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Sunday, May 18, 2025

Are the lobbyists taking over again?

The Guardian reports that government legal guidance urging retailers in England to offer millions of consumers deals and discounts on minimally processed and nutritious food was dropped after a lobbying campaign by the world’s biggest ultra-processed food firms.

The paper says that ahead of new regulations banning junk food promotions from October, the Department of Health and Social Care issued advice to thousands of shops, supermarkets, online retailers and other businesses to help them comply with the law, but the healthy food push was dropped after the Food and Drink Federation, which represents corporations including Nestlé, Mondelēz, Coca-Cola, Mars and Unilever repeatedly demanded the government ditch it:

The guidance said: “The aim of this policy is to shift the balance of promotions towards healthier options – such as minimally processed and nutritious food.” This might include, for example, two-for-one deals, discounts or extra loyalty points on fruit, vegetables, whole grains, fresh meat and fish.

Promotions on minimally processed and nutritious food would be gamechanging, making it more affordable for families and improving the diets of millions.

...

Now the new regulations coming into force in England still limit the promotion of food and drink that is high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS), but guidance issued to retailers no longer urges them to switch their deals to minimally processed and nutritious food.

Instead, it simply encourages promotions of “healthier options”. Experts say this is “flawed” advice because many ultra-processed foods still meet the definition of “healthier”, including some energy drinks, crisps, snacks, cereal bars, pizzas, burgers and ice-creams.

The U-turn, revealed for the first time, occurred on 1 June 2023 under Rishi Sunak’s government, the Guardian found. The change remains in the current government’s guidance being issued to retailers ahead of the law change in October.

It came after the FDF waged a campaign to put pressure on the DHSC to rewrite its nutrition policy, lobbying officials to remove the push to minimally processed food in the guidance issued to retailers, according to documents and emails reviewed by the Guardian.

In response to a freedom of information request, the government released a cache of emails between the FDF and the DHSC.

Most of the correspondence was heavily redacted. The government cited section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act, “which provides for the protection of personal information”, and section 35(1)(a), “which provides protection for the information that relates to the formulation or development of government policy”.

The emails, sent between October 2022 and April 2023, reveal how the FDF, which represents firms with a combined annual turnover of more than £112bn, lobbied the DHSC to drop the guidance pushing retailers to promote minimally processed food.


Although these lobbyists got their own way under the previous Tory government, the fact that Labour ministers didn't reverse the decision must cast doubt about their commitment to the promotion of healthy food.

Saturday, May 17, 2025

The Women of Mumbles Head

Not enough women are commemorated with statues or blue plaques, so it is encouraging that there is now a plaque in Mumbles honouring the heroisim of two sisters back on the morning of the 'Great Storm' of January 1883.

Swansea Counci's website tells us that the sisters were the daughters of Mumbles lighthouse keeper, Abraham Ace. It says that the sisters were two 'ordinary' yet 'extraordinary' young women, who, in 1883, heroically risked their lives, in attempting to save members of the crew of the Mumbles lifeboat, Wolverhampton:

The lifeboat had gone out during the early morning of the 'Great Storm' of Saturday January 27th 1883, to assist the 885 ton barque, Admiral Prinz Adalbert of Danzig, Germany, when she drifted onto the outer island of Mumbles Head and was wrecked below the lighthouse.

The two women subsequently became known and admired worldwide when a dramatic sketch appeared on the front page of the respected and influential British weekly illustrated newspaper, The Graphic for Saturday 24th February 1883.

Their bravery became the inspiration for the epic, if not totally accurate poem, 'The Women of Mumbles Head' by the influential Daily Telegraph theatre critic, Clement Scott (1841-1904). In recent years, poet, Maura Dooley, has written her own beautiful poem, bearing the same title. The original poem was recited by generations of children in Mumbles, Swansea and further afield.

The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, holds a set of seven hand-coloured 'Magic Lantern' slides of a photographic re-enactment of the actions of the Ace sisters, used to 'accompany' public recitations of the poem.

One-time Mumbles Lifeboat crew member, now Surrey-based writer and maritime historian, Carl Smith, was 'raised' on that epic poem, handed down by his father's story-telling and by the fact his grandmother had been with villagers, watching the tragedy unfold. He has fully researched 'The Cambrian' and 'Cambria Daily Leader', Swansea's newspapers, in 1883, covering every angle of this tragedy and his "The Men of Mumbles Head' (Gomer Press 1977) gives us the most detailed account of what happened. He includes the statement from Coxswain Jenkins, the day after the event:

"Two daughters of Mr. Ace went to where I saw the men in the water. I was told that Mr. Ace seemed afraid lest his daughters should get drowned. Maggie cried out, 'I will lose my life rather than let these men drown' and she and her sister tied two shawls together and both of them threw them into the water. By this means they saved two men, William Rosser and John Thomas". Rosser testified how "Mr. Ace's daughters hauled me up". He refers to a soldier (Gunner Hutchings) and the sisters throwing him a rope."

