So it's our fault now is it?

[Snoopy]

According to Golden Brown we should all shop better, not throw away food, and not buy special offers. This, he says, will solve the world food price problems.

What planet is this b@st@rd living on? Not that many years ago we had wine lakes, butter mountains and more grain than we knew what to do with. Policies were put in place, by Governments, to prevent these surpluses occurring ever again.

This household has an annual income of £17.5k after taxes. There are two adults and three children to be fed, clothed, transported, kept warm, provided with water etc. Does he not think that there is very little we do not know about economy, living within our means and making do?

The man is a total arse.

[Barman]

The other arsehole (wasshisname?) was on the radio this morning telling us that the problem is China getting richer (lie), poor weather in Australia (lie), etc.

He somehow failed to mention that the EU sold off its grain mountain as cattle food and is now trying to buy it all back again or that the USA is buying vast amounts of grain to turn into petrol.

So in spite of these two major influences of hundreds of millions of dollars on world markets, if you simply bought slightly less food and ate leftovers all will be okay? Oh, and don’t leave your telly on standby either…

What a complete arsehole… 

[Nick]

'Stop wasting food', urges Brown

Just shoot John Prescott.

Sorted 

[Barman]

'Stop wasting food', urges Brown

Just shoot John Prescott.

Sorted 

Hang the entire, useless bunch of gobshites! 

[Uncle Mort]

There is a serious amount of food going to waste in the UK. Nothing wrong in trying to reduce that.

It's not going to magically reduce food costs as there are many other factors affecting the price. Like China getting richer, poor weather in Australia (and Argentina) and one that I have direct knowledge of, shipping costs.

[Barman]

There is a serious amount of food going to waste in the UK. Nothing wrong in trying to reduce that.

It's not going to magically reduce food costs as there are many other factors affecting the price. Like China getting richer, poor weather in Australia (and Argentina) and one that I have direct knowledge of, shipping costs.

I don’t doubt there is a lot of food wasted – I’d like to see a breakdown of the stats tho. HMG would like us to think that we are all buying too much and not eating leftovers – how many thousands of tonnes are thrown away because they are at or near their ‘sell by’ date for instance?

And I don’t buy every mummy in China suddenly waking up one day and saying ‘I know, lets have a bit of beef for dinner tonight instead of boiled rice’. Sure, China is getting more prosperous but it doesn’t explain this sudden, dramatic crisis.

When they come clean and admit they dumped all their grain mountain along with the wine lakes then I’ll listen to the odious, lying scum and perhaps take notice of them.

[Bar Wench]

Not buy special offers!?!?!? 

How the f*&k am I supposed to afford to eat then? We throw away practically no food what so ever, leftovers are eaten for lunch or frozen for another meal. The man needs his head testing if he thinks that the average individual can afford to buy individual portions from M&S as a regualr thing. 

[Uncle Mort]

Well someone is wasting an estimated(?) 4m tons of food.

[Darwins Selection]

They could regulate the use of "best before" dates.

The majority of our gormless population (and the females in my family) believe that any foodstuff turns into salmonella/e-coli/cyanide at one second past midnght on that day.

This means food gets thrown out regardless of it being tinned, in sealed jars or frozen solid.

Whatever happened to commons sense, a quick sniff and look to see if it is an odd colour? Also works with people

Either make the dates realistic or ban them.

You don't think food manufacturers and retailers want stupid people to throw it away and buy new ones, do you?

[Barman]

Well someone is wasting an estimated(?) 4m tons of food.

And I bet that someone is the supermarkets – forced to throw it away by legislation created by the, um government… 

[Bar Wench]

They could regulate the use of "best before" dates.

The majority of our gormless population (and the females in my family) believe that any foodstuff turns into salmonella/e-coli/cyanide at one second past midnght on that day.

This means food gets thrown out regardless of it being tinned, in sealed jars or frozen solid.

Whatever happened to commons sense, a quick sniff and look to see if it is an odd colour? Also works with people

Either make the dates realistic or ban them.

You don't think food manufacturers and retailers want stupid people to throw it away and buy new ones, do you?

MILFH is one of these. She tends to dispose of stuff a day before the sell by date. Just to be on the safe side. 

[Snoopy]

AND to make matters worse he says all this as he and his retinue are being flown to Japan for a "meeting" that could just as easily have been carried out using the internet 

And here is the answer to why food is thrown away. Government policy has, by granting them planning consent to build their huge mega stores out of town, for many years permitted large supermarkets to cripple local shops.
Now nobody wants to pop to Tesco for one loaf, two pork chops, a pound of potatoes and some greens. Not when it involves getting out the car, driving a round trip of several miles and wallking round the huge warehouse that they call a shop. You could, once upon a time shop like that, on a daily basis, locally but not anymore because all the local shops have been forced out of business (if you can find one their prices are two and three times as high as Tesco because of the economics of small shop keeping these days) so we all troop round Tesco/Sainsbugs/Asda or whatever and fill a huge trolley once a week. Some of what you buy will be out of date within that week and thus will get wasted.

So Gordon ~ It's not our fault, it doesn't happen in France where local shops are encouraged and the big supermarkets only exist where the day tourists from the UK can reach them. The only mega store I know of in Holland was built in Venlo to service the RAF personnel from Laarbruck (just over the border in Germany) because the Germans would not allow it on their side of the line and the Brit services wives couldn't live without their supermarkets and didn't know how to shop daily for their supplies in the local German shops in Weeze.

I rest my case.

[Nick]

Food prices are dependent on fuel prices, since most stuff gets shipped around by lorry. Gordo could cut fuel tax AND cut food prices at one fell swoop. But he won't. After all, he didn't put our money away for a rainy day when the economoy was working and he needs to go on squandering cash on wars and suchlike

[Barman]

AND to make matters worse he says all this as he and his retinue are being flown to Japan for a "meeting" that could just as easily have been carried out using the internet 

And here is the answer to why food is thrown away. Government policy has, by granting them planning consent to build their huge mega stores out of town, for many years permitted large supermarkets to cripple local shops.
Now nobody wants to pop to Tesco for one loaf, two pork chops, a pound of potatoes and some greens. Not when it involves getting out the car, driving a round trip of several miles and wallking round the huge warehouse that they call a shop. You could, once upon a time shop like that, on a daily basis, locally but not anymore because all the local shops have been forced out of business (if you can find one their prices are two and three times as high as Tesco because of the economics of small shop keeping these days) so we all troop round Tesco/Sainsbugs/Asda or whatever and fill a huge trolley once a week. Some of what you buy will be out of date within that week and thus will get wasted.

So Gordon ~ It's not our fault, it doesn't happen in France where local shops are encouraged and the big supermarkets only exist where the day tourists from the UK can reach them. The only mega store I know of in Holland was built in Venlo to service the RAF personnel from Laarbruck (just over the border in Germany) because the Germans would not allow it on their side of the line and the Brit services wives couldn't live without their supermarkets and didn't know how to shop daily for their supplies in the local German shops in Weeze.

I rest my case.

What he said... plus stupid sell-by dates, etc. like what I said...

[Nick]

The "Have your say" stuff here offers an insight into public opinion. But does anyone anywhere near Number 10 read this stuff? No. And if they did, would they pay attention?

NO


http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=5071&edition=1&ttl=20080707132701