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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/05/food-waste-security-letters
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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| We need less waste, not more food | We need less waste, not more food |
| (2 months later) | |
| This year’s heatwave and climate change in general highlight growing risks to food supplies and not just in this country (“To feed the world, we must exploit science, not spurn its advances”). Assuming that Britain will always be able to import food is folly. In 2010, Russia banned grain exports after a drought, while Trump’s reaction to a poor US harvest can be imagined. A falling pound and lack of trade agreements post-Brexit mean that European supplies are hardly guaranteed. Other countries might have their own problems and why should they bail out Britain, given its feckless attitudes? | This year’s heatwave and climate change in general highlight growing risks to food supplies and not just in this country (“To feed the world, we must exploit science, not spurn its advances”). Assuming that Britain will always be able to import food is folly. In 2010, Russia banned grain exports after a drought, while Trump’s reaction to a poor US harvest can be imagined. A falling pound and lack of trade agreements post-Brexit mean that European supplies are hardly guaranteed. Other countries might have their own problems and why should they bail out Britain, given its feckless attitudes? |
| It took Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, not Defra, to help stop fishing throwback, while the UK condones factory farming, killing then not eating unprofitable livestock, wasting wood pigeons (and huge amounts of food in general) plus widespread overeating. Good land has vanished under oilseed rape and development (although some houses are needed) and there is no defined responsibility for UK food security. | It took Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, not Defra, to help stop fishing throwback, while the UK condones factory farming, killing then not eating unprofitable livestock, wasting wood pigeons (and huge amounts of food in general) plus widespread overeating. Good land has vanished under oilseed rape and development (although some houses are needed) and there is no defined responsibility for UK food security. |
| Supplies need to be the priority; reducing livestock’s impact is an obvious idea. But it needs investment, plus a commitment not to switch land and other resources to short-term profit. Consumer choice and convenience are clearly the wrong way around. Restoring UK fish stocks is one obvious idea, while reducing waste and growing some fruit and veg are old-fashioned but still useful policies. Iain ClimieWhitchurch, Hants | Supplies need to be the priority; reducing livestock’s impact is an obvious idea. But it needs investment, plus a commitment not to switch land and other resources to short-term profit. Consumer choice and convenience are clearly the wrong way around. Restoring UK fish stocks is one obvious idea, while reducing waste and growing some fruit and veg are old-fashioned but still useful policies. Iain ClimieWhitchurch, Hants |
| Your editorial bemoans the blocking of genetics that would produce more food. Growing more food is completely the wrong emphasis. The world actually grows easily enough but it is the high wastage that needs addressing, not just producing more. The Food and Agriculture Organisation assesses that 30% of food produced is wasted. | Your editorial bemoans the blocking of genetics that would produce more food. Growing more food is completely the wrong emphasis. The world actually grows easily enough but it is the high wastage that needs addressing, not just producing more. The Food and Agriculture Organisation assesses that 30% of food produced is wasted. |
| Science needs to support farm storage, transport and storage at the markets. Here, there is huge waste. Then there is the marketing, the need for only correctly shaped vegetables, sell-by dates and the huge amounts thrown out by consumers. Rules on waste need to be changed so that we can utilise everything thrown out from homes, supermarkets and catering outlets. Max WebbStonesby, Leicestershire | Science needs to support farm storage, transport and storage at the markets. Here, there is huge waste. Then there is the marketing, the need for only correctly shaped vegetables, sell-by dates and the huge amounts thrown out by consumers. Rules on waste need to be changed so that we can utilise everything thrown out from homes, supermarkets and catering outlets. Max WebbStonesby, Leicestershire |
| The enemy within | The enemy within |
