Food security in the UK is threatened by multi-national companies moving production abroad and by just in time deliveries being threatened by a variety of obstacles, including Brexit, Covid and the war in Ukraine. Even more disastrous has been the hike in energy prices which has increase the price of even the most basic food. The government must find some solutions to a looming catastrophe which is partly of its own making
People using food banks don’t know how to cook from scratch, claims a Conservative MP. What cheek, says Allegra Chapman: it’s time our MPs woke up to the struggles of ordinary people without their privileges.
Boris Johnson has come down heavily against working from home. But the evidence points a different way. Millions now take advantage of different ways of doing their jobs, including dividing their working life between office and home.
Instead of focusing investment in energy efficiency, the UK’s new energy security strategy favours slower, more expensive sources such as nuclear power and offshore wind, and neglects cheaper renewable alternatives such as onshore wind and solar power. The chance to address high consumer costs and the UK’s dependence on energy imports has been missed.
More high winds like Storm Eunice can be expected, so before thousands more face prolonged power cuts, it’s time for some practical solutions, says Jeremy Tucker-Wall.
Brexit leaves us worse off, with UK-EU trade hit particularly hard. Many small businesses have ceased to import or export altogether. The government has consistently overpromised and overstated Brexit benefits. Unsurprisingly then, a recent survey found growing dissatisfaction with the EU-UK trade deal among both Remain and Leave voters.
The real magic money tree is maintained and watered by government, argues Michael Green. Which explains some of the economic mess we are in.
In the light of all the propaganda, no doubt some people were persuaded by the slogan’Get Brexit done’, to change their vote at the last general election, imagining that, after Brexit, things would change for the better. On the day the UK officially left the EU, 31 January 2020, Britain’s exit was presented by Boris […]
We invited Sussex Bylines readers to share their personal experiences of how the government’s planned Universal Credit cut will affect them. We have already received some courageous responses that make for sobering – and in some cases, heartbreaking – reading…
Despite dire predictions and warnings, Johnson’s government seems determined to cut the £20 a week “uplift” payments for Universal Credit recipients. Yet as critics of the move point out, this cut is not only cruel and ill-timed, but doesn’t even make economic sense…
Across Sussex, local food partnerships are springing up to address the myriad problems stemming from the UK’s flawed food system that is not only making us ill, but also harming our planet. And our central government is lagging far behind these growing grassroots community groups…
A spate of sewage discharges and spills into our seas and rivers is prompting protests as demands grow across Sussex for Southern Water to clean up its act and stop putting profits ahead of clean water. As a private monopoly it is accountable to its shareholders rather than its customers, but a growing number of campaigners believe it’s time to bring it back into public ownership.
Lack of repairs creates misery for thousands in private rented accommodation. But getting councils to back a scheme that forces landlords to act is only the first step and, so far, applications to renew council licensing are being turned down by the Conservative Housing Minister Robert Jenrick.
A retired, lifelong left-of-centre activist ponders what constitutes a meaningful legacy, and worries his generation is failing to leave the next with the right kind of wealth…
Local elections are happening across the UK on 6 May 2021. Their results affect us all. So why do the vast majority of voters not bother to cast their ballot?
Conservative orthodoxy tells us that balancing the books of the public economy is both good business and good for business. The last ten years suggest that this is partially or wholly untrue. But why is this model so broken? Michael Green gets his hands dirty digging into the economy’s oily bits.