The Golden Strawberry

Ken Livingstone or Boris Johnson. Come May, one of those two (sorry Brian Paddick) will be Mayor of London. Maybe this is someone’s idea of a sick joke.

 

Neither candidate is particularly inspiring. Livingstone, the incumbent, has been fairly decent. The congestion charge is controversial, but is probably the best centre-left policy enacted in Britain since the minimum wage. Under Livingstone, London has cemented its position as a financial hub and, at the time of writing, no other banks have fallen into receivership this week.

 
There have been well-documented allegations of drunkenness and financial irregularity against him, but they have not damaged his poll ratings. Indeed, one allegation alleged by Channel 4’s Dispatches was that a clique of Livingstone’s wanted to turn London into a socialist state. However, most people are already aware that “Red Ken” is slightly left-wing, and these revelations have hardly damaged his reputation.

If you think that voting for Ken Livingstone despite his flaws is a special case, take a look at Boris Johnson. An Independent survey of London’s business leaders found that 57% think Boris isn’t serious enough, 40% don’t think he has a clear set of policies and 53% think he’s a buffoon. But 60% of respondents would still vote for him.

 
 
 

“Cricket civilizes people and creates good gentlemen. I want everyone to play cricket in Zimbabwe; I want ours to be a nation of gentlemen”. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said this in 1984. These words now sound hollow – Zimbabwe both as a nation and a cricket team is in dire straits. Since 1999 Mugabe’s “land reforms” involved seizing land owned by white farmers without paying any compensation. This caused food production to plummet, thought to be the chief cause of hyperinflation. Inflation in Zimbabwe is estimated at 5000%. Men’s life expectancy has declined from 60 in 1990 to just 37 years in 2006. Women’s life expectancy is even lower, at 34 years. What was Mugabe’s reaction to this? To build a £2 million museum, the size of a football pitch, dedicated to his life and achievements.

 

Zimbabwe’s best cricketers have left the country, and many now play in the English domestic league. Their replacements are youngsters, only about the standard of average club cricketers. They are due to tour England next in 2009, and the British government may ban the team from touring because of hostility to Mugabe’s regime. This is not the first time this has happened. In the 2003 World Cup England refused to play in Zimbabwe because of “safety fears”, after much dithering from the Labour government and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

 

Zimbabwe have not played Test cricket since 2005, but still play in international one-day tournaments. Some feel that their involvement in international cricket legitimises Mugabe’s rule. It is to be hoped that Brown takes a more forceful role on the Zimbabwe question than his predecessor. For all Tony Blair’s talk of “liberal interventionism”, his government’s spineless attitude to Zimbabwe was another foreign policy disaster. Firm action is needed to help a nation in crisis, and that requires far more than merely banning its cricket team.

Cory

You probably don’t need me to tell you that food prices are going up. You have probably noticed that the contents of your shopping basket cost more than they did this time last year. Food price inflation is now 5%, and may soon start to impact on the overall rate of inflation.

 

It’s not just student food budgets that are feeling the pinch. Indian restaurants (and we have a few of them in Selly Oak) are affected by the rising cost of basmati rice. Worldwide prices are increasing on an even bigger scale than in Britain. Flour prices in Pakistan have doubled. In Mexico, tens of thousands marched last year protesting against the cost of tortillas. Tortillas are the main staple food for the poor in Mexico, and their price has quadrupled in recent years. In Italy there were the so-called “pasta riots”, and food riots have also happened in places such as Yemen, Senegal and Morocco. According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 37 countries are facing food crises. The FAO’s food price index has risen 40% in the past year, which has catastrophic implications for some of the world’s poorest. Put simply, the World Bank reckons that for each 1% rise in food prices, the calorie intake of the poor drops by 0.5%.

 

It is also the most vulnerable in the UK who are most affected by soaring food prices. Those on fixed incomes, such as the elderly on pensioners and those on benefits, are more likely to suffer. This is another version of Sod’s law: if something bad is going to happen, invariably those most affected are those in the worst position to cope.

 

Food prices are rising for a number of reasons. The high price of oil is obviously a factor. With a barrel of oil now costing over $90 a barrel, farming costs, such as transportation, are increasing. High oil prices are also leading countries, including the USA, to convert grain into fuel for cars rather than for food. In countries such as India and China, scarce water supplies are being used by the rising populations, rather than on agriculture. The Indians and Chinese are also eating more meat, which requires more grain to feed animals. Food production has always been affected by droughts and floods, but now climate change means that these droughts are becoming more frequent and at irregular intervals. This scarcity of both water and farmland is leading to speculation that this rise in food prices may be longer than expected, according a study out this week by Bidwells Agribusiness.

