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Sustainability is a big issue for humanity today. Ten years away from the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals deadline, we are well behind schedule. Few people talk or write about this more eloquently than Peter Lacy, author of ‘Waste to wealth’ and ‘The circular economy handbook’. You should check out his work. Sustainability is a critically important long term objective, but too long term for most politicians, driven by the extremely short sighted agendas which have the potential of winning them another term. But, alas, we can no longer afford to delay. Time is short and the consequences are grave. It is therefore time to demand greater sustainable efforts from our leaders, not only politicians, but captains of industry and global leading entrepreneurs. Let’s challenge them, through public debate on social media, using our power as citizens, to provide answers to the sustainability question. They have the power to change our outcomes, and we have the right to demand that they do  ...

After a digital Hay Festival this year, I ordered my books from Waterstones, the partner selling the books of the authors participating in the literary festival. I could have bought them from Amazon, but I decided to support Waterstones, as I feel Amazon’s power in the bookselling market is too great. This, however, is not an easy decision to make. Amazon’s economies of scale and purchasing power means that, on my first order alone (4 books), I could have saved £20.67. On my total ordering for this year’s festival, close on £100. Choosing to pay over the odds is a similar decision to buying organic foods, but with less health benefits, as the book is exactly the same. I am paying a premium for the sustainability of high street bookshops and for a strong independent book market. Other, non festival books, I buy at single book stores, at even higher prices. But many others who may care as much as me about these issues may not be able to afford to make these choices. Those who can, should...

There is a shop in Hereford, UK, called Fodder. It markets itself, if at all, as a sustainable, eco-friendly food shop. Refillable cleaning products, locally sourced organic veg, fruit and eggs, an amazing range of grains and pulses in refillable bags, locally made bread as well as a great choice of high quality comfort foods. You get the idea. It’s tiny but incredibly well stocked. I can do my whole shopping in it but for fish and meat. They even had toilet paper every day of the lockdown. Because they don’t much advertise themselves and most people don’t know they are there. They have a great concept and no apparent interest to grow it or franchise it to achieve massive wealth. They remind me of my childhood, when shops and restaurants were individual, family run, had their character and were not about becoming rich, but about making a decent living as part of a community. Do I miss that because age begets melancholy, or because it is so much better than the Tescos and B&Qs of to...