Warning Of 'Food Price Riots In The UK'

Warning Of 'Food Price Riots In The UK'

news.sky.com

"Even in the developed world I think we have very, very low wage growth, so people aren't getting more in their pay packet to compensate them for food and energy, and I think we could see social unrest certainly in parts of the developed world and the UK as well."

(visit the link for the full news article)

From what I read into this, there is nothing in this story that makes it unique to the UK. We could certainly see similar problems in the US, Canada, and Europe... if not worse. Something like food shortages and/or massive price increases will have a devistating effect on society... especially the societies of the West, who have not had to deal with such problems in generations.

In the emerging world, they rely on assistance from the West to help suppliment or alleviate problems with food supply. If the US/UK/Canada are dealing with their own miseries, the problems in the developing world will intensify to a catastrophic extent.

Grim times ahead.

news.sky.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

already posted here bro:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

i somehow doubt that the uk will see food riots, but if people keep talking about it in the news then i suppose it is a possibility as it will give people ideas.
i do think there will be riots of other types in the near future though.

Originally posted by RizeorDie
already posted here bro:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Damn. My apologies all. I hate to junk up the forums.

Originally posted by larphillips


From what I read into this, there is nothing in this story that makes it unique to the UK. We could certainly see similar problems in the US, Canada, and Europe... if not worse.

Why do you compare an island to a continent?

Completely different.

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by larphillips


From what I read into this, there is nothing in this story that makes it unique to the UK. We could certainly see similar problems in the US, Canada, and Europe... if not worse.

Why do you compare an island to a continent?

Completely different.

Tell me how? Food-wise, it seems that the UK has been relatively self-suffient in modern times... or at least as self-sufficent as Canada and the US. Explain how different things are in the UK for modern food production and distribution. I'll admit I'm no expert on the UK, so I welcome any potential enlightenment.

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by larphillips


From what I read into this, there is nothing in this story that makes it unique to the UK. We could certainly see similar problems in the US, Canada, and Europe... if not worse.

Why do you compare an island to a continent?

Completely different.

Why do you compare the UK to an island. Its more than one?
Completely different.

I think larphillips was trying to get the point across just...and did excactly that.

Originally posted by larphillips

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by larphillips


From what I read into this, there is nothing in this story that makes it unique to the UK. We could certainly see similar problems in the US, Canada, and Europe... if not worse.

Why do you compare an island to a continent?

Completely different.

Tell me how? Food-wise, it seems that the UK has been relatively self-suffient in modern times... or at least as self-sufficent as Canada and the US. Explain how different things are in the UK for modern food production and distribution. I'll admit I'm no expert on the UK, so I welcome any potential enlightenment.

the Americas are surrounded by water... a very big Island in my opinion

however silliness to one side, I see this is a scalable problem... in my neck of the woods over just a few miles (prob 90x30) they have dropped livestock and grain farming by 90% in the last 30 years... and some breeds that where famous for there multi use over the best part of the last 2,000 years are nearly non existent.

While they have not even found another use for the land or fix the decline in the agricultural industry, except to use the area as a pretty park..

It seems that approach is something that has taken hold in the Western world, we seem to be turning away from agriculture which gives me the impression we are all susceptible to food shortage as less and less is produced in our own nations.

ETA. The 90% figure is loosely based on the number of live stock passing through the markets around here that are also no longer in existence.

We will riot about food prices after the HUGE protest planned on the 26th of March against the cuts in London.

ETA: The UK has loads of farming land and if need be could be self sufficient in food terms, but farmers have been forced to sell off land just to stay in business because prices of grain to feed animals etc. has gone through the roof in recent years. Which means we have to import more and with oil going up so is petrol which means imports are getting more expensive so the supermarkets put the prices up plus a little more for a bit more profit.

reply to post by BarmyBilly


Actually, the biggest problem British farmers face is that the British public prefer cheap imports. So it's ironic people saying we should be more self sufficient in a thread about the increases in food prices!

As for riots - I'm still waiting for the ones we were promised a few summers back due to the influx of migrant labour ...... Some people love making daft predictions, because it gets them in the papers and they feel clever and special. It doesn't mean such predictions are any more valid than the world ending in 2003 due to the approach of planet Nibiru. Although as we all know, that did happen ......

reply to post by Essan


I'm not sure it is just about the British public, a lot New Zealand lambs are derived from the core Southdowns stock, and yet, the Southdowns are themselves bare of the breed..

It seems illogical that it can be cheaper to import lamb chops from New Zealand than let the sheep wander the downs as they have for the last millennia.

