Too Big to Fail and Too Big to Jail

The UK was, for many years, self sufficient for food. We had an excellent agricultural sector who used to produce local produce and sell it at local markets. Everything worked well until we joined the EU and were subject to the CAP where inefficient French farmers were subsidised to produce food that wasn't needed. This distorted the market and some people became very angry when they heard tales about farmers being paid large sums to "set aside" land and basically be paid for doing nothing. No engineering firms were able to take advantage of similar arrangements. Set aside didn't apply to coal mines and nobody likes to think about the way the UK fishing industry was treated

Johgn Major and others told us that we lived in a world where "globalisation" was important and laughed patronisingly when anybody suggested that the old ways were best. Free Trade was very important and he knew best despite different rules seeming to be applied in different parts of the world.

Big supermarkets such as ASDA and Tesco emerged and they used international links to transport food around the globe. Long standing monopoly laws were not applied as financial muscle was used to drive competitors out of business and to bully local suppliers until they cooperated or went bust. Rules were applied to some but not others and local, diverse economies where local goods were sold at local markets became a thing of the past but leaders such as Blair and Brown said nothing.

Farms with long histories became golf courses or caravan parks while the population became fatter and fatter. Local people either worked at a supermarket or claimed benefits. There were few other options available. Banks went bust due to their own incompetence and greed but they were "too big to fail" and the bankers were "too big to jail" as the rules were again applied to some and not others.

In some areas, it got to the stage where a large supermarket was the only place where food could be purchased. One supermarket providing food for a population of approximately fifty thousand people and I shudder to think what would happen if it went bust. Would supermarkets be "too big to fail" too? I imagine so because people have to eat

Where were our leaders when this happened? What were they doing while ordinary people were treated so badly? Why didn't they stand up for the interests of the peope they were supposed to represent?      

Not to worry. The UK is a democracy and incompetent leaders who don't represent their constituents get voted out and new ones get elected.