I owe you all an apology for being absent for a few weeks. Well, I’m back (briefly, to check in), but regular publishing will resume in early September. In the meantime, there are a few things that demand further thought…
Anyone who has been consuming mainstream media in whatever form over the last few weeks, cannot have failed to hear about the forthcoming food inflation, and security concerns. The story goes that various natural disasters (fires in Russia for example) have caused a large reduction in crop yields, resulting in higher prices, and some governments declaring that they will not export. As the population continues to grow, incidents such as this will have an ever bigger impact. The short message: expect more of this. You are not helpless however, so don’t be disheartened. Take action now to store additional food, and implement plants to increase your own future production.
Also in the news, speculation and political posturing on the forthcoming UK Government spending cuts. You may have been able to work out my views on this from a couple of previous posts, but if not, here goes. I believe Government is fundamentally incompetent, and our political process is not in the best interests of the people who pay for it (That would be taxpayers like you and I). The present system, which has evolved over many years through fiddling by various flavours of political party is overly complex, sometimes punishes the wrong people, rewards the wrong people, and is open to abuse. I am in favour of individuals taking more responsibility for their own lives, and Government getting the hell out and focusing on the things that Government are best placed to deal with.
The last Labour government are not solely to blame but they did an immense amount to create an invasive “big Government” that we neither need, nor can afford. I won’t claim to be a big supporter of the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats either, but I have to hand it to David Cameron and Nick Clegg. So far they have me cautiously impressed. The proof of the pudding however is in the eating, and they have a long way to go to kill off the unnecessary wastage (take a look at the number of quangos that have grown up over the last ten years, to say nothing of public sector pensions, and in some senior civil servants cases unjustified ludicrously high salaries), and I’m sure many measures will be unpopular. Just remember however. Our country is in serious debt and due to the quantitative easing that has taken place, your money and savings are now worth significantly less than they were a couple of years ago – That’s inflation. It’s not prices going up. It’s your money going down in value. Will the current Government do a good job? The jury is out on that one. Time will tell.
Finally, a quick update. I mentioned back in July that we’d found our ideal home, and in addition to a holiday, that is what most of August has been about. After finalising the purchase, there has been some work to do before we can move in, but (finally) moving day looms large, and we’re excited about the extra opportunities for self sufficiency that the new property offers. It also gives us more room to demonstrate some of the techniques we talk about here at Self Sufficiency World, so look out for more “How to…” articles, reviews, and recipes.
