Food banks are here to stay, whoever is in power

This week's Marine Conservation Society report goes into ecstasies about the superb water quality at hundreds of British beaches. But those measurements were taken last year during an unusually long dry spell. After this winter's deluge, with rivers raging, cesspits overflowing and half of Somerset knee-deep in liquid sewage for weeks on end, anyone care for a paddle?

The Scottish debate (won't you be glad when it's over?) moves on to the proposed division of the Royal Navy between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK and how it might damage our ability to "protect our sea lanes." This beloved old phrase creates a picture of dirty British coasters, magnificent liners and mighty cargo ships, all flying the red ensign and criss-crossing the globe to keep the Mother Country supplied. Clearly, British ships need British protection. But the reality these days is that "our sea lanes" are no longer ours. They are almost entirely taken over by container ships from China. And who's going to pick a fight with China?

There was a jay in the tree on our evening walk. We watched the jay. The jay watched us. The surprising part is that it was no more than 15 feet away. There was a time, not so long ago, when you couldn't get within a mile of these beautiful birds and a jay was a distant flash of colours in the hedgerow. They were shy, scared and shot on sight by gamekeepers who despised them as "magpies in fancy dress". Now we shoot them less and they trust us more.

Not that birds trust each other. There was a cackling, black-and-white flutter at the side of the farm track. By the time we got there two magpies had discovered a pheasant's nest and smashed open eight eggs for dinner. At this time of year we cat owners worry about our moggies taking the occasional fledgling. In the big scheme of things, the killing done by cats is eclipsed by the slaughter of birds by other birds.

It is revealed this week that the number of food parcels given away by food banks is rising towards one million. Among all the flim-flam and fury, the protests and politicking, there is one certain fact about food banks: they are not going away. They have grown inexorably under the Coalition, just as they did under the last Labour government. They will continue to grow under whichever party forms the next government.

The only credible and acceptable response to food banks is to embrace them as part of the Big Society, to acknowledge that no welfare system will ever be 100 per cent efficient and to congratulate people who give their time and gifts to help those who slip through the welfare net. As long as cash and food donations are given to food banks freely by individuals and companies, no-one should object.

And if Labour politicians are daft enough to brandish the rise of food banks as a club to whack the Tories, what will they be saying in 2020 when Labour has been in power for five years and the food banks are just about to hand over their two millionth parcel?

A single day this week brought warnings of super-rats eating the fabric of our schools, the imminent arrival of Asian hornets dubbed "kings of the stingers," fish-eating shrimps described as "natural prawn killers" and an ostrich-like rhea on the run in Hertfordshire. The silly season starts earlier every year. Must be global warming.