Tag Archives: Food

Alan Kestner

New effective healthcare policies on the breadline?

By Alan Kestner | Mon 8th July 2024 - 4:12 pm

During these marvelous times for the Liberal Democrats we must capitalize on our success! Having always been the party with creative and effective ideas we must push the new government for the following:

Question: Reforming the NHS with no extra cash?

Answer: Reduce the need for preventable and expensive care in the first place by
making people healthier.

How: Introduce a supermarket-like loyalty card with healthy food discounts.

Cloud Cuckoo Land?

No – effecting change using the stick rarely works, but nudging or incentivizing does. Supermarkets get us to remain with them instead of switching, by offering discounts on their products using loyalty cards. Could the Government take a leaf out of their book, make the population healthier and consequently save money on health care?

How would the scheme work?

Obesity followed by diabetes occurs widely in society at the moment and costs the NHS billions. The poorest in society are particularly susceptible because they either can’t afford healthy food or don’t have the time or incentive to cook healthily. If this group could be targeted with a government loyalty card scheme which offered sufficient discounts on healthy foods to make them affordable, this would kill two birds with one stone: help to alleviate food poverty in low income families and at the same time nudge people towards more healthy eating.

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Caron Lindsay

WATCH: American diplomats try out Scottish delicacies ahead of COP26

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 31st October 2021 - 11:35 am

For me, this won the internet this week. US diplomats filmed themselves trying out some Scottish delicacies, including Haggis, Irn Bru and Deep Fried Mars Bars ahead of spending a couple of weeks in the city for COP 26.

It’s charming, funny (especially when you see their diplomatic skills being put to good use) and exactly what you need on a rainy Sunday morning.

 

On a more serious note, Joe Biden has yet to appoint a US Ambassador to the UK as Mark Johnston pointed out on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/markjohnstonld/status/1454726913696616448?s=20

It was reported back in July that Jane Hartley was going to be appointed …

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Caron Lindsay

Do you agree with Floella Benjamin on mandatory sugar reduction targets?

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 13th January 2016 - 9:39 pm

Here’s a bit of controversy to liven up a Wednesday evening.

Floella Benjamin has written for Politics Home’s Central Lobby arguing in favour of mandatory sugar reduction targets. It’s another of these issues that you can use liberal principles to argue both for and against:

Many overweight children grow up to be obese adults and there are often serious health consequences for those affected, leading to tremendous pressures on the NHS, through the dramatic rise in type 2 diabetes, heart problems, some cancers and a wide variety of other conditions that require treatment. High sugar consumption is resulting in early tooth decay and is by far the highest cause of hospital admissions amongst 5-to 9-year-olds.

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Sam Lomas

Sustainable food the liberal way

By Sam Lomas | Tue 15th December 2015 - 11:00 am

veggies

Globally, the way we produce food is unsustainable. In the UK alone millions of tonnes of food are being thrown away, soil quality is deteriorating and dairy farmers are shutting up shop on a daily basis because of crazy supermarket price wars.

At the moment 800,000,000 people are ‘food insecure’ meaning they go hungry periodically. Not many are predicting the situation to improve, there is forecast to be a 69% gap between the crop calories produced now and those needed by 2050.

I see the problem as divided into 3 main sections: not enough food for a growing global population, an increasingly unsustainable global food production system and resource intensive diets.

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Britain can’t cook, won’t cook. Should we care?

By Andy Boddington | Fri 2nd August 2013 - 7:05 am

A year ago we set up a tiny community garden on the verges of our barren car park. Not a great deal grew in the first season, but what we produced we tried to give away, sometimes without success.

“What will I do with it?” asked J as I offered him a bunch of dirty carrots. A few days ago, I got a glimpse inside J’s fridge. Everything was pre-packed, microwave or oven ready, accompanied by step-by-step instructions. J doesn’t cook and he is not alone.

A review for Defra by Best Foot Forward highlighted that one in six …

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Recent Comments

  • David Allen
    @cim Yes, we're both struggling to get beyond the waffle, to "do a single thing which will improve anyone’s life", rather than just theorising about "proce...
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    All the focus groups highlight town centre regeneration as a key issue, the lib dems have a great policy and for 8 years, they have kept it a secret so not eve...
  • Mick Taylor
    Actually what is really needed is fearless politicians, unafraid to make difficult decisions. What we have seen over many years is vacillation and u-turns. In t...
  • Jonathan Parry
    Good article, Roz. I hope that in your essay you will flesh out what you mean by 'communities'. It's a neat word for Lib Dems to use, but part of the party's ...
  • cim
    @David Allen I think the key - for electoral communications, at least - is to skip the description of the process entirely and go straight to the outcome. Yo...