NEWS last night that a suspected case of foot and mouth disease had been discovered on a North Yorkshire farm sent shockwaves through Britain.

Five months since the last confirmed case, we thought the nightmare was over.

This spring promised a new beginning. Farmers are restocking after the culls and cattle pyres.

Tourist chiefs are campaigning to bring back the visitors. Lovers of the countryside are preparing to walk again in the Dales and on the Moors, a simple pleasure denied for so long.

Then one terse announcement from the food ministry threatened to wreck this fragile recovery.

We can only sympathise with the farming family at Hawnby, near Thirsk, at the centre of this alert.

All their cattle and sheep were slaughtered as a precautionary measure last year. Just weeks after they had restocked, their farm is sealed off again and their fate - and that of the entire rural community - is being determined by scientists at a Government laboratory.

The first test has proved to be negative. This raises real hope of a false alarm. But we must keep our fingers crossed for several more days yet.

In the meantime, we can take heart from the fact that the authorities remain vigilant. The response to the original outbreak was justly condemned as inadequate. It seems some lessons have been learned.

This incident was sparked by a vet inspecting the Hawnby farm's new stock; it is reassuring to note that such strict measures are in place to minimise the risk of a fresh epidemic.

The alert is worrying. But everyone in North Yorkshire would far rather live through a dozen more false alarms than see foot and mouth re-establish itself.

Updated: 10:22 Wednesday, February 27, 2002