Carl Smith confirms that "The RNLI reports did not mention the actions of the women".

"The coxswain received a silver medal from the RNLI and £50: Gunner Hutchings received its thanks on vellum. The action of the two women was not recognised by the RNLI, but both received gold brooches from the Empress of Germany for looking after the barque's crew".

Clement Scott's rather pedestrian verse can be read here. The text of Maura Dooley's poem doesn't appear to be online, but you can apparently be read it in her collection 'Sound barrier: poems, 1982-2002'.

I also reference the event in my poem 'Mumbles', which can be read in my collection: 'The Statue of Ghosts: Selected Poems'.

Friday, May 16, 2025

Are tax rises inevitable?

The Independent reports on the view of a former economic adviser to Sir Keir Starmer, who has warned that the prime minister and his chancellor Rachel Reeves have no choice but to raise taxes.

The paper says that Nick Williams, who left Number 10 last month, said Labour’s current public spending plans were “not credible” and would have to be reconsidered, with tax rises being unavoidable:

Mr Williams’s departure from Downing Street raised eyebrows in Westminster and came as part of a clear out that also included Tom Webb, the prime minister's health adviser.

He had been with the party since their time in Opposition, when he was Labour’s head of economic policy, before becoming Sir Keir’s adviser on planning, infrastructure and housing.

In an article for The Times he warns that Ms Reeves’s next budget will be “the last opportunity to make a meaningful change that the public has time to feel before the next election”.

He said: “While the government builds momentum behind growth, the path of public spending is just not credible.

“Not to mend creaking local government. Not to tackle rampant crime. Not to meet the modern demands for defence. And certainly not to fill the fiscal hole from sharply cutting immigration.

“The bottom line is that taxes will have to go up. There are ways this can be done which are fair and respect manifesto promises.

“The next opportunity to do so is the autumn budget. This is also realistically the last opportunity to make a meaningful change that the public has time to feel before the next election.”

Reeves created nearly £10bn of ‘headroom’ with her first set of cuts in office, but that was wiped out within months amid low growth and higher borrowing costs.

In response, she gave herself another £9.9 billion of headroom at the last budget, but has faced mounting warnings for weeks that it will not be enough and that she will have to come back either with more cuts, which would be difficult in the current climate as Labour MPs increasing worry over her plans to slash benefits, or tax rises.

The situation has been made harder by Donald Trump’s across the board 10 per cent tariffs on British goods entering the UK, even after Sir Keir agreed a deal with the US President to cut the levies on cars and steel last week.

Reeves has already made it harder for herself with the increase in Employers National Insurance contributions. That was a clear breach of her manifesto promise but it was the wrong choice as it added additional burdens onto businesses and the public sector as well as threatening jobs.

The right choice then would have been higher taxes on the wealthy and that is what the chancellor should do at her next budget.

Thursday, May 15, 2025

A coward and a viper?

It's all kickimg off over at Nigel Farage's place with furious former Reform MP Rupert Lowe accusing his ex-party leader of a “sinister” attempt to use the police to silence him.

Nation Cymru reports that Farage's hope that the police would help to make his problems with Lowe go away was dashed when it was decided that no criminal charges will be brought against the Great Yarmouth MP.  Lowe had been accused of making verbal threats against party chairman Zia Yusuf.

The website say that the Crown Prosecution Service have found that there was not enough evidence to bring charges against “a sitting MP” over an alleged incident at the Palace of Westminster in December:

Mr Lowe, who now sits in the Commons as an independent, accused Reform’s leader, Mr Farage, of being a “coward and a viper”.

He said: “This was not normal political infighting.

“It was a sinister attempt to weaponise the criminal justice system against me, putting not just my political future but my liberty at risk.

“All because I dared to raise constructive criticisms of Nigel Farage, stood firm on deporting illegal migrants, and pushed for Reform to be run democratically – not as a vehicle to stroke one man’s ego.”

This one is going to run and run.

