Welcome from the editor: urgency
Welcome and thank you for joining me this weekend.
This week we’ve been sweltering in hot weather with temperatures hitting record highs in the UK. MPs Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak are battling it out in the hope of becoming the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, meanwhile inflation has hit the 9.4% mark.
These are worrying times, but what’s more concerning is people not being able to make it to the end of the month and struggling to feed themselves and their families. The Government’s recent Food Strategy was met with some support, but mostly with criticism from many camps. This week FDF CEO Karen Betts has written an open letter, telling Tory leadership candidates that the future PM must do more to support UK food and drink. And I couldn’t agree more. Having a large chunk of the population struggling to buy nutritious food – and in many cases any food – is not just worrying, it’s simply unacceptable. It’s a clear sign of a job terribly done and we cannot continue to use the Russia/Ukraine conflict as an excuse for our country’s chagrins.
Of course, we are not the only country going through a tumultuous time – compared to many we are still incredibly lucky – but we cannot sit and wait, there is an urgency, more than ever, to fix our system, locally and globally. This week, food and policy writer and consultant Gavin Wren analyses the current state of affairs in Back to the 80s: with food inflation hitting its highest level in 40 years, is the worst yet to come?
And if the above wasn’t enough, we have to contend with all the changes and problems Brexit has brought to our little island. Dr Marco Springmann, Senior Researcher, Nuffield Department of Population Health, Oxford Martin School joins the Food Matters Live podcast to discuss How post-Brexit trade deals could affect UK food standards.
I know, I know, today Food Matters Weekly is politically charged. If you are in the mood for something of the gastronomic and nutrition kind, why not read this week’s food guides?
Those of you who love wine but are perhaps cutting down on alcohol can’t miss Non-alcoholic wine: what makes it different to grape juice? Whilst if protein has been on your mind (it seems to be on everyone’s at the moment) The truth about protein: revealing the secrets of protein with Dr Richard MacKenzie is not to be missed.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
Stef
