Organic food is great – if you can afford it

Paying more for quality food is a great ambition. Natural food with fewer chemicals and less processing has to be a good thing.

However, I think that this noble ambition misses one fundamental point. The problem in the UK today is that all food costs more now than it did at the beginning of the year – whether it is full of chemicals or not.

Wages and benefits have not risen in line with the cost of food. And for millions of people who can’t afford even the basics, the luxury of choosing whether to have organic yoghurt instead of a bog standard dairy product is not one that they are able to make.

Food insecurity is the reality for so many people today. Reading a letter about how if only people would choose organic products then our food issues would disappear highlights to me one of the problems in today’s society.

Those who are wealthy enough to make choices about whether to eat organic or not still have not grasped what life is like for those at the very bottom of the social ladder.

Whether to eat breakfast or lunch or dinner is the choice millions are having to make on a daily basis. Whether that breakfast, lunch or dinner is organic doesn’t enter the head of those on the poverty line.

Karen Brittain

York

Thank you for your article on Matt Hancock’s scandalous appearance on I’m a Celebrity. I, too, feel manipulated and gullible having wished for his downfall in this arena.

However, despite his perception of near victory, I do feel Hancock’s disgrace is now complete. How desperate must he have been to grasp at this sickening platform to “seek forgiveness”?

His lack of compassion for those still grieving lost loved ones because of his mismanagement during Covid was manifest, equal only to the humiliation of his wife and children.

I am left looking at this money-grabbing, sordid publicity stunt for what it is, and reminded never to be seduced by such blatant commercialism again.

Mary Percy

Wirral

The government’s announcement today does not mention the key technology for achieving a secure, low carbon network by 2035. The UK has a golden opportunity to end our reliance on volatile, polluting fossil gas and create a power system that generates secure, clean and affordable energy.

But its focus on nuclear power, hydrogen and CCUS locks us into polluting and expensive technologies in the long term.

Energy storage technologies make renewable power secure, as well as clean. They balance out intermittent renewable generation, providing clean power even during still and sunless periods. They also provide essential grid services, reducing the risk of blackouts.

To decarbonise the power system, the government must create policies that incentivise investment in renewables and energy storage.

Today’s announcement welcomes polluting, expensive energy technologies into the UK, locking us into high power prices and long-term environmental harm. The technologies and policies to create a renewable power system exist. The government should demonstrate they have the political will to implement them.

James Basden, co-founder and director of Zenobē

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Here in Wales, we have many onshore wind farms – the hilly areas are sparsely populated and provide good conditions for wind power. Travelling around much of England, there are many parts which appear devoid of wind turbines (or even solar panels on factory or warehouse roofs).

Is it not also time to reconsider the proposals for tidal lagoons? The strike price for the prototype Swansea lagoon, apparently considered too high, was quickly overtaken by the price agreed for new nuclear plants at Hinckley Point.

Once the experience gained from the prototype is available, larger and even more economic tidal systems could be built, with lifetimes four or five times longer than nuclear systems. If ever there was a “no brainer”, this is it!

Roger Knight

Swansea