Close The Borders To Everything.....

[Redhelen72]

says my MIL to protect her and other people from COVID
At first I thought she was talking about immigrants but in delving deeper she wants them closed to everything, food, animals, post the lost!
She is convinced that if we cut of UK then we would survive - we tried to explain to her that we are too reliant on the outside world for food but she kept asking why!
We did not have an answer for her - so perhaps you nice people can help - why are we so reliant on the rest of the world for our food and have been for over 80 years.

[youngmafbog]

Too many people in the country for the size.

[Redhelen72]

But the UK was reliant on food from abroad pre WW2 ?

[choux]

RH, and would such a "fatwah" include her beloved sons ? ;)

[Buenchico]

Your reference to 'over 80 years', Helen, suggests that you think that it's a situation that's only come about since WWII. However the reason that the UK had rationing and 'Dig For Britain' campaigns during WWII was because the UK had already become heavily dependent upon food imports. So the basic situation goes back much further than you seem to suggest.

However the British public's demand for all foods to be available all year round, rather than just seasonally, has greatly increased our reliance on imports. We now also expect to be able to find lots of foods in our shops that can only be grown abroad. (e.g. we now consume far more rice than in years gone by). The result is that 80% of our food is now imported.

[Redhelen72]

Lol no they are still in the UK

[Redhelen72]

No Chris I know its been going on for a lot longer but if I put a specific number on it someone would pull me up on it!
Plus those that think the UK was great before the war and just after it would disagree.

[bobbinwales]

It's spread airborne. Am not aware of any evidence people have caught it off food or post

[choux]

Should have moved a little more south then :) x

[Kardashev]

We'd probably manage food wise but that's least of the problems. The economy would be wiped out and we'd have no money for anything, including food.

[Redhelen72]

Lol choux

[New Judge]

I imagine you chose 80 years ago because of WW2 but it's not just since then. The UK has been an large importer of food for as long as food could be imported. It became an important issue during WW2 as supplies were severely curtailed as a result of the war (hence the "Dig for Victory" campaign).

The reasons for imports are many and various but here's a few:

- Many of the things we like cannot be grown here commercially (e.g. tea, coffee, cocoa, citrus fruits, pineapples, bananas)

- We like to eat many products all year round and even if they will grow here in the summer, they cannot be grown in the winter.

- It is often far cheaper to import food than produce it here.

- Farming is a shrinking industry in the UK. As a result we simply cannot produce the amount of food required here.

- Many foodstuffs are cheaper to produce abroad.

- The UK's population is growing at a faster rate than its food production capacity.

[Kardashev]

How long does your MIL want to close us down? Covid is never going away, we have to learn to live with it. Does she want us to become like North Korea? Well worse in fact, even they import from China.

[dannyk13]

A very succinct explanation of the facts NJ,totally agree with you.