Month: May 2008

Joan Ruddock, Minister of the environment, like me, is shouting down a well  and the only voice that replies is her own echo. She talks as if she had just discovered the wheel, when the rest of us have been aware and talking about the waste of our money by the food that we buy, rotting before it is fit to eat for at the least a couple of years. She is perturbed because, from a sample of over 2000 houses in England and Wales, they estimate that 3.6 million tonnes of food is wasted annually, 60% of which is untouched, and frankly there’s nothing she can do about it, because it has now become endemic.

Any shopper understands the logistics of shopping and the problems that face working families today. The car parks of the supermarkets on Friday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays, bare evidence of the results of working full-time and responsible parenthood – one large shop per week. The shops don’t offer three for the price of two because they think you need three, on the contrary you will need only one but they wish to sell three. The consequences of having to guess the menus for a week are obvious but in today’s climate,, unavoidable. The Minister hasn’t a hope in hell of changing the system, it is ingrained, and our whole life structure is built round the supermarket. Everyone it seems including chefs are jumping on this food- waste bandwagon as if it was a new religion. A lot of us are sick to death of buying products because we look forward to the flavour of them but it was never realised because the product rotted before it ripened. We might of course still be able to learn something from the past, and give credence to the farm and corner shop.

One aspect that nobody seems to have taken into account is the plight of these people in underdeveloped countries who have been persuaded to set up  manufacturing facilities to provide the supermarkets with all this out of season food. It’s all very well for a couple of chefs to scream at one another through the ether, and for politicians to make capital gain out of the waste situation, which didn’t start just yesterday. But before they start lambasting, they should take into account that it was we, the wealthy nations who, without long-term thought set the ball rolling, and now want to retract, and leave those who are ill-equipped to pick up the pieces

In the 20s and 30s, with no refrigerators we made a number of trips throughout the week to the corner shop, and on Saturdays into the high Street for the roast and possibly something special. The Minister is right to be concerned, because she has to deal with the waste that we throw out, and also is probably concerned about the energy lost in the growing, processing and transporting of what we have thrown away. As pensioners I find that we waste very little because we have the time to shop, and are more careful with our expenditure. Unfortunately I don’t think there are any lessons to be learned from what I’ve said here, it’s too late

Not really, more a reassessment in the light of the last few days. I believe that national and international government requires considerable political experience covering most circumstances. This was a feature of the governments of the distant past, and should be borne in mind at a time when political change seems to be on the horizon. In those days also life was slower and there was more time to make considered decisions, not hysterical reactions.

In the latter years of Conservative government one recognized a lot of the names and faces on the government front bench, and the opposition bench. Today I question how many people who are not politically inclined, can name more than a couple on each bench. During the last period of Blair’s dictatorship, plus our current government and opposition, there have been so many changes and so many new faces, coupled with extreme apathy that I suspect very few are known as they were in the days of Major and Hague. The old guard has disappeared, even the bully boys of Tony’s reign, John Reid and Peter Hain.

The current leaders by their age have comparatively little political experience, compared with those even in Tony Blair’s initial ’97 Cabinet, quite a few of whom were either moved out of office or resigned, which says a lot for Tony Blair’s single-mindedness. Now, while I suspect some of the old guard are keeping a watching brief, these three young men will have to tread very carefully if they don’t repeat the mistakes of recent years. Vitriolic rhetoric is not enough, logical and reasonable substance is what the electorate demands. It is noticeable for example that David Cameron was a back-room man from 1988 at the age of 22, until 2001 when he entered parliament. Today he talks mainly in the first person, and the other two have not been exposed sufficiently for the electorate to assess their capabilities, nor the capabilities of all their shadow cabinets, and indeed that of the current opposition.

It is fairly clear from recent events that the current government will behave like silver birches, and sway gently in the wind of popularity, and only make decisions when absolutely necessary, to avoid losing office, in the hope that in the meantime, the new boys will make sufficient gaffes, for New Labour to survive at the next election.

The problem of governing today is complicated by the close scrutiny of the media, which is instant, selective and often biased, the sheer speed of communications and of the daily life of the electorate, this all induces thoughtless reaction by the government, and apathy amounting to almost resentment in the electorate, because a lot of the policies inflicted are both unpopular and sometimes unreasonable. The rise in international conflict, population movement and terrorism, together with the problems hamper budgeting. What is needed is a Parliament, where the balance of power is not completely with one party, where reasoned debate and common ground for action and legislation is achieved, and knee-jerk responses are a thing of the past.

In this country we have developed a new culture, where the silent majority foots the bill for the iniquities of a miniscule minority. It isn’t just one case, it is dozens of cases. Yesterday we were warned by the newsreader that if we did not show the MOT disc on our car windscreen, we would be fined £200. This is because a very small percentage of vehicles are being driven without MOT and probably no licence and no insurance. The reason my savings have gone down the Swannee is because a very small percentage of bank directors, whom we thought we could trust, in an effort to increase their financial situation, have overextended the takeovers of other directors, in other countries, who also took rash decisions. The government, in order to curtail binge drinking by teenagers, has decided to increase the cost of alcohol across the board, which in turn has unreasonably increased the VAT also. I tried to think of how many teenagers I have known who are binge drinkers, and could think of none in 86 years. I tried to think of the number of alcoholics that I have come across in my normal associations in the same period, and it was about five out of what I assume is about 200 people in all. All this business about fining you if you’ve ‘contaminated’ a waste disposal bin in some manner, is another case in point. The majority are being castigated for the few. I don’t really believe there is the level of fuel shortage that has required this hype in the price of petrol, electricity, heating, and in consequence every other aspect of our lives, including a hype in VAT. This business of don’t drink and drive, is not because the whole nation has become totally irresponsible, it is because some drunks, I suspect a miniscule percentage of the population, have killed somebody while under the influence of alcohol. For this, the whole of our social fabric has been turned upside down; where we used to have a convivial evening with a few drinks, and a sense of responsibility, we are now being treated like children, as if we have no sense of responsibility, and the nanny state has to take charge and breathalyse us to make sure we really are responsible. Political correctness is yet another case.

Over the years I have watched this concept, mainly by government, creeping into our existence, yearly tightening the straps on the straitjacket that is now our existence. Fining for so many different errors, in every case has two reasons, one is that it is easy to control in this way, whether it is reasonable or not. The second is that authorities derive income, from yet another source. The worst example of this of course is clamping.