Food is a question of need, not want
THERE was a time, a long, long time ago, when the cost of living was answered just by work, not counted in money terms. Now it is only counted in money terms, except for the few who, like me, grow some fruit and veg in the garden or allotment – and some keep a few chickens. Now, what you eat and when you eat is totally dictated by how much money you have in your pocket.
When the inflation virus arrived, and nobody seems to know who introduced it, it slowly started to corrode the very basic necessities of life. Fuel and food. Then rent and mortgage payments were added to the list. Inflation quickly spread from petrol and home-heating fuel to foods, drinks and services. It gathered pace, grabbing more money from people’s pockets – and it was not our fault.
The curve on the graph quickly climbed and then came the natural and only possible response of working people; that of the demands on wage rates and pension increases.
People went on strike because the price of bread and milk and a hundred other things increased and net wages did not. In the year 2022/23, 150,00 Europeans whose natural language is not English went home to mainland Europe for a quieter life. In the modern world, enough money with a bit left over is the only solution to the poverty of cold and hunger.
The Government was finally moved to respond and tell us it was the Ukraine war and Russian gas and oil prices that caused it all – when Britain bought very little oil or gas from Russia and only fertiliser from Ukraine. Suddenly, the price of farm fertilisers from Ukraine climbed out of sight, as did meat, fish and chicken; grain and eggs and four cups of coffee cost more than a bottle of Portuguese plonk.
We are told it’s transport costs but Mrs Thatcher needs 18% more in her handbag today than she did a year ago just to stand still. Now every UK town has at least one food bank as self help takes over, as the Government does nothing.
I made an accidental visit to a food bank in Brixham recently while seeking directions to a baker shop and I could not help but notice the paucity of food on the shelves. An elegant, well-spoken yet slightly tired lady stood by the counter and I casually asked how things were... any problems? I have friends who help at one closer to Newton Abbot, so I knew a little. Any particular problems? Without hesitation, she gave me a sad smile. Just one, she said. “Too many customers.”
I invite Mr Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer, together with our Devon MPs, to make a tour of our food banks. How many have “too many customers”... no need to ask why.
The inflation virus, like Covid, is international. But why is our economy just about the worst in the G7, with the rich getting richer almost as fast as the poor get poorer?
Finally, after nine months or more of misery at the lowest base level of food, this Government is asking food suppliers – our big, highly profitable food suppliers (supermarkets) – to please do “something” about cutting the price of basic food stuffs. We really need a very big “something” done about food costs, specifically for the poorest in our community; those on just a state pension, single parents, widows and widowers, the unemployable, the many in lowincome service work, care home staff and hospital workers.
Make it a worthwhile price cut and recoup some of the lost profits with price hikes to the more expensive products the better off can afford.
Food is not what people want... food is what people need. Help end the seemingly never ending misery of deprivation at the meal table.
Don Frampton Newton Abbot, Devon