Martin Williams, a 61-year-old farmer, plants crops that are put into a ‘biodigester’ to produce energy |
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Hans van Leeuwen International Economics Editor |
We’re used to hearing farmers complain that times are tough. However, something feels different this time.
Martin Williams, a third-generation farmer in Herefordshire, has given up growing crops for food. After months of drought and intense heat, he says “the risk isn’t worth the reward”.
In the wake of war and the hottest summer on record, Britain’s farmers have been hit by soaring energy, fertiliser and diesel costs, as well as an acute water shortage.
It’s about to get even worse: a “Godzilla El Niño” weather system is threatening countries that supply much of the 40 per cent of food we import – everything from apples and avocados to coffee and cocoa.
The crisis is ringing alarm bells in Westminster. Angela Eagle, the Environment Secretary, has told Britons to prepare for food shortages.
This means higher prices are on the way, making our trips to the supermarket even more painful on the purse.
For Andy Burnham, this can’t be solved with a simple soundbite or a cash grab from the fringes of the welfare budget.
It means doing hard yards, with potentially scant thanks from voters, on everything from reshaping water and energy infrastructure to revamping taxes and planning processes.
Most importantly, it means rethinking how and what we farm – before any more farmers stop growing food altogether.
El Niño may feel far away, but you can hear the wake-up call from here.
Continue reading ➤ |
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Neil McCormick Chief Music Critic |
What are the greatest songs of our times? The Telegraph is launching a new series to answer that fascinating, frivolous yet momentous question, on which every music lover surely has an opinion.
I am starting with the 1950s, a momentous musical decade in which the sophisticated era of jazz and swing was challenged by the rise of rock ‘n’ roll.
I make what I hope is a passionate case for the enduring appeal of American songbook standards sung by Frank Sinatra and Julie London and the gritty rhythm and blues of Ray Charles and Muddy Waters.
Then there is the birth of soul with Sam Cooke, the country laments of Hank Williams and the electrifying charge of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Do you agree with my choices?
Continue reading ➤ |
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Daniel Hannan The lack of a plan to balance the budget is becoming serious Continue reading ➤
Zoe Strimpel Fauda is one of the best weapons Israel has against the anti-Zionist scourge Continue reading ➤
Camilla Tominey Burnham’s EU reset plan will be an economic disaster Continue reading ➤ |
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- Tom Tugendhat has said Andy Burnham’s plans to sanction Israel risk jeopardising national security. The new shadow foreign secretary also fears that the country he fought for in Iraq and Afghanistan is looking increasingly vulnerable on the world stage.
- Nigel Farage has revealed that his family begged him to quit frontline politics this summer. On the final day of the Reform party conference, Mr Farage admitted that he had lost his “usual quite jolly demeanour”.
- Donald Trump’s top negotiators thanked Vladimir Putin for protecting them as they made “incredible memories” with him in Moscow last night. Putin agreed to pause attacks on Kyiv during the peace talks but Russia launched strikes elsewhere.
- Police have been criticised over the ease with which hard-Right activists managed to stage anti-migrant protests in Dover and blockade the port.
- Football authorities are poised to investigate after Krystian Bielik, a Cardiff City defender, appeared to grab a young Portsmouth fan by the neck at Fratton Park yesterday.
