Feeding Frenzy

As well as other of life's challenges in the last few days, a great deal of time has been spent in the bathroom as a consequence of rumbling and tumbling down there.  It did not help that one of my family has the poster for the film "Gone With The Wind" on their bathroom door.

Nor was it any solace to read in the latest edition of "Which" that some 17 million of UK citizens a year are alleged to be affected by food poisoning picked up from takeaways and similar food outlets.

Given that so many of us either use or even rely on these facilities for our food and nutrition then the number might not be a high proportion of the figure for people-bought in meals consumed a year it is still 17 million too high for most of us.

What annoys me is that my choices are highly selective, partly because of paranoia and partly because of the preference for reliable content.  So despite very limited use on grounds of cost etc. the demon struck, as ever when least wanted.

Not only has the huge increase in prepared food outlets of one sort or another made a mark on the shift to service activity in the economy it has been part of a culture where food has come to taken for granted.  We assume that it is easy to get and unlimited in choice and supply.

This is not the case for very many of the world's population and was not the case at many times in the past for those in the Atlantic Isles.  Famines have occurred even when there was land to spare and overall population numbered in a handful of millions rather than the tens of millions and rising fast.

There are a number of people who are suggesting that the past may come to haunt us and sooner than we expect.  Our economy is based increasingly on ramping up the money values of either property or paper securities in one form or another and taking a cut on digital transactions.

If this does not last or falters then all this food that pours in on a daily basis may begin to be at least reduced or even fail drastically in some sectors.  Assuming the price mechanism works this means sharp and potentially major price rises which will affect very large numbers of people.

In the 1590's three years of bad harvests had a major effect on population and health and few were spared the consequences.   There has been a series of both minor and major cuts in food supply since both locally and across the Isles some being major disasters.

It is over fifty years since food supply was a costly problem for many of us.  We have been lulled into a world where fake money and the concomitant exploitation of foreign sources have made us believe that it will go on like this forever.

 

The ending of this may be a gradual squeeze, or a more rapid decline.  Given the present incompetence of our governments and short termism of those who have the money it could be very much worse.

The spin doctors at least will be able to claim that food poisoning on a large scale would be a thing of the past.