IMHO.. Some things simply do not add up..

Maybe we will have to start being less fussy about the foods we eat. We waste fish in discards because we only like Cod and Haddock, We throw away fruit and veg because its not attractive enough, we only eat certain cuts of meat and supermarkets throw tons of food away everyday. Theres no shortage of food in the UK, just the crazy system we live in wastes much of it.


Supermarkets throw away 2 million tons of food away a year enough to feed 6.3 million people a year.

Originally posted by woodwardjnr
Maybe we will have to start being less fussy about the foods we eat. We waste fish in discards because we only like Cod and Haddock, We throw away fruit and veg because its not attractive enough, we only eat certain cuts of meat and supermarkets throw tons of food away everyday. Theres no shortage of food in the UK, just the crazy system we live in wastes much of it.

edit on 9-3-2011 by woodwardjnr because: (no reason given)

Supermarkets throw away 2 million tons of food away a year enough to feed 6.3 million people a year.

edit on 9-3-2011 by woodwardjnr because: (no reason given)

Certainly true there! Our ability to maximize the usage of food products has certainly fallen by the wayside. Even the lessons learned by the generation of the Great Depression and the Second World War have been forgotten and/or discarded.

It's difficult now to do so, even if we wanted to, as a consumer. I like to make our family recipe tomato sauce, and the key ingredient is properly cut pork neck bones. Here in the states, it is nearly impossible these days to find a grocery store that cuts its own meat. Everything is pre-packaged and in only the most standard cuts. In addition, I am beginning to experiment with canning and I want to make my own lard. Again, trying to find good, safe slabs of pork fat has become something of an adventure. In the back of my mind, I'm quite certain that all of these central meat cutting shops are shipping these interesting/unconventional cuts, trimmings, and scraps off to places that make pet food or livestock feed.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


And isn't something like a third of all food we actually buy then thrown away? We need to learn to buy what we actually need and will use, and to make meals from left overs like we used to. Imagine how much money we'd save if we threw nothing away? And then if we grew a few spuds in the back garden as well .....

..... although I suppose the problem with growing spuds is that they don't come out of the ground ready mashed and seasoned, do they It's ridiculous complaining about food prices when so many people buy massively overpriced, processed, ready meals instead of cooking real food from scratch

We must be rich!

gm food ?

the UK could never be self sufficient in food, in 1939, the UK imported 30,000,000 tons of food each year, with a population of 39,000,000, UK population is now 63,000.000, you do the math. The UK Blockade of Germany 1914-1918 meant 80,000,000 Germans were starving by 1918, UK/Europe just cannot feed itself, not in grain and meat anyway. (Figures from various history books, and the web.)

reply to post by pikestaff


Yes we can we have plenty land for it but it's cheaper to import

A friend of mine is a farmer and I hear a lot of tales about how the government has dealt with farmers over the years even to paying for farmers not to farm their fields .I suspect this was to do with EEC food mountains and helping Commonwealth countries. But the cost of this to us as a nation as been to deprive us of our near self-sufficiency and an incredibly number of skilled farmers. Also should not be ruled out the purchasing power of the supermarkets and their profit margins.

Its not that long ago that some of our farmers were committing suicide as Blair demanded the deaths of huge numbers of our cattle. A number of countries when they contracted foot and mouth did not do a Blair pirouette, vast shame he didn't spin through the bollom of the globe! This must have influenced stock levels and farmers bankruptsy.

Could the increasing food costs albeit very serious for us alone be a cause for us to riot, which hasn't been enthuisically carried out for some time, partly because of the demonising of anyone with the audacity to complain/demonstrate/riot? Its a complex issue food production and today with problems of extremely adverse weather and so many more mouths to feed, the public can comprehend there are lots of factors to take into account.

I do think that we, as a people, are on the verge of rioting and unfortunately I suspect some of us are worried that our pent-up indignation and fury over a number of other things alongside these massive increases, will be more like an explosion. However, the good news is that the Police seem to be somewhat aggrieved at the Government's stance towards them and who knows some may develop the lurgy when called for riot duty (depending of their overtime) . There will always be the gung-ho baton bashers amongst them who we have seen on our tv's who, if left unsupervised could run amok and defend the line alone.

Food and fuel has gone up immensely, I know there are natural. increases but with what our government takes in the way of hidden costs it could suddenly decide to run the country cost-wise for the public, not fleece us to death.

No worries mates, we start running out of food we can eat the bankers woot.