Why isn't VAT used to identify the wasters? It's precise — current faff (HFSS, ultra-processed, junk et al).
Its very precision is why it isn't used. Identifies the vested interests.
www.birminghamfoodcouncil.org/2024/11/16/u...
And don't waste the world's precious resources by eating more than a smidgeon of confectionery, savoury snacks such as crisps, drinks, coated biscuits; i.e. all the products that carry standard rate VAT.
fwiw (and it's a LOT!), add in all biscuits and cakes into the 20% bracket.
Read.
No-one riots for, say, vitamin D or protein.
Let 'em eat [cheap] cake the current zietgeist.
Begs the question what the carrying capacity is for us. Without revolutionary technologies, how many billion? www.birminghamfoodcouncil.org/2025/03/25/a...
True.
And we need land to feed the population. “sustainable intensification” is the trope about it - and as there is nowt natural about agriculture and billions of us, it’s a tad of a challenge.
Nick Booth. A great human being.
www.birminghamfoodcouncil.org/2025/04/18/n...
This post got some attention. Because I used the phrase “revolution in our thinking about food and famine’??
Over the next few days, I’ll be writing about what that means. And why we take this stance.
They don't care what the founders wanted for anything else they're doing, so...
If locusts feel it, so do crops and people.
Cultivated from Senegal to Chad, white fonio is a drought-tolerant crop.
Rich in energy and folate, it is used to make porridge, salads and bread.
It's time to rediscover Africa's #ForgottenCrops and their potential to transform the continent's agrifood systems 👉 buff.ly/0Sz5aV3
Food for thought indeed . . .
As is the factoid that two acres of wheat could only supply ~10-15 people with their calorie (not nutritional) requirements for a year.
"deffo <8 billion" . . . that is, unless we have a technological revolution. Very soon.
Looks like our path to the Earth's carrying capacity for us humans is going to be brutal.
We need highly flexible adaptation plans in operation asap.
#foodsystems
www.birminghamfoodcouncil.org/2025/03/25/a...
Largely ignored:
* The scale of what it takes to feed a population
* The urgency of it: How many people can this Earth support? Deffo <8 billion
* Too late for strategising: Continuously evolving adaptation plans need to be in operation as asap.
www.birminghamfoodcouncil.org/2025/03/25/a...
AND we need continuously evolving adaptation plans in operation asap — and that will take a revolution in our thinking about food and famine.
The first page of our latest report: www.birminghamfoodcouncil.org/2025/03/25/a...
Mark Carney says he has 'seen this movie before', and believes that the US economy is heading for a Brexit-style downturn
www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/us-...
And David King on why this is necessary:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Our latest report has the tile 'A perilous innocence'.
Innocence about
* the scale of what's needed to feed a population.
* climate breakdown — it's going to rip open our supply system and tear its heart out.
AND ways through it all.
Our latest report is called 'A perilous innocence'.
It's purpose below.
Link to the short blogpost about it: www.birminghamfoodcouncil.org/2025/03/25/a...
We've just joined BlueSky. I know, I know, late to it!
Given our work on how the UK can be better prepared for the inevitably of more food shortages and scarcities . . .
Who should we follow?
Faffing.
And that's why we made this statement at the beginning of our latest report:
www.birminghamfoodcouncil.org/2025/03/25/a...
