Good morning.
It feels like every time you go into a shop the prices have risen by a gazillion percent. Inflation in the UK slowed marginally last month – the latest inflation data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that it decelerated from 10.4% to 10.1% – but economists expected it to dip to 9.8%. And with over a year of rapid price rises these numbers are unlikely to be much consolation for those struggling with food inflation, which remains at a staggering 19.1% – the highest level since 1977 – with some products, like olive oil, up by 49%.
There are numerous reasons why food prices seem to be immune to the general downturn: poor harvests, Brexit trade barriers, the war in Ukraine, high costs for raw materials and rising labour costs. It is not however just a result of external, factors: large corporations are also choosing to drive up prices and boost profits, while workers face the biggest fall in living standards in decades — Larry Elliott wrote a brilliant piece of analysis on this topic.
In today’s newsletter, I’m taking a look at food inflation around the world, examining which countries are faring better than others and why the UK seems to be an international outlier when compared to its peers.
Five big stories
Dominic Raab | Government sources have suggested that Dominic Raab wants to stay on as deputy prime minister and justice secretary despite what were said to be searing findings from a five-month inquiry into claims of bullying. Rishi Sunak spent hours on Thursday afternoon examining the report. A Ministry of Justice union rep has said that senior Whitehall staff want the prime minister to allow a new independent organisation to assess future claims of bullying against ministers.
Sudan | Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a three day ceasefire, that coincides with Eid al-Fitr, however there are reports that the violence is continuing after the the truce came into effect. The United Nations has said that up to 20,000 people have already fled the escalating violence in the Darfur region.
Strikes | The NHS has launched a legal challenge against the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), in a bid to block the second day of an upcoming strike by tens of thousands of nurses. Officials wrote that the union’s plans for a two-day strike were unlawful.
Technology | Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, from Texas – but it blew up within minutes, in a major setback for Musk. Two sections of the rocket system – the booster and cruise vessel – were unable to separate properly after takeoff, possibly causing the spacecraft to fail.
Home Office | 12 MEPs have condemned Suella Braverman over the arrest of a French publisher who was interrogated by counterterrorist police about his political views and “anti-government” contacts. The group wrote to the home secretary to express their outrage at the “scandalous treatment” of Ernest Moret, who was detained for almost 24 hours in London.
In depth: How five major economies are tackling food costs
Cupboard (or fridge depending on your kitchen habits) staples like bread, eggs, milk and cheese have been some of the worst affected products. Bread, an item bought by 99.8% of British households, rose by 19.4% in the past year. Imagine Rishi Sunak’s new bread bill. Eggs are up 32%, milk 40% and cheddar cheese 28.3%. The wholesale price of sugar has doubled in the past two years alone, and is now up 42.1%.
While there are global factors, Britain has coped particularly badly, with the highest inflation rate in the G7. According to experts, the reason why inflation has risen further and stayed higher than anywhere else is because the UK is experiencing its own domestic issues – a major labour shortage and Brexit – on top of all of the global factors that are affecting everyone else.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has said that he is confident that inflation will halve by the end of the year, but the key thing to remember is that does not mean that prices will go down. The prices you see in the supermarkets are the prices that will stay, reduced inflation just means slower price rises. The idea is that your wages are supposed to keep up. But official figures show that pay has fallen in real terms at the fastest rate in 20 years, meaning that workers are spending more of their wages on the same goods.
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Japan
Japan’s inflation rate hit a 41-year high earlier this year, with companies passing on their higher costs to customers. But that 41 year high was … 3.7% — sounds almost quaint when compared to the UK’s 10.1%. Food prices surged by 7.5% in February, the most since September 1980, marking 18 consecutive months of food inflation due to a rapid decline in the yen and import cost pressures. The prices mainly increased for fish and seafood, dairy products, eggs and alcoholic drinks. Even though Japan’s economy is still vulnerable as it recovers from the pandemic, its inflation rate is tolerable when compared to other economically developed countries.
