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Nick Hughes Freelance Writer & Editor
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nickjhughes
Nov 20, 20244 min read
Diet focus can be net-zero turning point
The publication of a plan for transitioning the food system to net-zero is a significant moment for the sector. Not for what the plan...
7 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Aug 30, 20243 min read
Nutri-Score is a pragmatist’s best friend
It’s the middle of August; peak holiday season, and in the grand tradition of national newspaper columnists I have managed to contrive an...
7 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Feb 13, 20245 min read
Labelling landscape continues to confuse
Devising the metrics that underpin an environmental score for food products is a notoriously difficult task, although not nearly as...
4 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 14, 20233 min read
Investment in water can’t run dry forever
As I stare out of my office window (and defer writing this article for the third time this morning) the sun is streaming in through the...
10 views0 comments

nickjhughes
Aug 20, 20233 min read
It's time we paid the true price of food
How much do you pay for your morning cup of coffee? Now let me rephrase the question: how much would you be prepared to pay for your...
16 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Jun 20, 20235 min read
Comical food policy is no laughing matter
“The UK food system, the largest industry in the country by a country mile, is a puppet of a failing, shallow, ignorant and low...
9 views0 comments

nickjhughes
May 12, 20234 min read
Theme park junk food does little to amuse
Who is responsible for the UK’s obesity crisis? Is it we as individuals? Or does responsibility ultimately rest with governments and food...
13 views0 comments

nickjhughes
Feb 1, 20233 min read
Bosses should speak truth to power
In the spirit of this post I will get straight to the point. I have a polite request to make of business leaders in the foodservice...
10 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Oct 21, 20224 min read
Time for businesses to think big
It’s not often I read a book that stops me dead in my tracks but George Monbiot’s Regenesis proved an exception to the rule. In it, the...
5 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Sep 15, 20224 min read
No time to stall on sustainability
The appointment of a new prime minister – and cabinet – brings a fresh opportunity for organisations to push their own particular agenda....
8 views0 comments


nickjhughes
May 27, 20224 min read
Vigilance needed to fend off food crime
Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the ‘horsegate’ scandal in which horsemeat was illegally substituted for beef in a range of...
18 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Apr 30, 20223 min read
Government must see past junk food chicanery
The cost of living crisis is biting and the statistics make for grim reading. Even taking into account measures announced in the...
7 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 15, 20213 min read
Johnson continues to swerve the pig issues
At least 16,000 healthy pigs have been culled and incinerated in the UK since the summer due to a shortage of capacity in abattoirs; yet...
14 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Sep 9, 20215 min read
Will labour be Johnson's undoing?
As parliament resumed this week the prime ministerial in-tray will have been piled unusually high with issues of national importance. Any...
14 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Apr 21, 20217 min read
Get real about the race to net zero
Has your business set a net zero target for carbon emissions? If the answer is no then there’s every chance you’ll soon be in the...
8 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 11, 20209 min read
Brexit: a giant leap into the unknown
So here we are: 1,635 days after the vote to leave the European Union and the UK’s future outside the world’s largest single market...
12 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 4, 20205 min read
Is blue still the colour of the food industry?
There was a time not so long ago when the food supply chain was largely gilded in Conservative blue. Farmers by and large have...
3 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Aug 6, 20205 min read
Dimbleby keeps us waiting over food system fix
Those hoping for a 10-point plan to fix the food system will have been disappointed by Henry Dimbleby’s much-anticipated food strategy...
12 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Apr 6, 20203 min read
Covid-19: Year dot for CSR
Corporate social responsibility has always been a difficult discipline to assess. Almost every large business will present to the world a...
8 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Mar 6, 20203 min read
The price of ending foreign labour
Some years ago, after graduating from university, I spent several months working in a newly opened branch of Carluccio’s in Tunbridge...
5 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Nov 20, 20244 min read
Diet focus can be net-zero turning point
The publication of a plan for transitioning the food system to net-zero is a significant moment for the sector. Not for what the plan...
7 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Aug 30, 20243 min read
Nutri-Score is a pragmatist’s best friend
It’s the middle of August; peak holiday season, and in the grand tradition of national newspaper columnists I have managed to contrive an...
7 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Nov 20, 20244 min read
Diet focus can be net-zero turning point
The publication of a plan for transitioning the food system to net-zero is a significant moment for the sector. Not for what the plan...
7 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Aug 30, 20243 min read
Nutri-Score is a pragmatist’s best friend
It’s the middle of August; peak holiday season, and in the grand tradition of national newspaper columnists I have managed to contrive an...
7 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Feb 13, 20245 min read
Labelling landscape continues to confuse
Devising the metrics that underpin an environmental score for food products is a notoriously difficult task, although not nearly as...
4 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 14, 20233 min read
Investment in water can’t run dry forever
As I stare out of my office window (and defer writing this article for the third time this morning) the sun is streaming in through the...
10 views0 comments

