I was amused to read today that Gordon Brown was telling us to be more frugal and not to waste so much food.
He's absolutely right, of course, but is it the PM's job to tell us how to run our households?
The context is the G8 summit in which I suspect most people in this country are profoundly disinterested and on which there is unlikely to be much real progress in solving the world's growing food shortages. So he chose to pronounce on a subject that plays well to the audience at home (nothing party political about this - all politicians do it)
The fact that his involvement is controversial is all to the good - the media have all picked up on it.
Those who hate the idea of the 'nanny state' will object vociferously. Those that think that it's time we all addressed these issues will approve.
Shows there's a need for this blog though ;-)
The sentiment here is noble enough, and by appealing to the most crucial of common denominators - the wallets of shoppers - it also stands a good chance of having an impact. The catch here is that, as one might expect, while we're all being told that we're all a bunch of shameful, food-wasting scoundrels, the delegates attending the G8 are having a jolly good eight-course feast in the mean time. Such double standards are the kind of thing that make people ignore the words coming out of the mouths of politicians, and I fear that the important actions we all ought to be taking for others' benefits as well as our own may get swamped by the backlash.
ReplyDeleteWell spotted, CM. Shows that Gordy doesn't have the acute political instincts of Tony Blair, whatever one may have thought of him . . .
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much food is wasted by supermarket giants???!!! Never mind, just kick the consumer when s/he's down...
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