Of course we can make ourselves poorer - but why bother?

There are things it is possible to do and which are also things we might not want to do - however possible they are:

UK relies on heat-stressed countries for fruit and veg it could grow itself – report

Food Foundation sounds alarm over supply risks and price shocks as about 40% of Britain’s food is imported

Leave aside all the jokes about how we’d not be eating much given this summer’s drought and all that. Or even the one about courgettes - growing your own is terribly healthy as for the 10 days a year you have any you’ve got to chase the neighbours to take them. All of theirs have arrived in that same 10 days, adding to the exercise possibilities as you dodge their being lobbed at you.

Just concentrate on the underlying point here. Yes, of course we can grow the food we need in Britain. We can do better these days than Woolton Pie and ploughing up Hyde Park to grow it. Wouldn’t be much else of the country unplanted but then who wants wildlife anyway? It could be done.

Trade means we can have more, different, foods cheaper and also that added bonus of leaving a bit of land for the wildlife. Bonzer, eh? We are richer through trade.

At which point we’ve an actual think tank insisting we must make ourselves poorer by giving up those advantages of trade. Yes, of course this is possible. But why in heck would we do that?

Tim Worstall