THE scourge of bovine tuberculosis among cattle at farms in Gloucestershire has reached the point where farmers are at their wits end.

That is why we have today asked one of the farming community's cattle TB experts, Jan Rowe, to write for us on the Government plan to kill badgers at pilot sites in the Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury.

Jan is the badger expert in the Gloucestershire branch of the National Farmers' Union and his well-balanced article appears on the opposite page.

We say well-balanced deliberately. Mention the word badger and the culling of these attractive animals, and the subject brings on a great deal of heated emotion either way.

Many farmers want to see culling of the kind proposed for Gloucestershire, which has become one of the hot spots for TB which they claim is spread among cattle by badgers. And many are passionate in their belief that the badger passes on TB to their herds.

Equally passionate in opposing the killing of badgers are animal and welfare groups.

The badger is a protected species, and as such, the prospect of culling at pilot sites in this county will be extremely emotive.

Millions of pounds have been spent in looking at ways of trying to get to grips with TB among cattle with the focus on the badger as the culprit for the disease.

This writer has seen the misery among farmers whose herds, and even their whole livelihoods, have been literally wiped out by bovine tuberculosis.

That is why we support Jan Rowe and the Gloucestershire National Farmers' Union in their wish to see the pilot culls go ahead.

We simply must end this misery to farmers which will never be addressed unless we take the decision to cull just as they do in several European countries.

YESTERDAY we told the story of the closures of Gloucester's Sony Centre and the company behind it.

One of the contributory factors to the company's demise was the sky-rocketing shop rents and business rates.

Today, as part of The Citizen's Save Our Shops initiative to support local traders, we report the worries of some of those traders faced with increasing business rates.

These traders in Gloucester typically pay up to £6,000 a year in business rates with rates in Stroud and the Forest lower between £3,000-£5,000.

In the current economic climate, these business rates must be reviewed to help save our shops.