I imagine, after last month, that you’re expecting me to go off on one about the coronation. I thought about it, but after reading that 83% of the population don’t have strong feelings either way, I really can’t be bothered. Even I have found these endless Guardian pieces about the bottomless royal coffers a bit tedious. Because of this apathy, in regard to the royal family, I don’t think we’re even close to the Tancredi quote from The Leopard – ‘If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.’. Beyond shortening the procession by a mile or so and getting rid of a couple of spoilt princesses, which, let’s face it, doesn’t cut much mustard, they really don’t seem to see it that way.
So, on to more pertinent and important matters such as food inflation and obesity. Not entirely coincidentally, Will Hutton’s column in last Saturday’s Observer, bought the two together in a pretty excoriating condemnation of the lack of a coherent policy for improving the nation’s diet. ‘Britain has an obesity crisis. We won’t solve it until we start listening to ‘nanny’’, was how he titled it – the problem being that we don’t have a nanny (state). Uncontrolled free trade and a poor diet are almost inseparable but, surprisingly, he didn’t really point out that the 3.5 million employees of the food and drink sector could easily, with the right direction, be employed making healthier products for both consumer and environment. I suppose it’s just too obvious.
He then went on to point out that as unit profits in all industries, including food and drink, have risen faster than wages, it’s really not logical to say wage rises are fuelling inflation; either now or on an ongoing basis. Corporate ‘greedflation’ could be the real villain.
I’m pleased, and proud to say, that trade in all four shops is holding up reasonably well at the moment. I wish I could say the same about profits, but we took the decision a year ago that busy shops were more important in guaranteeing that we’d live to fight another day. So, we’ve been reasonably cautious passing on price rises – particularly electricity and gas. I know our many small suppliers, both local and further afield, have been too.
We’re lucky to have our new shop ‘war chest’ so, wherever possible, we’ve bought ahead. For example, Sam Smith’s beers went up by 15% last August, but we’ve only just put the price up in the shops. It feels a bit ‘King Canute’, but living in the moment has its place and at least he had time for a game of rounders on the beach. Jokes aside, it says a lot for the small scale local, and ‘glocal’, food industry.
Give us a clap Mr Johnson.