It’s not just the economy, stupid.
It’s everything, stupid.

The new Council of Food Policy Advisors, chaired by Dame Suzi Leather, Chair of the Charity Commission, will advise on food distribution and consumption as well as pricing.

Food shopping bills rose at their fastest rate since records began last year, with bread, rice, pasta and meat all going up by well over the rate of inflation.

And this is before the impact of the falling pound on food imports. This looks awfully like the road to price controls: price controls do not work [1, 2] and they never have:

In 284 A.D. the Roman emperor Diocletian created inflation by placing too much money in circulation, and then “fixed the maximum prices at which beef, grain, eggs, clothing and other articles could be sold, and prescribed the penalty of death for anyone who disposed of his wares at a higher figure.” The results, as Schuettinger and Butler explain, quoting an ancient historian, were that “the people brought provisions no more to markets, since they could not get a reasonable price for them and this increased the dearth so much, that at last after many had died by it, the law itself was set aside.”

Much better to let farmers get on with it.

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From the Guardian:

Tanks rolling into neighbouring countries, the media back under state control and Kremlin policy shrouded in secrecy … Luke Harding reports on why Russia seems hellbent on reverting to its Soviet past.
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“The Soviet Union had global ambitions. It believed in socialism and social justice. Now the main ideological idea is nationalism and anti-Americanism. There are no positive ideas any more, only negative ones,” Kryshtanovskaya [Russia's leading sociologist] says.

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The hope of avoiding crushing debt and of fixing our society:

David Cameron has called on the Prime Minister to call an election and let the people of Britain decide what we want for our economy.

Speaking at the London School of Economics, David spoke about the “clear choice that is emerging in British politics” on the economic problems facing the country.

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Sometimes vindication can be a bitter pill. Despite the intensity of my belief that this government was systematically undermining our historic freedoms, even l was shocked by the senseless and insensitive behaviour of our police force in arresting my close friend and colleague, Damian Green.

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From The Independent:

The vow by Commons Speaker Michael Martin to prevent “unauthorised” raids on MPs’ offices in the wake of the Damian Green affair was seriously undermined last night as it emerged that the Government is preparing new laws to allow investigators to mount parliamentary searches without a warrant.
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Defending his position, Mr Martin last week pledged that no one would be allowed to search any parliamentary office until they had produced a warrant and obtained his personal permission. However, legislation included in the Queen’s Speech on the same day Mr Martin made his promise will make it simpler for officials to enter the House of Commons to carry out searches without the permission of parliamentary authorities.
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The Political Parties and Elections Bill, aimed at tightening up the law on political donations, would extend the authority of Electoral Commission inspectors – or police on their behalf – to give them access to MPs’ offices as part of any investigation of alleged breaches of funding regulations. The only authorisation required would be a “disclosure notice” issued by the commission itself.
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The Bill also permits the watchdog’s inspectors to enter the homes and offices of MPs and anyone who has donated to a political party, if there is a “reasonable suspicion” of a breach of the rules. A magistrate’s warrant is required but no prior notice will be given and parliamentary authorities would not be consulted in advance.

MPs have also pointed out that the infamous Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 allows covert surveillance of politicians in Parliament. We all ought to ask if our democracy is heading in a healthy direction. Many may be sick of politics and politicians but I hope and believe that the majority wish to live in a country where it is possible to oppose the government of the day, and to support financially opposition parties, without the threat of prosecution.

You can write to your MP here. If you live in a Labour constituency, or you know someone who does, I particularly recommend a letter.

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