Are UK agri-food politics now in 2 cultures? Echoing 1960s Leavis vs Snow battle, I ask if this is UK agri-food today. 2 discourses or overlaps? Big vs small food systems? Intensification vs agro-ecology? Commodities or communities? Anywhere or here food?
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Professor Tim Lang
@ProfTimLang
Professor Emeritus of Food Policy, Centre for Food Policy, City University of London. 45 yrs in public & academic research & debate on food systems & change
Professor Tim Lang’s Tweets
Lack of reaction to December UK food price inflation figures (13.3%) again shows UK Govt policy attention is mostly on energy. Silence on how price rises hammer people on low incomes. Result? They’ll cut further back on food. Health impacts will follow. amp.theguardian.com/business/2023/
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Looking forward to UK food security session at orfc.org.uk on Thursday Jan 5 (1400-1530 hrs). Should UK produce more food or stay in ‘let others feed us’ mode? How to tackle not just what but how & whom for? How to close the inequality gap? What are the politics?
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We at are so proud of our Director for this award in recognition of his global leadership in reducing health inequalities - it is an absolute privilege to work with you !
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With great respect, this assumes normality and b-a-u, etc. Poky-crisis pressures mean normality is being forced to change. The ‘options’ are whether we’re forced to change (crisis), or embrace it (voluntarism), or co-create in reluctant / fraught way.
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Replying to @ProfTimLang
No, I haven't missed your point. There's no reason to believe that mass dietary change is likely to happen over the foreseeable future so, given the scale of the challenges, is not likely to be an important contributor. Better to focus on practical changes that can be done now.
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New Nature Food paper by Erik Millstone & me reviews Conflicts of Interest declarations by UK food standards committee members. The idea of Food Standards Agency in 1999 was to be trustworthy indie scientific advice. We give method which others could use. rdcu.be/c2wA1
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We were 🍀 to gain a rare 🎥 interview with When we asked him, if he had 1 minute with the Prime Minister what would he request, and he simply said “#horticulture , horticulture, horticulture….”. 🙏 to Tim Lang for his time. #feedingBritain #foodprices #foodpolicy
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Taxes up 📈
Pay down 🔻
An economy 5.5% smaller..all thanks to #Brexit
Is this the future British people voted for? or was Brexit a con?
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A great book, and a really enjoyable read.
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So thrilled that @DanSaladinoUK of @BBCFoodProg picked @vegoutwithadam's THE SEED DETECTIVE as his book of the year! Congratulations Adam and thank you Dan! 
@ProfTimLang @munachoc @gardenorganicuk
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00
@ProfTimLang @munachoc @gardenorganicuk
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00
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3/3 I moot a 5-strand strategy for food. S1: Critical Pathway Mapping. S2: System Recognition. S3: System Damage Reduction. S4: System Reframe. S5: System Resilience (people not just ecosystems or economy). 5 strands woven. read more:
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2/3 Debate about options / pathways ahead is growing. On climate, the CCAG ccag.earth proposes 3 Rs: Reduce (emission reduction), Remove (technical removal of CO2e), Repair (by collaborative management). Inspiring but not quite right for food. ...
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End of year Fieldnote#22 asks what's the appropriate metaphor to describe the state of food policy globally, nationally, locally. 'Fiddling while Rome burns'? Perhaps but today's governance cannot be blamed just on autocrats (though there are too many).foodresearch.org.uk/blogs/end-of-y 1/3
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2/2 UK Govt (i) repeats a failed 'info for choice' model of intervention: gov.uk/government/pub (ii) has ignored the Dimbleby
recommendations how to break the junk food cycle; and instead (iii) offered weak target-free strategy gov.uk/government/pub
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What a strange politics now stalk the UK corridors of food power (should that be powerlessness or food drift?). Giant retailer Tesco urges Govt to act on obesity... while Govt is locked into the 'effective information for choice' mode of intervention. thegrocer.co.uk/health/tesco-l 1/2
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2/2 UK Govt (i) repeats a failed 'info for choice' model of intervention: gov.uk/government/pub (ii) has ignored the Dimbleby
recommendations how to break the junk food cycle; and instead (iii) offered weak target-free strategy gov.uk/government/pub
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What a strange politics now stalk the UK corridors of food power (should that be powerlessness or food drift?). Giant retailer Tesco urges Govt to act on obesity... while Govt is locked into the 'effective information for choice' mode of intervention. thegrocer.co.uk/health/tesco-l 1/2
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What a strange politics now stalk the UK corridors of food power (should that be powerlessness or food drift?). Giant retailer Tesco urges Govt to act on obesity... while Govt is locked into the 'effective information for choice' mode of intervention. thegrocer.co.uk/health/tesco-l 1/2
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Beware UK politicians excited about tiny drop in overall inflation (a rise of ‘only’ 10.7%). November food price inflation rose from 16.4% to 16.5%. Relentless pressure on the ‘flexible’ item in household spending. Food gets what’s left after fixed costs. ons.gov.uk/economy/inflat
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COP27 again ducks food systems impact on climate. FieldNote 21 says it’s time we included class divisions in & between societies when mooting change. Using UK as example I suggest 5 policy shifts a Govt which took Food and Net Zero seriously could lead.
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So now a top UK Minister at the time (George Eustice) agrees what we said then that UK-Australia free trade deal was “a failure for UK”. Why say this now? Reputation protection? Brexit unravels? Food inflation self-harm? Farm voters? Distancing from Truss?