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Starmer's race to the bottom

The bright spark in Number 10 Downing Street who had the idea to invoke the ghost of Enoch Powell in the Prime Minister's speech on immigration has a lot to answer for. Well that is what many Labour members and MPs seem to think anyway,

The Guardian reports that Keir Starmer is facing severe opposition from Labour MPs and employers over his immigration shift, while social media feeds are burning with the indignation of many Labour members and supporters who are incredulous and despairing at the fact that the Labour Party is now positioning itself on the Farage wing of UK politics:

Announcing his new immigration policies on Monday, Starmer warned that the UK risked becoming an “island of strangers” without a tougher approach, and said the government would “take back control of our borders” and close the book on a “squalid chapter” of rising inward migration.

For those who believe that he has already pitched too far to the right in response to the rise in support for Reform UK, his rhetoric on immigration will bite.

Sarah Owen, the Labour MP for Luton North who is on the soft left of the party, said the best way to avoid the UK becoming an “island of strangers” was to invest in communities so that they thrived.

“I’ve said it before and will say it again: chasing the tail of the right risks taking our country down a very dark path,” she warned, urging the government not to risk pitting people against each other.

Nadia Whittome, the Labour MP for Nottingham East, said: “The step-up in anti-migrant rhetoric from the government is shameful and dangerous.

“Migrants are our neighbours, friends and family. To suggest that Britain risks becoming ‘an island of strangers’ because of immigration mimics the scaremongering of the far right.”

Others went further. Zarah Sultana, an independent MP since she was suspended from Labour for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, accused Starmer of imitating Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech.

Labour are even prepared to question the orthodox view of sensible economists that immigration is good for the economy as it helps us to fill important jobs and keeps things moving. The paper says that Starmer explicitly made the case that higher levels of immigration – particularly by low-skilled workers – were not in fact contributing to economic growth.

No 10 officials are expected to ask the Office for Budget Responsibility, which now regards migration as a net positive to the economy over a five-year period, to look again at how it reaches its conclusions.


At least there is one sensible view being expessed by a senior politician. My thanks to Liberal England for highlighting this post by Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael, He says:

I fear that Labour is falling into the same trap that the Tories did - leaning on hostile rhetoric around immigration and damaging our public services and our economy in the process.

We should not pander to the far right but instead fix the problems that enable them. If you feed that wolf eventually it will eat you.

We need a flexible, dynamic legal migration system that works for our country and our economy, while treating everyone with dignity and respect.

We should have no truck with the demonisation of desperate people fleeing persecution, war or starvation, nor indeed of those who are on the frontline of our health and social care sectors. The last thing we need is to do more harm to our fragile public services.

There will always be a need for integration and fair play in our immigration system, but we should not ignore the enormous benefits that immigration has brought to our country. These are our friends and neighbours, people who enrich our cultural fabric and help drive our economy across the UK.

I agree.

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Lib Dems set up 'Reform watch'

With Labour kow-towing to Farage through Starmer's Enoch Powell tribute acr, and with the Tories rapidly losing all sense of reality. there is at least one political party who are prepared to stand up to Reform's Trump-lite agenda.

The Guardian reports that the Liberal Democrats have set up an internal “Reform watch” system to monitor Nigel Farage’s party in local government, with Ed Davey saying Labour and the Conservatives are too scared of the threat from Reform to hold it to account.

The paper says that as well as gaining more than 160 councillors and taking control of three new councils, the Lib Dems are the biggest party in three others, and in four areas came second to Reform – which will be the core of the monitoring project, intended to scrutinise Reform’s mayors as well as councils:

It is being spearheaded by Amanda Hopgood, the leader of the opposition group in the Reform-run County Durham, along with Antony Hook, who performs the same role in Kent, and Mike Ross, the leader of Hull city council, who came second to Reform’s Luke Campbell to be mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire.

A key part of the monitoring will be to see if and how Reform-run councils try to cut services, Davey said. Many families had been “alarmed” by Farage’s comments saying too many people were being diagnosed with special needs or mental illnesses, he said.

Other areas would include culture war battles, such as Reform barring councils from flying the Ukraine flag as a show of solidarity, and trying to cut back on climate and net zero-related work.

Davey said: “When you look at what councils do on climate change, the vast bulk of the work is insulating people’s homes. So is Nigel Farage essentially going to say to less well-off people: ‘We’re not insulating your home, you can pay higher energy bills, and that we’re pleased about that because that can make climate change worse.’ Is that the Reform position?”

Davey aims to present his party as “the antidote to Reform”, an extension of its bullish stance on opposing Donald Trump, where Labour and the Conservatives are more cautious.

He said: “We’re going to take the fight to them, whether it’s exposing the fact that Farage is a huge cheerleader for Donald Trump and wants money from Elon Musk, all those sorts of things.”