| It is always interesting to read Kenan Malik (“If we want to build trust in society, a new treason law is no way to do it”, Comment). Far from abolishing the law of treason, I argue that it should be reframed and strengthened. That will discomfit many. Yet it should be done: jaw-jaw is better than war-war, which is what Malik seems to predict as an alternative.Professor Angus SkinnerEdinburgh | It is always interesting to read Kenan Malik (“If we want to build trust in society, a new treason law is no way to do it”, Comment). Far from abolishing the law of treason, I argue that it should be reframed and strengthened. That will discomfit many. Yet it should be done: jaw-jaw is better than war-war, which is what Malik seems to predict as an alternative.Professor Angus SkinnerEdinburgh |
| Nightmare scenario | Nightmare scenario |
| William Keegan expresses a view very similar to my own: that Theresa May has been primarily motivated by her desire to become – and remain – prime minister (“If leaders won’t lead, we must vote again on Brexit”, Business). I too have a sneaking suspicion that May might, once it appears beyond doubt to all that Brexit will be a disaster, withdraw the Leave notice, perhaps as late as 28 March. I also agree that this is unlikely. | William Keegan expresses a view very similar to my own: that Theresa May has been primarily motivated by her desire to become – and remain – prime minister (“If leaders won’t lead, we must vote again on Brexit”, Business). I too have a sneaking suspicion that May might, once it appears beyond doubt to all that Brexit will be a disaster, withdraw the Leave notice, perhaps as late as 28 March. I also agree that this is unlikely. |
| But continue with that idea for a little longer. Just suppose, when Brexit is deemed suicidal, she halts the process and comes out with all guns blazing to remain in the EU. It could seriously wrongfoot Labour, which would be seen as “pale-blue Leavers”; it would shut up her right wing for decades; and she might even win an election on the promise of £20bn for the NHS. That is why we need a strong opposition and a party that opposes Brexit.J EllisTavistock, Devon | But continue with that idea for a little longer. Just suppose, when Brexit is deemed suicidal, she halts the process and comes out with all guns blazing to remain in the EU. It could seriously wrongfoot Labour, which would be seen as “pale-blue Leavers”; it would shut up her right wing for decades; and she might even win an election on the promise of £20bn for the NHS. That is why we need a strong opposition and a party that opposes Brexit.J EllisTavistock, Devon |
| It’s not rocket science | It’s not rocket science |
| Global warming is not that complex and many of the solutions are readily available (“Our scorched Earth needs voters to put more heat on their politicians”, Andrew Rawnsley, Comment). The problem is scientifically illiterate politicians who assume that decisions can be postponed indefinitely. | Global warming is not that complex and many of the solutions are readily available (“Our scorched Earth needs voters to put more heat on their politicians”, Andrew Rawnsley, Comment). The problem is scientifically illiterate politicians who assume that decisions can be postponed indefinitely. |
| They are now engaged in a deadly folie à deux with car manufacturers or energy company executives who argue that they cannot make the necessary investments in green technology without the right signals from government, while politicians argue that matters can be left to the free market, a position that is formulated after intensive lobbying by those same companies. | They are now engaged in a deadly folie à deux with car manufacturers or energy company executives who argue that they cannot make the necessary investments in green technology without the right signals from government, while politicians argue that matters can be left to the free market, a position that is formulated after intensive lobbying by those same companies. |
| The media are guilty of the same self-defeating logic. Little attention is devoted to air pollution or climate change on the grounds that the public appears uninterested in environmental issues. | The media are guilty of the same self-defeating logic. Little attention is devoted to air pollution or climate change on the grounds that the public appears uninterested in environmental issues. |
| Journalists should recall that the Greens achieved 15% of the vote in the EU elections of 1989 when ozone depletion hit the headlines. The dangers from climate change are immeasurably worse and it is time the media got their act together.Dr Robin Russell-Jones, chair, Help Rescue the PlanetMarlow, Bucks | Journalists should recall that the Greens achieved 15% of the vote in the EU elections of 1989 when ozone depletion hit the headlines. The dangers from climate change are immeasurably worse and it is time the media got their act together.Dr Robin Russell-Jones, chair, Help Rescue the PlanetMarlow, Bucks |
