There is no such thing as a natural disaster. That may come as a surprise to those of you who were wibble-wobbled out of bed over much of the south of England at the end of February by the UK’s largest ever earthquake, which went over 6 on the Richter scale in some areas.

Following a massive earthquake measuring
7.9 of the Richter scale, a collective shock and grief has gripped China. The
epicentre of the quake was Wenchuan County in the Ngawa
Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture; the majority of people here are ethnic
Tibetans. A new mood of mutual solidarity has been born throughout the
nation, strengthened by the fact that the quake was felt as far away as
Beijing. Present figures are; over 20,000 dead, 25,000 buried under rubble,
14,000 missing, and 64,000 injured. The death toll looks set to rise to over
50,000.

Food prices have gone up worldwide by 75% since 2005. Since Gordon
Brown became prime minister (not that long ago) milk prices have gone
up by 17%, eggs by 28% and bread by 34% in this country. Other items
have shown even sharper increases. There’s no sign of any letup. In the same way as we seem to have seen
the end of cheap oil, this could be the last of cheap food.