 

This is a very depressing picture, and may lead you to the depressing conclusion that we are all screwed, caught in several vicious circles. Have no fear: hope does still remain. Even those who know nothing about economics (I also come under this bracket) know that supply and demand are very important. As demand for food increases, it seems logical that farmers will increase supply. This should keep prices at a reasonable level. On the other hand, in 2007 food production reached its highest level ever, and still prices rocketed. Britain’s food industry is also very competitive, which should theoretically keep prices low. One must take into account the fact that most big businesses are greedy beggars. Late last year Sainsbury’s and Asda admitted that they had kept the prices of dairy products artificially high, which cost consumers £270 million. It is also hoped that Biofuel engineers can develop a method of biofuel that doesn’t require grain, which would leave more food supply. However, with the world’s population predicted to reach 9 billion by 2050, rising food prices is not going to be an issue which goes away too soon.

Cory

Well, it seems that Adam and Luke have worn themselves out writing on the Strawb, but I am still here. So please come back!

I haven’t posted for a while, mainly because I have been working like mad to get my dissertation in on time. Writing 12 000 words on Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman monasticism is fun, but means I don’t want to do much more thinking.

Still, I’ll upload a couple of Redbrick articles I haven’t uploaded yet, then hopefully something else as well.

Cory

After a short stint writing on this esteemed blog, I have flown the nest to a blog all of my very own. Check it out at www.thecowfield.wordpress.com. Shameless self-promotion. It goes far!

Luke

Having said yesterday that there was nothing really which was annoying me, what should happen, but I find something which grinds with me!

This story in fact. The sheer absurdity of it, the sheer pettiness of it. Everything about it makes me angry. The loss to those children who enjoy competing in the event.

And the nausiating amount of paperwork which has to be compiled nowadays to ensure that people do not get scratched. I wonder if there will be a point at which we have to fill in health and safety forms for the forms we are already filling in due to the potential risk of paper cuts. I know I’m scared of scratching my hand.

The advert with parents protecting their children (it may be for Calpol, but I’m not sure) by wrapping them in aluminium after a race, or putting a pillow on the ceiling to prevent head injuries when the kid bounces on the bed; are becoming a startling reality. With the increasing desire to prevent injury, or, more importantly, to prevent being sued following an injury, is it any wonder this story seems to be particularly relevant?

Luke

As there is little which is really annoying me at the moment, I thought it would be a good opportunity to just look at some of the things which are going on in the news.

Teenagers are to be taken to Auschwitz as an attempt to encourage them to learn about the Holocaust. This is a good idea, and is just part of the wider picture of learning about such regimes as the Nazi party’s extermination programme, and the Communists in Russia doing very similar things (albeit with less definite selection). More should be done to encourage young people to learn about these atrocities, as well as making them aware that such things still happen: Rwanda is one which springs instantly to my mind.

Labour blunder on through the latest in a long line of funding problems, and the Tories hardly look whiter than white with Derek Conway being suspended for overpaying his son with taxpayers money.

Remember Ama Sumani? The 39 year old Ghanaian who was deported when her visa expired, is now apparently “deteriorated rapidly” now she is back in Ghana. Meanwhile Al Bangura made a brief cameo in Watfords defeat of Wolves. I think I know who I would rather be right now.

Finally there looks like there has been a breakthrough. Writers and production companies are seemingly getting closer to reaching an agreement on pay. Which means all those hollywood people can go out and buy ridiculous, expensive dresses after all. Phew.

Oh, and congratulations of the week go to:- Wales Rugby team, the New York Giants, and Lembit Opik. Wales beat England at Twickenham, the Giants won the superbowl with a last minute score against the Patriots, and Lembit has come out in defence of Nicolas Sarkozy for having a celebrity wife (something Lembit apparently can relate to!). I’m sure Nicolas is thankful too for being able to count on such a powerful ally in Lembit.
Commiserations go to:- Ama Sumani, anyone who knows someone Welsh, and Neil May. Neil apparently is Lembit’s professional lookalike, but he has been unable to find work for a year. Hmmm… the phrase “don’t give up your day job” just doesn’t quite cut it…

Luke