Farm shops

Very interesting discussion on the Today programme this morning about childhood obesity.

I think one initiative that would help would be to give farm shops (genuine farm shops, supplied by collectives of local farms and producers) incentives to open on High Streets - low rents, no taxes, refunded VAT.

Even the most urban areas are less than twenty miles from the countryside where food is produced.

This would help farmers by-pass the supermarkets; deliver low-cost fresh unprocessed food into High Street locations (helping to revive the High Street); and also re-establish the social connection between the food we eat and the farmers who produce it.

Note:  it is not really acceptable for Diane Abbott to disassociate herself from the inadequacies of the last Labour government as if it were all nothing to do with her.  She campaigned to elect that government, supported it with her votes through thirteen dreadful years, and in 2010 was STILL wanting that administration and those people to be sustained in power.  She could has resigned from the Labour whip and sat as an independent, but as she choose to stay with the Labour party she must answer questions about what Labour did in office.