Acronym fever hits beef crisis

Date: 06/06/1996

BSE might mean Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy to farmers, but it has started to mean other things to other people as the mad cow unpleasantness continues.

To some, it now stands for Blame Someone Else, to others it means Bloody Stupid English, while for those also troubled by health fears over chemicals in baby milk, cholesterol in butter and additives and colouring agents in just about everything, it means Better Stop Eating.

Acronym fever doesn't stop there. John Major's high-level ministerial team, now on a whistle-stop tour of EU capitals as part of a 'charm offensive', has become known as the British European Expeditionary Force - or BEEF for short.