.

The inevitable result is that commercial interest swarms in that direction, hi-jacking the word 'natural' and sticking it on the label or in the advertising of just-about-anything, in the hope of catching sales.

Some of this stuff fits in with our perception of 'natural' and 'good'. A lot of it is counterfeit. Caveat emptor (buyer beware) is a great motto and slogan. Examine everything carefully for its natural and wholesome credentials. Do not be taken in by the commercial leeches and have your wallet sucked dry.

Three main ways in which 'natural' may not be wholesome are:

1) adulterated products that may contain a whiff of some natural ingredient but which have no more right to be called natural than I have to be called an Olympic athlete.

2) some things which are genuinely natural may be very unwholesome - look at arsenic, for instance, or poison ivy by way of reductio ad absurdum.

3) some products, while being natural, may be extremely damaging to the ecological niche from which they come (e.g. don't buy sandalwood products, as the groves are rapidly disappearing and are not replaceable in a predictable way).

Don't be cynical but don't be naive either. Keep those antennae waving!