Food prices | The Spectacle Blog

The fear for agitation during the London Olympics 2012 is tangible. The number of security staff is doubled compared with last year’s plans and this includes a doubling of the costs for security. This makes the overall cost of the Olympics 2012 so far around ￡11bn. This summer, London will experience the biggest UK military mobilisation since the Second World War. Despite these high security policies, an attempt to smuggle in a fake bomb was successful according to The Sun.

Water bottles that can be used as liquid bombs, are a fear of terror and the reason the Olympic organisation has sharpen the safety policies, which are now turning into airport safety policies equivalents. Visitors are not allowed to bring their own refreshments anymore, which leads into food prices that are the real criminal activity. A price explosions that is getting out of hand.

Is the organisation taking advantage of the banning of foods and drinks from the area? A sandwich is approximately going to cost ￡4.90 and a hot dog could fetch ￡5.90. Apparently you can expect some high standard food quality, but do cheering people really fancy a haute cuisine hot-dog while watching sports? You can bring their own baby food snack (without bottle?) though.

Weapons and whistles are also prohibited. And any expression of political or religious opinion in the shape of cheering material are also a no go. Weapons, obviously. But whistles? Well the athletics must be thankful for the ban of whistles, meaning also no Vuvuzela’s which are weapons for the ears and distracting both athletic and supporter. It would have been amazing watching a game of table tennis while listening to a Vuvuzela concert though.

No but really, 6 quid for a hot-dog?

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Save the Children recently announced it would be giving emergency cash grants to families in poverty due a massive increase in food prices and worrying increase in malnutrition amongst babies and pregnant women. These families are not the ones that Save the Children normally deal with, they are not in refugee camps or war-zones but in cities and towns across the UK.

With the recession taking hold unemployment has soared and so has the price of food; according to the Guardian the cost of food rose by 11.3% in the year to February, and within that the cost of vegetables has risen by 18.6%. This is leading to new levels of poverty amongst children and families in Britain say Save the Children.

Save the Children argue that many people are facing terrible problems with debt, not because they are frivolous as suggested by some of the media but because they have had to rely on credit for basic essentials. Now the safety net of easy credit has been removed people find they are stuck with high repayments and no new income and end up cutting their food budgets to compensate.

With organisations like Save the Children and Oxfam turning their attention to the UK’s poor is it time we changed our perception of what poverty looks like?

Does the media do enough to let us know about poverty on our own doorstep?

Is it easier to pretend poverty only exists in foreign countries?

For more clips from our Poverty and The Media project please visit our Archive

To find out more information about our Poverty and The Media project please visit our Project Page

The Spectacle Blog

Spectacle's blog on urbanism, human rights and social justice

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