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China
The picture in China is significantly different: in contrast to soaring costs, food price growth has been sluggish with food inflation slowing down to 2.4% year-on-year last month. This is largely a result of the country’s rigorous efforts at controlling Covid long after everyone else had opened up. The constant lockdowns disrupted production and suppressed demand which kept prices relatively low but analysts expect that China will bounce back now that it has ended its zero Covid policy.
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France
Like the UK, France is experiencing a period of high food inflation that shows no sign of slowing down. In February it had risen by 14.5%, and in the following month it reached an all time high of 15.9%, with further rises expected until the summer. The issue has become a significant problem for beleaguered president Emmanuel Macron, as surging prices coincide with his controversial pension reform.
To alleviate pressure for households, Macron struck a deal with retailers to sell an anti-inflation basket of everyday essential items at lower prices. The initiative is not mandatory however, and has so far only attracted smaller retailers who already sell discounted goods. Supermarkets have also been criticised for primarily lowering the prices of low nutrition items, instead of healthy, fresh products.
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Nigeria
Last summer, Nigeria’s inflation rate jumped to a 17-year high, leaving consumers in Africa’s biggest economy struggling to keep up with rising prices for essentials, like food. In March, the food inflation rate hit 24.45% year-on-year. These problems have been a long time coming – the climate crisis, rampant inequality, a weakening currency and the pandemic combined to create a powder keg which was lit by the global energy crisis and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Nigeria’s economy was already in a fragile position, after import restrictions on certain staple goods like rice and conflict between farmers and herders, as well as unrest due to the decade long Boko Haram insurgency. Nigeria’s central bank has been trying to keep it under control by raising interest rates, to little avail. Countries like Nigeria in the global south have faired similarly during this period of global economic downturn, which has left those who were already impoverished in an even more perilous situation.
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US
In the US, inflation has been declining, including food inflation which was at 8.5% last month, decelerating from a 9.5% rise in February and a peak of 11.4% last August. Food inflation has continued to cool in America, even with stubborn outliers like eggs which rose by another 13.5%.
President Biden decided to take a very hands on approach when it comes to tackling inflation – he has ordered investigations into the meat industry in a bid to increase competition and boosted support for farmers to buy fertiliser. His administration also passed the ‘Inflation Reduction Act of 2022’, although most analysis shows that while broadly progressive it won’t have a massive impact on inflation. Jeremy Hunt slammed the legislation in an op-ed, last month declaring that Britain will not go “toe-to-toe” with Biden’s multi-billion-dollar intervention in “some distortive global subsidy race”. But perhaps there is something to be learned from across the Atlantic.
What else we’ve been reading
We’ve known for some time that British Black women die in childbirth at a higher rate than any other group, yet there is no sign of any political will to change that, writes Candice Brathwaite: “I wish I could still feel shocked. But, if I can be frank, I’m just bored.” Charlie Lindlar, deputy production editor
Oliver Wainwright spoke to the people who have managed to do the seemingly impossible: secure affordable housing in London that is protected in value from the volatile property market. Nimo
Writing in the Atlantic (£), Ed Yong reports on the long Covid sufferers who continue to find their symptoms and struggles sidelined as the world moves on from the pandemic: “What was once outright denial has morphed into a subtler dismissal.” Charlie
In a nostalgia fuelled resurgence, sales of cassette tapes have reached their highest level since 2003. Five Guardian readers wrote about why they are their preferred mode of listening to music. Nimo
When did toddlers become so chic? Ellie Violet Bramley investigates how the kidswear industry made billions from a pivot to sustainable, minimal style. Charlie
Sport
Football | Roma produced a dramatic fightback to reach the Europa League semi-finals, as a late Paulo Dybala strike set up a 4-1 extra-time win over Feyenoord. And Sevilla are set to face Juventus in the other semi-final after their 3-0 win against Manchester United.
Cricket | Tom Price may have already produced the performance of the summer with a maiden first-class century and a hat-trick on the same day sparking Gloucestershire’s win against Worcestershire in the County Championship.
