What the papers say

Journalist and former head of the information service at the Northern Ireland Office, Andy Wood, reviews Wednesday's morning newspapers.

Counting the cost, so far, of the foot-and- mouth outbreak on an all-Ireland basis is the main item on The News Letter's front page on Wednesday.

Under the headline "Foot and mouth bill nears 1bn," the paper carries an estimate by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers that the cost to the republic's tourism industry could run to around £0.75bn.

A further £200 million could be added on in Northern Ireland by the end of June.

The same story also carries angry comments by UFU president Douglas Rowe that Northern Ireland was being treated as "second class citizens" by Europe with the imposition of a seven day "safety delay" before exports of meat and dairy products can resume.

Terrified animals

And there are strong words on the same subject on The Irish Times front page.

The south's agriculture minister Joe Walsh criticises those members of the public who could have told the authorities more, earlier, about livestock smuggling in the Cooley peninsula.

In the cross-channel papers it is the possibility of a vaccination prgramme which makes the running.

"New plan for firewall vaccination" is how The Guardian leads its coverage.

In The Daily Telegraph it is:"Brown yields on vaccine for cattle" over a story reminding readers that a month ago agriculture minister Nick Brown said: "We will not use vaccines - they would permanently compromise Britain's disease-free status"

Unlikely recruit

Prominent in The Daily Telegraph's coverage are claims by the RSPCA of terrified animals being chased round barns before they could be shot and the risk of other animals being buried alive as the massive culls get underway.

The Independent's headline: "Visit countryside and return to normality" tops a story reporting that the prime minister will use a speech to the annual conference of the British Chambers of Commerce to urge people to end "their countryside stayaway" and help struggling rural businesses.

The Independent even tells you how to say 'There's only one Norman Wisdom' in Albanian

The Times leads its front page with the decision to sell a minority shareholding in Britain's airtraffic control system to a group of airlines.

It claims this has averted a possible strike by controllers.

There is a guarded welcome from the controllers' union, the IPMS, for the victory by a not-for-profit group but, otherwise, the union's general secretary tells The Times: "We do not welcome Public-Private partnership"

A pocket cartoon emphasises the financial aspect of the £1 billion deal.

Puzzled passengers are listening to an in-flight announcement: "This is your captain, we should be landing as soon as the accountant gives us the all clear."

Useless knowledge

And finally to the Albanian capital Tirana and the most unlikely recruit to the England football squad.

Get your kit on, Norman Pitkin, a.k.a. comedian Sir Norman Wisdom.

According to The Daily Express which pictures Sir Norman hamming it up with David Beckham and assorted Albanian policemen (who are actually smiling ), Sir Norman is Albania's "best-loved hero".

That is because during the long years of the Hoxha dictatorship his films were among the few foreign-made items allowed on state-controlled television.

And, ever eager to improve its readers' fund of useless knowledge, The Independent even tells you how to say: "There's only one Norman Wisdom" in Albanian.

It is: "Ka vetem nje Pitkin" if you are that interested.