Category Archives: Food

Let them eat Turnips

Therese Coffey’s comments were crass, ill-informed, tin-eared and risible in many regards but did at least shine a light on aspects of our food supply chains.  And in one small sense she has an unpalatable point; we’ve got used to … Continue reading

Posted in Agflation, Brexit, Consumers, distribution, European Retailers, European Union, Food, Food Quality, Food Retailing, Greenhouse, Pricing, Rationing, Retailers, Seasonality, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Vegatables | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Changing Climate through Ice and Seeds

I try to use my break at Christmas and New Year to catch up on some reading that is non work based (whether administrative or academic work). A couple of books had caught my eye some weeks ago and they … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Climate Emergency, Community, Food, Gardens, Home Growing, Ice, Real Seeds, Scotland, Seeds, Snow | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Christmas and the Cost-of-Living Crisis: How will retailers cope?”

The past two year’s holiday seasons were tough for the UK’s retail sector, with lockdowns and resulting changes in consumer behaviour. I covered the previous Christmas periods in two pieces for the Economics Observatory (2020 and 2021) and followed this … Continue reading

Posted in Aldi, Brexit, Christmas, Consumers, Cost of Living, Costs, Discounters, Economics Observatory, Energy Costs, ESRC, Food, Food Retailing, Inflation, Lidl, Market Shares, Places, Retailers, Retailing, Shopping, Towns | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Year of the Tomato

Given that the clocks have changed, I thought it was about time I posted this reflection on my growing summer. Whilst I have been tweeting more irregularly this year about my gardening and vegetable growing, anyone following me will be … Continue reading

Posted in Food, Gardens, Greenhouse, Home, Home Growing, Real Seeds, Vegatables | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Shopping: the cost of living crisis – Q&A with The Conversation

In between graduation ceremonies last Friday (as we caught up with the pandemic impacted ceremonies of 2020 and 2021), I was interviewed by Steven Vass of The Conversation about the cost of living crisis and Shopping. The result is a … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer Confidence, Consumers, Cost of Living, Discounters, Food, Food Banks, Food Retailing, Inflation, Local Retailers, Office for National Statistics, Pricing, Retail Sales, Retailers, Shopping, The Conversation | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

A Gardening Year in Review

I don’t often use the blog for non-retail or personal posts but made an exception this time last year.  At the start of lockdown in March 2020 I started a weekly tweet about my greenhouse and last September I reflected … Continue reading

Posted in Covid19, Food, Gardens, Home, Lockdown, Seeds, Twitter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Locavore’s Bigger Plan

I am not sure when I first became aware of Locavore. It certainly was before they launched their Big Plan in 2015. I had a watching interest in the development of social and more sustainable retail food stores and supermarkets, … Continue reading

Posted in Community, Community Interest Company, Consumer Lifestyle, Crowdfunding, Employment practices, Ethics, Food, Food Retailing, Glasgow, Independents, Local Retailers, Localisation, Locavore, Lockdown, organic, Pandemic, Producers, Retail innovation, Retail leadership, Retailing, Scotland, Scotland Food and Drink, Scotland Loves Local, Scottish Local Retailer, Scottish Retailing, Social Change, Stirling, Supermarket, Suppliers, Supply Chains, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Uncategorized, Veg Boxes, Wages, Waste, Wholesaling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An (Un)Happy Anniversary

On the 16th March 2020 I started working from home.  There had been an odd set of circumstances in the run-up to this date. We’d come back from South Africa in late January and I’d felt a little unwell; something … Continue reading

Posted in Amazon, Books, Cardiff, Christmas, Consumer Change, Consumer Lifestyle, Consumers, Covid19, Farmers Markets, Food, Food and Beverage, Food Retailing, Home Delivery, Independents, Internet shopping, Local Retailers, Localisation, Lockdown, Online Retailing, Pandemic, Producers, Products, Retail Change, Retailers, Retailing, Scotland Food and Drink, Scottish Retailing, Small Shops, Stirling, Uncategorized, Wholesaling | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

“If Not Now, When?” – the Social Renewal Advisory Board Report

The last ten month have been the strangest time; as we all recognise.  Our experiences though have not all been the same.  I am one of the fortunate ones; I can work from home and had a large garden to … Continue reading

Posted in Community, Covid19, Food, Government, Local Authorities, Pandemic, Places, Public Health, Scotland, Scottish Government, Towns, Uncategorized, Well being | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Week 26 in my Greenhouse

Anyone who follows me on twitter will have become used to Saturday pictures and tweets about the progress or not in my greenhouse.  On the 28th March I began (week 1) and here we are at week 26 – half … Continue reading

Posted in Availability, Covid19, Food, Garden Centres, Gardens, Lockdown, Logistics, Retailers, Retailing, Rugby Union, Seeds, Twitter, Uncategorized, Wales | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments