ALTHOUGH the foot and mouth epidemic shows little sign of peaking, there are signs today that the crisis might be a vital turning point on a new road to prosperity in the countryside.

The tragedy has focussed some of the country's best brains on problems which have been developing in rural areas for the past two decades, largely un-noticed by central government and the city-based media - unemployment, lack of cheap housing, awful transport links, and the lack of amenities like shops, post offices and pubs.

Today, the government funded Countryside Agency has issued an appeal that the present crisis be looked upon as a "wake-up call" for major government intervention to tackle rural poverty. It points out that two of the worst affected foot and mouth areas, Cumbria and the South West, are also two of the poorest areas in the country.

In the past, most government regeneration funds have been devoted to the inner cities but now, Countryside Agency chairman Ewen Cameron is calling on government to set up similar regeneration zones in rural areas.

He says that the countryside's dependence on agriculture and tourism must be spread wider, with encouragement for new, hi-tech companies to set up there and farmers to be paid for other activities than producing food.

This would mean the installation of systems like fibre optic telephones cabling to make the use of Internet facilities and ISDN much more efficient and the farmers' role in landscape preservation being recognised by cash payments.

The issue is likely to become a major debating point in the coming general election - now expected on June 7 as we predicted yesterday - which means for the first time for many years, rural problems will be at the forefront of national politics.

Other developments include:

• The Ministry of Agriculture is under heavy attack again, this time from Opposition Leader William Hague. He is demanding that handling of the crisis be handed over to the army because MAFF is "hopelessly overstretched."

• Rural poverty expert Prof. Richard Lowe, of Newcastle University, says foot and mouth is part of a "double whammy" for rural areas, coming on top of existing poverty. Many poor country folk are having difficulty in just paying for the basic necessities of life, he says.

• In postponing the May local elections until June - and with it, in all probability, the general election - the Prime Minister has upset many of his backbench MPs who had booked holidays for June. MPs get, on average, 17 weeks holiday a year and their problem did not cut much ice with Dales hill farmers who work something like a 100 hour week for not much more than £5,000 a year - well below the national minimum wage. Many have not had a holiday for decades.