watching some of these sessions I am often completely fascinated by watching the expressions of the people flanking Trump. What can they possibly be thinking.

well put! I guess that governing is always a good deal more difficult than people ever expect. I keep thinking that we need much better ways to have mature deliberation to find realistic solutions to difficult problems.

what do we think about this?

As you indicate - co-operation is the key to a lot of this, and it is a long journey back to helping people see that co-operation can work and is the way forward, after so many years of seeing individual success as the goal.

A lot of this resonated for me. In many ways it fits with the projects on food production, sustainability, community development, health, and care systems that have been my priorities for the last 50 years. I remain a Labour party member as this always seemed to be the closest (but imperfect) fit.

Currently the apples are starting to fall, the plums are nearly ready, there are figs, and pears will soon be ready too. So no rest for the next few weeks! We are perfectly capable of growing a lot of our own fruit, so why are we still importing so much? Might interest @philmoorhouse.bsky.social

The market gardeners in my area have all now ceased trading, so supplies are coming from a variety of different sources, including a local walled garden, where I pick as a volunteer, the local huge strawberry producers who often have too much fruit, friends fruit surplus and my own garden.

@philmoorhouse.bsky.social rightly points out that one of the key problems is that we are not growing enough of our own fruit and veg. He hints that there needs to be ways to stimulate more production. I am trying to find ways to tackle this in my own county. It is not easy! Any hints Phil?

could do with a clear week to catch up on things that need doing in the garden, but this seems unlikely as I have a lot on for the next couple of weeks and the apples are starting to fall. There are going to be thousands of them this year.

and the 10 major aims they want to adopt on the national food strategy www.gov.uk/government/p...

probably a good sign if he has the energy to fight! Rio was pretty miserable with the heat on Monday - so much more relaxed today!

One of the points Anna Taylor raised was that it is something of a miracle that the good food movement emerged - with little or no government support. My memory is that the failure of government to adopt the national food strategy plan galvanized many of us into action!

Well worth listening to. I sometimes doubt that people see public procurement, if done well, can be a game changer. Have just ordered Prof Morgan's book because he is asking the question "how can the right public policy assist local initiatives.

Cleared out a couple of my freezers to make space - that meant making a couple of hundred jars of jam, including clearing up all of last years blackcurrants. It was blackcurrants I picked today - so they should carry me through another year.

It may be that if we want to create the means for nature to recover we have to begin with creating the right conditions for insects and invertebrates to survive