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#COP27 again ignores food's impact. Dietary change is a mass-scale way to cut carbon. Why do leaders duck it? Meanwhile, we must urge fellow citizens in rich economies and the rich in poor economies not to eat like N American or W Europeans. Change now.
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Add your voice to our Framework measuring Sustainability in Food + Agriculture.
We're all getting together via Zoom on Nov 30 to share our thoughts and talk about next steps.
Come along! #ecolabels #humanrights #foodsystem
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I am so so sorry to hear that the brilliant Herman Daly - founding father of ecological economics - has died. His paradigm-changing work flipped my little econ head inside out & inspired me to write a book on rewriting economics… Here are just some of his big ideas 1/n.
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Yet another Tory Sec of State goes. Will HM Opposition please note this constant churn does little to provide continuity and focus on known challenges facing UK food system: CO2e, health, inequality, ecosystems, food security, jobs, inflation, prices. Drift!!
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Rees-Mogg leaving the Cabinet is good moment for to push ‘EU retained law’ bill into long grass. A gross, clumsy bill, it gives next to no time to check what’s going and will cause chaos by junking carefully negotiated food, animal, health & environment standards
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2/2 This reminds me of the apocryphal story about the very rich Lady Nancy Astor campaigning to become a MP in 1910s. In speeches she was said to advise the poor to eat cod’s head soup (nutritious and cheap)…until a heckler asked who eats the cod. Fish heads the class indicator?
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Here we go again? Waitrose Food & Drink Report 2022-23 says sales of fish heads up 34%, SPAM 35%, pilchards 100%. Indicator of nutrition savviness or middle classes’ price-driven trading down? waitrose.com/ecom/content/i 1/2
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About the only good thing coming from the UK’s post-2016 mess is that its international reputation is gradually becoming more realistic for a declining economy and power. Who can take us seriously with the farce in Whitehall? And it still doesn’t have a post-Brexit food policy!
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German TV news on what is happening in British politics is amazing. No need to understand German, watch to the end twitter.com/ProMediaRes1/s
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Silence from about food inequality and food price inflation rising. UK Govt’s version of growth is trivial. We need the food system to aim for ecological public health. Real food not ultra-processed. 3 S’s: Sustainability, security, stability. foodresearch.org.uk/blogs/we-need-
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My latest FieldNote20 looks at what the new UK PM’s policy goal of “Growth, Growth, Growth” means for UK food policy. Needs more complex goals. @10DowningStreet needs a lesson in different forms of growth economics. I summarise some key thinkers.foodresearch.org.uk/blogs/we-need-
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On day UK food price inflation hit 14.5%, there is little discussion of what’s going on in the food system. We know more people are now squeezed. Mortgages up. Disposable income down. Result is people cutting back on eating. foodfoundation.org.uk/publication/ne Is it time for price controls?
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Delighted to support this great group of food systems analysts. In recent years, academics have doggedly dissected and explained the dynamics. Policy responses by states
are still hesitant. Shocks & tensions will accelerate until politicians support the Great Food Transformation.
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On #WorldFoodDay pleased to announce imminent publication of A Research Agenda for Food Systems e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/a-res @ElgarPublishing A thread on the fine collection of insightful chapters that follow a Foreword by @ProfTimLang & an extended introduction on current FS thinking
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My latest FieldNote20 looks at what the new UK PM’s policy goal of “Growth, Growth, Growth” means for UK food policy. Needs more complex goals. needs a lesson in different forms of growth economics. I summarise some key thinkers.foodresearch.org.uk/blogs/we-need-
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Devastating to listen to on (about 7.35) on England’s ‘meanness’ to children—this gov’s apparent inability to grasp that hungry children can’t learn. How do we ‘level up’/build a better future except through the next generation?
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Even a fire drill couldn't halt the presentations at today's Roadshow for new doctoral students. We just carried on outside in the sunshine.
Thanks to everyone who came along to today!
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Why is the UK Government seeking deregulation of food and health when it's delivering what it wants simply by non-enforcement? The new HFSS regs are in place but there's little money given to local authorities to ensure they work!
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UK cost of living squeeze now showing real cuts in essentials for health. #vegpower survey finds 7.5% drop in veg consumption. Why are policy-makers silent on how food is affected, despite vast sums thrown at energy problems? Food charities not the answer
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Our #foodsafety standards are in unsafe hands, writes Emeritus Professor Erik Millstone in the latest #blog for the Food Research Collaboration
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Great to hear start the lecture of this year's Food and Public Policy couse on MSc. Welcome all!
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Did anyone note anything that will improve UK food security and sustainability in the ‘mini-budget’? Ok fuel costs feed food costs but food prices escalated before Russia invaded Ukraine. Why the political silence while millions cut back on food? This is massive political failure
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Really excited to be on tonight 8pm "Secrets of Your Supermarket Shop" talking about energy saving cooking!
facebook.com/channel5uk/vid
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If you are rich in the UK, you are almost as well off as a rich Norwegian. If you are poor in the UK, your income is way behind the bottom 5% and 10% in Norway. Brilliantly presented by
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NEW: income inequality in US & UK is so wide that while the richest are very well off, the poorest have a worse standard of living than the poorest in countries like Slovenia ft.com/content/ef2654
Essentially, US & UK are poor societies with some very rich people.
A thread:
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My latest Fieldnote assessment is just out. Assesses what new UK Cabinet ought to be dealing with on UK food front. None of Top 5 issues is likely to be addressed. If so, this is risky politics. Realities won't go away.
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