| Can I be Irish too? | Can I be Irish too? |
| Looking across the “Irish” border, as I do, to Donegal, I was intrigued to read Michael Hughes’s article but having a rather different take (“Where do I stand on Ireland? That’s a difficult question”, Comment). I have only been here since 1974, having arrived via Lancashire, Scotland and Uganda and with very English antecedents. | Looking across the “Irish” border, as I do, to Donegal, I was intrigued to read Michael Hughes’s article but having a rather different take (“Where do I stand on Ireland? That’s a difficult question”, Comment). I have only been here since 1974, having arrived via Lancashire, Scotland and Uganda and with very English antecedents. |
| Travelling through the Bogside on my first day of work in Derry-Londonderry I was very apprehensive, but my new companions stated that as I was a professor at the local Catholic boys grammar school, there would be no problems. There weren’t in one sense and quite often finding in my work that people here didn’t know which foot I dug with could prove useful – it was perhaps being English/British that could be the problem. | Travelling through the Bogside on my first day of work in Derry-Londonderry I was very apprehensive, but my new companions stated that as I was a professor at the local Catholic boys grammar school, there would be no problems. There weren’t in one sense and quite often finding in my work that people here didn’t know which foot I dug with could prove useful – it was perhaps being English/British that could be the problem. |
| The city has been making great strides in terms of how it deals with the challenges it faces and many “uncomfortable conversations” have taken place and are still taking place. I live in a remarkable and historic city and hopefully, for example, we will become a Unesco learning region, the only one with an international border. That border is very porous and long may it remain so in terms of trade, people, culture etc; for some, it must be retained not only physically but culturally. The city has played its part in European history and the EU has played a significant part in the peace process. | The city has been making great strides in terms of how it deals with the challenges it faces and many “uncomfortable conversations” have taken place and are still taking place. I live in a remarkable and historic city and hopefully, for example, we will become a Unesco learning region, the only one with an international border. That border is very porous and long may it remain so in terms of trade, people, culture etc; for some, it must be retained not only physically but culturally. The city has played its part in European history and the EU has played a significant part in the peace process. |
| But as Hughes states: “This is a place where paradoxes thrive.” My three sons and my wife can have both a UK and an Irish passport but I can have only a UK one. Am I British or English or UKish? Am I proud to be any of these and can I be Irish as well? The kangaroo petrol is still cheaper and there’s still an awful country road to Belfast but the trains are now every hour and buses every half-hour!Paul HaslamDerry-Londonderry | But as Hughes states: “This is a place where paradoxes thrive.” My three sons and my wife can have both a UK and an Irish passport but I can have only a UK one. Am I British or English or UKish? Am I proud to be any of these and can I be Irish as well? The kangaroo petrol is still cheaper and there’s still an awful country road to Belfast but the trains are now every hour and buses every half-hour!Paul HaslamDerry-Londonderry |
| Don’t get me started... | Don’t get me started... |
| I so agree with Martin Love: what is the point of no-key start buttons in cars (“Lexus LC 500: “It ticks every box on the guilty-pleasure list”, Wheels, Magazine)? In my MX-5, the sitting position is flat so even if you put your keys in your pocket they drop out – if you’re lucky – into the car. I switched mine off “wrongly” twice and had to call recovery for my flat battery. After 50 years’ driving, I had to be taught how to use the ignition. How’s that for user-friendly design?David PerryPainswick, Glos | I so agree with Martin Love: what is the point of no-key start buttons in cars (“Lexus LC 500: “It ticks every box on the guilty-pleasure list”, Wheels, Magazine)? In my MX-5, the sitting position is flat so even if you put your keys in your pocket they drop out – if you’re lucky – into the car. I switched mine off “wrongly” twice and had to call recovery for my flat battery. After 50 years’ driving, I had to be taught how to use the ignition. How’s that for user-friendly design?David PerryPainswick, Glos |
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