Thread by @GeorgeMonbiot

This statement is bone-chilling.
The government “is not responsible for the supply of food and drink to the population in an emergency”.
What the hell is government for, if not for this?
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

The Tories have always had a thing about food. It brings out their most punitive instincts. Food is closely linked to their Malthusian mindset. If the poor starve, they have no one to blame but themselves, even if they’re paid starvation wages.
monbiot.com/2015/06/23/cur…
Thread/

After all, they can just go and forage in a bin. Or grow their own food on all the land they don’t have. Or hunt a deer in one of the places they’re not allowed into. Why *can’t* they fend for themselves?

And look at the filth they eat! It’s their fault they fall ill and die early, stuffing their faces with junk. Never mind that we’ve allowed food companies to cheat and lie for years. Never mind that a healthy diet costs 5 times as much as an adequate one.
fao.org/3/ca9692en/onl…

Food has a strong connection in the Tory mind with reproduction. If the poor can’t fend for themselves, why do they breed? Wouldn’t it be kinder all round to let their numbers fall through "natural causes"?

The “law of the market” is never more brutally invoked than when food is involved. This mindset caused the Irish and Indian famines. It seems to inform their total insouciance about the possibility of the food chain breaking in January.
theguardian.com/books/2001/jan…

Germany has an 800,000 tonne civil emergency food reserve. And a government which, for all its faults, has a sense of responsibility towards its people.
The UK, in line with its venerable Malthusian doctrine, has no strategic food reserves at all.
"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"

When they were young, these Bullingdon Boys saw food as a projectile.
Now they see it as a weapon.

Or, to put it another way:
At university they threw food at the poor.
In government, they withhold it from them.