Category Archives: Comments

#Food’s role in creating healthier, happier #cities for all

Posted on 29 October 2018 by

Belfast in Northern Ireland is, unfortunately, perhaps best known for the decades of violence, called the Troubles, and as the place where the ill-fated Titantic was built. While the local TV news bulletins were reflecting about how the start of … Continue reading →

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Future #Food #Sustainability and research needs for the UK and EU facing #Brexit?

Posted on 23 July 2018 by

I was at an horizon scanning workshop organised by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics last week to discuss the future of food sustainability in the UK. It was run under the Chatham House rule, which means you can say things … Continue reading →

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The many arguments for urgent #climate action – in 32 A5 pages

Posted on 1 June 2018 by

How do you convince governments to take more urgent action on climate change? When ministries spend so much of their time, as one ex-downing street advisor once said to me, firefighting the immediate problems of the day? The authors of … Continue reading →

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Corporate charity undermines the human right to adequate #food and #nutrition

Posted on 29 May 2018 by

It’s nearly 4 years since I interviewed Prof Graham Riches about growing levels of hunger in rich countries in Europe and North America. Since then we’ve had the Hungry for Change report from the Fabian Commission on Food and Poverty, … Continue reading →

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Intellectual property fundamentally contributes to #inequality argues Peter Drahos

Posted on 9 May 2018 by

One of the biggest changes in  food systems in recent decades has been the widespread expansion of the intellectual property (IP) regime from seeds to trademarks to access to knowledge. This is having a major impact across the world in … Continue reading →

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#Climate destabilisation and #biodiversity loss threaten our future – but too little attention is being paid to the latter

Posted on 16 February 2018 by

It seems to be a year of anniversaries for me. It’s 50 years since I went to university intending to study chemistry but then changing to study soil science. Soils are really complex physical, chemical, biological systems. Their health is … Continue reading →

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Getting the facts straight about #foodinsecurity

Posted on 3 October 2017 by

I just wrote this blog for the #EndHungerUK campaign, prior to its national conference on 17th  October in London In September 2015, the British Government committed itself to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition. It was then that the … Continue reading →

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