Health | A study has found that elite sportspeople can live more than five years longer than the rest of the population. Commonwealth Games competitor records since the inaugural event in 1930 found significant differences in the lifespan of medal winners compared with people born in the same year.
The front pages
Dominic Raab’s political future dominates many of the front pages on Friday. The Guardian has “Raab fights for political life”. The i says “Deputy PM Raab refuses to resign”. The Times leads with “Raab stands firm as PM mulls report on bullying”. The Telegraph quotes an “ally” of the deputy PM in its headline: “Raab will ‘fight to death’ to keep job”.
Elsewhere the Financial Times says “US decoupling from China would be ‘disastrous’ for both, Yellen warns”. The Mail leads with “Unelected lords plot to block Rwanda flight law”.
The Mirror has “Olivia killer’s appeal over jail time”. Finally the Sun splashes with a picture from Paul O’Grady’s funeral with the headline “For the love of Paul”.
Something for the weekend
Our critics’ roundup of the best things to watch, read and listen to right now
TV
Dead Ringers (Prime Video)
Not a new series of the impressionist comedy – rather, a sex-swapped reimagining of the 1988 David Cronenberg film, now starring Rachel Weisz. It features a gynaecology clinic and a maternity ward, so the blood and gore we see is not so much Cronenberg body horror as an only slightly heightened depiction of the real thing. It promises to be a rather magnificent drama. Lucy Mangan
Music
Everything But The Girl – Fuse
Bands who reform decades on from their breakthrough tend to follow a set path: warmly received live shows playing the hits, followed by a new album designed to evoke fond memories. But that was never the case for Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn, and this is an album that manages to be different from anything they’ve recorded before yet perfectly in keeping with their past. Alexis Petridis
Film
How to Blow Up a Pipeline
Director Daniel Goldhaber’s film is inspired partly by Andreas Malm’s radical eco-activist manifesto of the same title, and partly by heist classic Reservoir Dogs. A young crew of protesters (pictured above) come together, knowing each other as little as Tarantino’s colour-coded bad guys and having similar issues around gunshot wound injury and possible disloyalty. A fiercely watchable thriller that had me biting my nails down to the wrists. Peter Bradshaw
Podcast
Filthy Ritual
True crime meets the supernatural in this tale about hoaxer Juliette D’Souza. “Stranger than fiction doesn’t quite cover it,” say hosts Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala as they set the scene for shamanism, designer handbags and sacrificial cash. It’s gossipy, intriguing and a cautionary tale of how D’Souza infiltrated polite society. Hannah Verdier
Today in Focus
Are we facing a summer of sporting protests?
It began with a protest at Britain’s biggest horse racing event. Members of the activist group Animal Rising scaled the fences at Aintree and attempted to stop the Grand National. As chief sports reporter Sean Ingle tells Nosheen Iqbal, it was followed just days later by a stunt by another activist group. This time the target was the World Snooker Championship; play was postponed when a Just Stop Oil protester managed to clamber on to the the snooker table and launch an orange powder bomb over proceedings. This weekend, all eyes will be on the London Marathon.
As environment correspondent Damien Gayle reports, the pivot away from mass protest to high-profile stunts shows a divergence in philosophies that still divides the climate action movements. Is building popular support more important? Or bringing the maximum attention to the cause?
Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Thursday saw a total solar eclipse take place in Exmouth, Western Australia, a phenomenon observed just a few times every 100 years, and which lasted 58 seconds. Photographer Trent Mitchell captured the moment that the sun was fully obscured by the moon, and described it as “like nothing else I’ve ever experienced ... it was otherworldly”.
Mitchell was among 20,000 onlookers in Exmouth, which usually boasts a population of just 2,800 and was the only place on earth to experience the full effects of the eclipse. Dr Sabine Bellstedt from the University of Western Australia also visited, and described the experience as “surreal”. “It was too much to see in that short time,” Bellstedt said. “It was definitely overwhelming.”
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until Monday.
