Numbers of hungry and malnourished households in the UK are on the rise because of climate breakdown and inflation, government figures show, with poorer, younger and disabled people hit hardest. Defra data shows the proportion of households considered “highly food secure” fell from 87% in 2019-20 to 83% in 2022-23 (Guardian).
The UK has produced roughly 60% of its food for two decades. But farmers warn, given the pressures they’re facing, that critical buffer could be about to be removed, with domestic production falling and dependence on imported food rising (Sky News).
Panettone has fast become a British festive staple, with supermarkets reporting soaring sales and customers apparently willing to pay increasingly large sums for the Italian sweet bread (Guardian).
“James Dyson’s effort to produce superior fruit and put his British strawberries on sale at Christmas is characteristically ambitious”, writes the Financial Times. “He has brought some much-needed new thinking to how UK farms operate, investing £140mn in improving and upgrading his own.”
The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has hailed the sandwich as “a great British institution”, after Kemi Badenoch denounced the lunchtime staple (Guardian). In an interview with The Spectator, the Conservative Party leader said: “I’m not a sandwich person. I don’t think sandwiches are a real food.” (BBC).
Julian Metcalfe, the multi–millionaire founder of Pret A Manger and Itsu, has warned Labour is making it too expensive to hire staff since winning the general election just five months ago (Daily Mail).
Small British businesses have stopped selling to Northern Ireland as well as Europe due to extra administrative hurdles posed by new EU customs rules coming into effect (Sky News).
Nostalgic decor was 2024’s hit with British shoppers, according to the latest research from John Lewis (Financial Times). And they are now shunning large Christmas trees in favour of smaller models (Telegraph).
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