Let them eat cake

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They say that ‘we are what we eat’, but it’s not at all clear what that makes the UK government, which is today publishing its so-called food strategy for England, a document extensively leaked last week. From that and other recent statements by Johnson and his ministers, we now know that the government wants to:

·        Increase the consumption of venison

·        Abolish import tariffs on foods such as caviar

·        Have champagne put into pint bottles and distributed door to door using electric vehicles, or wine floats as they are to be called

·        Abandon previous animal welfare based plans to ban the import of foie gras

·        Distribute fresh grouse to food banks

The surprising thing is not that one of those is a lie (I should probably be careful about giving them ideas, especially with only a few weeks to go before the ‘glorious twelfth’, but I made up the bit about grouse), but that the rest are all true, or based on truth. The strategy does indeed talk about responsibly sourced wild venison, and they are truly considering abandoning previous plans to ban the import of foie gras. Although Johnson didn’t specifically refer to caviar last week, he did say that food such as olives and bananas, of which the UK produces little or none, should not be subject to tariffs; there is no obvious reason why the same argument would not apply to caviar.  The government do indeed want the French to put their champagne into pint bottles (why the French – the originators of the metric system – would want to do such a thing is one of life’s great unanswered questions), although there are, sadly, no plans as yet for doorstep deliveries – I suspect that Rees-Mogg obstructed that one in cabinet because he thinks it should actually be dished out using pint-size ladles from a big vat on the back of a horse-drawn cart: none of this new-fangled electric technology for Jake.

At a time when food prices are a major issue for struggling families, and when there is an obesity epidemic, the government’s approach displays how far removed from the real world most of its members are. Bottle sizes for champagne, the availability of foie gras, and how to cook venison – these are not exactly issues which the average family confronts on a daily basis. They do tell us, however, something about the current government’s priorities. And it isn’t good.

Jam, cheese, and crisps

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It sounds a bit like the sort of sandwich which Elvis was reputed to favour, but it’s really about the shape of Britain’s bold new future.  That future is becoming ever clearer thanks to the intrepid threesome of Fox, Gove and Johnson.  Where would we be without them?

It was Fox who told us back in March that the UK would be able to sell “innovative jam” to the French (who currently just happen to be the world’s second largest jam exporters), although he didn’t tell us exactly what an innovative jam is.  Then in December, Gove told us that Brexit means we all need to be more patriotic about cheese, in order to ensure that the price of Cheddar does not go up too much post Brexit.  And then, a couple of days before Christmas, Johnson lauded the sale of crisps to Russia as an example of the UK’s exporting might.

Basing a modern twenty-first century developed economy on jam and crisps and only eating British cheese – what could possibly go wrong?

Canute and the price of oil

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It probably wasn’t Benjamin Franklin who first claimed that only death and tax are certainties, but it would probably be safe to add ‘rising oil prices’ to the list.

The reasons are obvious – rising world population, aspirations for a rising standard of living, finite supply, and increasingly difficult and costly extraction.  Even if we haven’t reached peak levels of production yet, we will do at some point (and it’s certain to happen before we reach peak levels of demand unless there is a rapid and radical move away from oil, which seems unlikely).  There will be price variations en route, of course, but underlying them is an inexorable upward trend. 

The problem, and the reasons, may be most acute and obvious in the case of oil, but there is a more general issue around energy prices.  As we move to more sustainable energy generation – rather than simply exploiting the apparently cheapest sources – all energy prices are likely to rise.

And we need to be clear – this will not just be an absolute increase in prices in line with inflation, we’re looking at a relative increase as well, meaning that energy is likely to take a higher percentage of disposable income for many if not all.

For a number of reasons – some of them quite similar – food prices are also likely over the long term to increase as a proportion of disposable income.

There has not, to date, been much by the way of an open and honest political response to these issues.  Some politicians still talk as though governments can and should ‘do something’ to control price rises – hence the reference to Canute in the title.  Canute, of course, sat in front of the tide to prove to fawning courtiers that he could not control it; I somehow doubt whether that is the objective of those who are calling for control of food and energy prices.

So, two absolute basics of life, food and energy, are inevitably going to take a higher proportion of our disposable income.  Most of our political leaders know and understand this, but rather than tell us how we should be preparing for it, they continue to talk as though governments can control the prices – they fear that honesty would lose them elections.  They might well be right on that final point, but that doesn’t make it a valid excuse.

What governments can do is change the way resources such as food and energy are shared out – with the aim, as an absolute minimum, of protecting the most vulnerable in society.  Sharing simply on the basis of ability to pay (aka ‘market forces’) will provide no such protection.  That actually means that the underlying problem also contains a real opportunity to move towards a more equal society – if we’re imaginative enough to seize it.