While the Lib Dems performed well in the local elections, they lost out to Reform in some key areas, for example the Hull and East Yorkshire mayoralty. Similarly, while they achieved their target of removing Warwickshire council from Tory control, this involved finishing a fairly distant second to Reform.

Davey said this did not mean they had underperformed. “We were expecting to do very well in south Warwickshire, which we did. In North Yorkshire, we weren’t expecting to do that well. It was Labour and Tories’ failures that let Reform in. They didn’t make any progress in our areas. Where we were really active, Reform were put in their place.”

Another complication, he said, was the fragmentation from very close multiparty contests, which in one instance meant the Lib Dems won a council seat on less than 19% of the total vote.

It is absolutely essential that Reform are properly held to account for the way they are running the councils they gained earlier this month. With the media apparently too afraid to do the job, it falls to the Lib Dems to take up the cudgel.

Monday, May 12, 2025

Another blow for care services

The Observer reports that unions and care providers have accused the government of putting services at risk after it confirmed plans to shut down the overseas care worker visa route.

The paper says that the immigration white paper, to be published today, includes measures to ban new recruitment from abroad for care roles, as part of a wider effort to reduce legal migration and prioritise UK-based workers, but the decision has triggered an angry backlash from industry leaders and trade unions, who say the sector is already stretched to breaking point and still relies heavily on international staff to keep services running:

Prof Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, said the government was “kicking us while we’re already down”.

“For years, the sector has been propping itself up with dwindling resources, rising costs, and mounting vacancies,” he said.

“International recruitment wasn’t a silver bullet, but it was a lifeline. Taking it away now, with no warning, no funding, and no alternative, is not just shortsighted – it’s cruel.”

Unison, the UK’s biggest union representing health and care workers, also criticised the decision and called for urgent clarity on what the changes meant for those already working in the UK.

Christina McAnea, Unison’s general secretary, said: “The NHS and the care sector would have collapsed long ago without the thousands of workers who’ve come to the UK from overseas.

“Migrant health and care staff already here will now be understandably anxious about what’s to happen to them. The government must reassure these overseas workers they’ll be allowed to stay and continue with their indispensable work.”

She urged ministers to stop describing care jobs as “low skilled” and said the government must “get on with making its fair pay agreement a reality”.

In 2023, more than 58,000 overseas care workers came to the UK on skilled worker visas – nearly half of all new entrants to the social care workforce.

There is of course, nothing worng with populating this workforce with care workers already in the UK, but this needs to be properly planned, including adequate remuneration. Pulling the rug away like this could plunge social care into an even deeper crisis that it is in at present.

Sunday, May 11, 2025

Can Reform hold onto all their newly elected councillors?

And so it starts. Reports say that several of Reform's new intake of councillors were in shock after winning their seat. Many had not expected to win, others had well-paid jobs that would now be compromised by their new role, and, of course none of them were prepared for the task ahead and the responsibilities they are taking on.

It is no surprise therefore that already there have been one or two casualties. The BBC, for example reports that the newly-elected Reform councillor for Newark West, Desmond Clarke, has resigned from Nottinghamshire County Council following election on May 1st, triggering a by-election.

His resignation has been criticised by Conservative group leader and former council leader Sam Smith who said: "Seven days after fighting an election on a promise to cut spending and waste, the Reform County Councillor for Newark West has resigned which will result in the triggering of a by-election that will cost taxpayers thousands of pounds."

Meanwhile, Donna Edmunds, who was elected in Hodnet in Shropshire, has quit Reform UK after she was suspended over a social media post just days after being elected. As the Independent reports, she was suspended for writing on Twitter that she was planning to defect from the party after the local elections:

Ms Edmunds on Sunday had written on the platform that she had been suspended from the party “pending an investigation”.

She had previously posted about waiting for the party’s ousted MP Rupert Lowe to set up a challenger party “and then I will defect”.

When trying to quit the party, Ms Edmund found that her only option was to cancel the auto-renewal of her payment, so she technically will remain a member until the year is up.

But she launched a tirade against Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, declaring that he “must never be prime minister” and is a “terrible leader”.

She said: “A good leader knows that you bring your team with you, that you champion their successes as the team’s successes.

“A bad leader claims personal credit for every win and stabs people in the back.”

Ms Edmunds also said she no longer has to “watch what I say” and so called for the jailed far right activist Tommy Robinson to be freed from jail, describing him as a “political prisoner”.

Her suspension and decision to quit the party just days after the local elections marks a chaotic start to Reform’s life as a party of government, having won control of ten councils as well as the mayoralties of Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire.

