I DID not see the BBC2 programme to which Brian Hunt refers (You Say, March 29) and so cannot comment on it.

What I do know, though, is that Ministry of Agriculture statistics show that the number of cattle in the UK fell by five per cent between 1996 and 1999.

I would suggest that the main reason for this fall was BSE, which did result in the decline in farming as I originally argued.

COLIN JONES,

Worcester.