Why we need to call time on the Cost of Living excuse for rip-off prices - Sarah Todd

A rosy-cheeked confession came on their return about just shy of £8 being handed over for each small glass of Pimms, which would have had a thimbleful of alcohol watered down with lemonade, fruit and ice.

Two of us had fish and peas (granted we did sit in the restaurant rather than a takeaway) and the bill came to £30. How much?

Most mediocre roast beef in a pub these days is just shy of £20 per head. As a beef farmer’s daughter, the gaping chasm between what the producer is paid and the end customer’s bill really does take the biscuit.

Eating establishments will, quite rightly, say they have electricity, staff and other costs to cover. But for that money this diner expects something a bit special; better than what could be rustled up at home. More understanding is needed that the farmers and growers aren’t getting more money; it’s those further up the chain who are coining it in.

A trip to the supermarket on Monday saw customers queued almost out of the door, with only two staff working the tills. Customers who are being asked to pay absolute top whack for everyday items and expected to suck it up, standing around like some bygone communist country, because “it’s all to do with the cost of living”. As a nation we should call time on this blanket excuse for the charging of daft prices and poor service.

Wearing another hat, writing for the farming press, it was interesting this week to interview a company founder who had won an innovation award for a robotic harvesting machine.

Although he was German and had plenty of opinions on Brexit, he said it really isn’t fair to use leaving the European Union as the reason why there is a shortage of workers.

Canada, Mexico, America - all over - the agricultural industry is struggling to get staff to do manual tasks like harvesting fruit and vegetables. Having come in for some stick last week, for daring to suggest that politician Ann Widdecombe might have been onto something when she muted benefit claimants could bolster the numbers of harvest workers, we’ll just draw a line in the soil under this subject.

The agricultural show season is upon us and, mindful of the comments made earlier about food prices, it’s important organisers don’t let outside catering teams lift the legs of showgoers.

The build-up to the Great Yorkshire Show has definitely started; especially with our tickets arriving a few days ago.

Tickets no longer being available on the gate is a shame for the real grass-roots agricultural community. Those that work in ‘normal’ industries can pre-book a day off work but there are generations of farm workers who have had a wander down to the show depending on the weather and how quickly they’ve got the morning’s work done. The pre-booking risks excluding those who make up the very backbone of the farming community.

When we had school-age children it always used to be a big drama to get them a day off for the show. It shouldn’t be as there is so much more to learn on the showground than there is in the classroom in the last few weeks before breaking up for the summer holidays.

Talking of the classroom, it’s said that former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had hoped educational reform would be one of the things she would be remembered for when she eventually stepped away from Scottish politics. She famously declared that a good education is the most important gift that a government can give to young people.

Now instead we’re all going to remember her fall from grace.

It’s wrong to take pleasure in somebody else’s downfall but surely there is some saying somewhere that would sum this situation up?

She has often been sanctimonious and delighted in the downfall of others, giving us a timely reminder of what our grandmothers used to warn, that “if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all”.

Of course, in politics there has to be differing opinions. But it feels at the moment, with all the squabbling back and forth that we need a real clear out and some fresh faces. Not those already waiting in the wings, but a brand new cohort. The next generation.