The party also came under fire on Monday for vowing to ban all flags from council buildings except the Union Jack and St George’s flag, meaning Ukraine and pride flags would be barred from being flown by public authorities. Reform was later forced to clarify that county flags would also be allowed.

It also came as The Independent revealed Reform mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns’ vow to get rid of council diversity officers as one of her first acts in Lincolnshire has fallen flat as the county council doesn’t employ any.

And it emerged the party offers home working despite having vowed to put an end to working from home in local authorities it controls.

It's popcorn season.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

The story of Violet's Leap

I am currently reading 'Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era' by Alwyn Turner, which starts with an interesting story from North Wales about an area called Violet's Leap and Violet's Thumb near Penmaenmawr. Rather than reproduce the section of the book, I found a more concise version here:

One cold night in January 1909 an expensive Belgian car was found hanging over the edge of the sea wall at this location, some 50 metres above the sea. The windscreen was smashed. A Tam o’ Shanter hat was found nearby along with a diary belonging to the hat’s owner, Violet Gordon Charlesworth (pictured right). She was an elegant young lady who lived some 33km away in the Rhyl area.

On the night in question, her sister had run to a nearby pub and tearfully explained that the car had crashed into the wall along the edge of the road, throwing Violet into the sea below.

It soon emerged that all was not as it first appeared. In fact Violet had tried to fake her own death to extricate herself from a dire position of her own making. She and her mother had said she was going to inherit vast sums of money when she was 25. With this tale, and several aliases, they defrauded doctors, widows and stockbrokers of more than £2m in present money. While the average wage at the time was no more than a £1 a week, Violet was spending £4,000 per year on borrowed money without paying a penny back.

Old postcard showing site of Violet's leapThe hunt for her was on, and Britain was gripped by the affair known as “the Welsh Cliff Mystery”. Postcards (such as the one on the left) were sold, some titled “Violet’s Leap”. Red cloaks were fashionable at the time, but sales plummeted once it was known that police were hunting this lady who was likely to be wearing a crimson cloak. The story was even reported in the New York Times. Violet had known her 25th birthday was looming and her creditors would be knocking on her door for their money.

There were numerous reports from across Britain of women supposedly matching Violet’s description. Eventually a newspaper reporter in Oban tracked her down. She was imprisoned in Aylesbury. When she was released she returned to Scotland. Her final resting place is not known. Did she emigrate, or did she change her name again and live a peaceful life?

It's always good to learn the stories behind these names.

Friday, May 09, 2025

Labour's revolting backbenchers

The Guardian reports that more than 40 Labour MPs have warned the prime minister that planned disability cuts are “impossible to support” and have called for a pause and change in direction.

The paper says that the letter from parliamentarians spanning the new intake and veterans, and from the left and right of the party, has set Keir Starmer up for the biggest rebellion of his premiership when the House of Commons votes on the measures next month:

There has already been widespread concern among Labour MPs about proposed changes including a significant tightening of eligibility for personal independent payments (Pips), saving about £5bn annually.

They would also involve cuts or freezes to incapacity benefits for people who apply for universal credit but are judged unfit to work.

According to internal Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) forecasts, the planned disability benefit cuts would affect 700,000 families who are already in poverty.

A vote on the proposals is expected in June, and a number of MPs are concerned they are being asked to approve the plans without proper knowledge of the consequences.

The letter has so far been signed by 42 Labour MPs, putting the government on course for its biggest rebellion yet.

The proposals, set out in a government green paper, have “caused a huge amount of anxiety and concern among disabled people and their families”, according to the letter.

“The planned cuts of more than £7bn represent the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity and over 3 million of our poorest and most disadvantaged will be affected,” it says.

“Whilst the government may have correctly diagnosed the problem of a broken benefits system and a lack of job opportunities for those who are able to work, they have come up with the wrong medicine. Cuts don’t create jobs, they just cause more hardship.”

The letter calls on ministers to delay any decisions until they see full assessments on the impact of any cuts, and for “a genuine dialogue with disabled people’s organisations to redesign something that is less complex and offers greater support, alongside tackling the barriers that disabled people face when trying to find and maintain employment”.

It goes on: “We also need to invest in creating job opportunities and ensure the law is robust enough to provide employment protections against discrimination. Without a change in direction, the green paper will be impossible to support.”

Among the signatories are some MPs on the left of the party such as Diane Abbott and Kim Johnson, but also a series of more centrist backbenchers, and there are 14 from the 2024 intake, including Lorraine Beavers, Cat Eccles, Terry Jermy, Peter Lamb and Simon Opher.

Starmer could brazen it out of course with his huge majority, but it's a big risk. We will have to see what he decides to do.

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