Footage of the incident has gone viral on social media |
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Sulaiman (left) and Kasim Khan say they feel more cynical about foreign policy after their father’s incarceration |
Imran Khan’s ordeal as a political prisoner in Pakistan, with water so fetid there is a daily risk of hepatitis and a cell so tiny it would usually be used for an inmate on death row, is harrowing, writes Oliver Brown, Chief Sports Writer. It is also an escalating global outrage, and the two sons of this cricketing great and former Pakistani prime minister are desperate for the Government to help ease their father’s suffering. I went to meet Kasim and his elder brother Sulaiman at the family home in Chelsea to hear about their relentless campaign. “We want to see him,” says Kasim. “Badly.” Continue reading ➤ |
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The country is sicker than it’s ever been before, and it’s not afraid of shouting about it, writes Poppy Coburn. Disability is changing: to many, it is no longer an adversity to overcome, but a social identity akin to one’s sexuality, gender or race; an immutable reality to be celebrated by the subject and accommodated by the rest of us. Continue reading ➤ |
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The historian and author talks to Leaf Arbuthnot about her first TV gig, being a “nerdy little weirdo” at school and how her new book on the scandalous lives of past monarchs is a reminder that however badly some members of the Royal family might have behaved in recent years, many of their ancestors were much worse. Continue reading ➤ |
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Henry Samuel reports from Bourges on France’s booming banquets géants, where 1,800 diners in berets feast on pork, drink local wine and sing La Marseillaise. Le Canon Français, a company that organises such feasts, insists it is apolitical, but with presidential elections looming, Left-wing critics call it a far-Right “Trojan horse” backed by billionaire Pierre-Edouard Stérin. Continue reading ➤ |
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Dr Jay Amin, 45, is an associate professor of psychiatry of older age at the University of Southampton |
Could your morning walk, breakfast or even your afternoon coffee influence your chances of cognitive decline? Psychiatrist Dr Jay Amin has overhauled his own lifestyle at 45 in a bid to reduce his risk. Here, he reveals the habits he follows from morning to night – and the science behind them.
Continue reading ➤
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“Your papers, fingerprints and facial biometric, please”: the EU entry-exit system (EES) has been a key story of the summer for travellers. Once the six-month roll-out ended in April this year, the digital borders scheme for the Schengen area was supposed to become harmonised and friction-free.
“Third-country nationals” such as the British were assured that on the first crossing of a Schengen frontier, they would register their passport details together with four fingerprints from the right hand and a facial scan. On subsequent crossings, only one biometric would be needed (usually the face, though Switzerland prefers prints).
What could possibly go wrong? Well, while Brussels set out the policy, 29 nations have interpreted the rules in different ways. Greece declared that UK holidaymakers would swerve biometrics all summer long and beyond. Other nations (yes, including you, Italy) insisted on face ’n’ fingerprints from everyone on departure as well as arrival, leading to dreadful queues at passport control and hundreds of passengers missing flights.
Tomorrow, the freedom to suspend the rules at high-pressure locations ends. Aviation bosses have predicted chaos, with hours-long queues causing the complex choreography of air travel to unravel.
Having watched developments all summer, I am more optimistic. Continued pragmatism will mean biometric requirements are still lifted when appropriate, with the European Commission turning a blind eye. Factor in lower passenger numbers and continued improvements to what began as a thoroughly ropey system, and I believe we can all book our next European break with confidence.
Continue reading ➤
Listen to my podcast episode here ➤ |
Jack Mann during wartime: the LRDG ranged over huge distances, travelling behind enemy lines to gather intelligence for the 8th Army |
Jack Mann, who has died aged 100, was a veteran of the SAS and the SBS (the Special Boat Service ) and the last surviving member of the Long Range Desert Group or LRDG, which ranged over huge distances in North Africa during the Second World War, travelling behind enemy lines to gather intelligence for the 8th Army.
“Don’t talk to me about sand,” Mann, who joined the LRDG as a radio operator in 1943, used to say. “I’ve had it in my eyes, my mouth, up my nose, in my food, everywhere.”
Mann, middle row, fourth from the right, with his LRDG comrades in 1943 |
He was responsible for deciphering messages using radios housed in cabinets on Chevrolet and Ford trucks, while contending with the intense desert heat and sandstorms that disrupted signals and degraded his equipment.
Mann had spent his early childhood in Cairo, where he learnt Arabic, English, French and Italian at the Lycée Français of Cairo. By the time he was 16, in 1942, he was hearing from family members in Europe about fellow Jews being rounded up and sent to concentration camps. This fired his determination to fight the Nazis – and he falsified his age to qualify for enlisting in the British Army. Read the full obituary here ➤ |
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1522 | Ferdinand Magellan’s crew returns without its captain, becoming the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe
1666 | The Great Fire of London is finally extinguished
1997 | The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, is held at Westminster Abbey in London (you can see how we covered this below)
2020 | 100,000 people demonstrate in Minsk against Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president
Birthdays: Idris Elba (54), Emily Maitlis (56), Shirley Ballas (66), Roger Waters (83)
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was ADDICTIVE. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Allister Heath, Sunday Telegraph Editor
P.S. Please share your thoughts on the newsletter at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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