nickjhughes
Aug 20, 20233 min read
It's time we paid the true price of food
How much do you pay for your morning cup of coffee? Now let me rephrase the question: how much would you be prepared to pay for your...
16 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Jun 20, 20235 min read
Comical food policy is no laughing matter
“The UK food system, the largest industry in the country by a country mile, is a puppet of a failing, shallow, ignorant and low...
9 views0 comments

nickjhughes
May 12, 20234 min read
Theme park junk food does little to amuse
Who is responsible for the UK’s obesity crisis? Is it we as individuals? Or does responsibility ultimately rest with governments and food...
13 views0 comments

nickjhughes
Feb 1, 20233 min read
Bosses should speak truth to power
In the spirit of this post I will get straight to the point. I have a polite request to make of business leaders in the foodservice...
10 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Oct 21, 20224 min read
Time for businesses to think big
It’s not often I read a book that stops me dead in my tracks but George Monbiot’s Regenesis proved an exception to the rule. In it, the...
5 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Sep 15, 20224 min read
No time to stall on sustainability
The appointment of a new prime minister – and cabinet – brings a fresh opportunity for organisations to push their own particular agenda....
8 views0 comments


nickjhughes
May 27, 20224 min read
Vigilance needed to fend off food crime
Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of the ‘horsegate’ scandal in which horsemeat was illegally substituted for beef in a range of...
18 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Apr 30, 20223 min read
Government must see past junk food chicanery
The cost of living crisis is biting and the statistics make for grim reading. Even taking into account measures announced in the...
7 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 15, 20213 min read
Johnson continues to swerve the pig issues
At least 16,000 healthy pigs have been culled and incinerated in the UK since the summer due to a shortage of capacity in abattoirs; yet...
14 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Sep 9, 20215 min read
Will labour be Johnson's undoing?
As parliament resumed this week the prime ministerial in-tray will have been piled unusually high with issues of national importance. Any...
14 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Apr 21, 20217 min read
Get real about the race to net zero
Has your business set a net zero target for carbon emissions? If the answer is no then there’s every chance you’ll soon be in the...
8 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 11, 20209 min read
Brexit: a giant leap into the unknown
So here we are: 1,635 days after the vote to leave the European Union and the UK’s future outside the world’s largest single market...
12 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 4, 20205 min read
Is blue still the colour of the food industry?
There was a time not so long ago when the food supply chain was largely gilded in Conservative blue. Farmers by and large have...
3 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Aug 6, 20205 min read
Dimbleby keeps us waiting over food system fix
Those hoping for a 10-point plan to fix the food system will have been disappointed by Henry Dimbleby’s much-anticipated food strategy...
12 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Apr 6, 20203 min read
Covid-19: Year dot for CSR
Corporate social responsibility has always been a difficult discipline to assess. Almost every large business will present to the world a...
8 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Mar 6, 20203 min read
The price of ending foreign labour
Some years ago, after graduating from university, I spent several months working in a newly opened branch of Carluccio’s in Tunbridge...
5 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Feb 10, 20204 min read
Unconvincing Villiers leaves more questions than answers
When she took to the stage at this month’s annual Oxford Farming Conference Theresa Villiers had the opportunity to set out a grand...
7 views0 comments

nickjhughes
Dec 6, 20194 min read
Parties make their New Year's resolutions
‘Tis the season to be jolly: to sing carols around the Christmas tree, eat your bodyweight in mince pies, and … trudge to the polling...
16 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Feb 22, 20193 min read
Why the silence from the high-street health alliance?
Brexit is all-consuming. So say 32 food and drink trade associations which claimed last week their members have neither “the physical...
14 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Apr 20, 20182 min read
The Great Fat Fight is back on
Ding ding! That was the sound of the bell ringing for the latest round in the great fat fight. Last year the bitter split in the public...
11 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Jan 19, 20185 min read
Gove resumes reformist role
Love him or loathe him, one thing you can never accuse Michael Gove of is being a safe politician. Taken at face value (and more on that...
17 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Aug 7, 20173 min read
Chicken dispute misses the point
It took what I like to refer to as ‘the yuk factor’ for food to finally feature in the public discourse around Brexit. The prospect of US...
22 views0 comments

nickjhughes
Jun 16, 20173 min read
Election result spells chaos for Brexit
Spare a thought for the civil service. While Friday morning’s election drama was unfolding to widespread incredulity, the people charged...
9 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Apr 7, 20173 min read
Foodservice shoots itself in the food....again
Another week, another shot across the bows of foodservice for its response to the obesity crisis. This time it was Public Health England...
14 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Jan 25, 20173 min read
Redistribution is no solution to waste and hunger
The year 2016 felt like a breakthrough period for food waste redistribution. Greater public awareness of food waste along with...
29 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Jan 18, 20173 min read
Leadsom battles with Brexit paradox
Listening to Andrea Leadsom address the Oxford Farming Conference this month it was hard not to feel a degree of sympathy for the Defra...
23 views0 comments


nickjhughes
Dec 19, 20163 min read
What will Trump mean for food?
What will a Donald Trump administration mean for food and the environment? It’s a sentence I never anticipated having to write, but then...
19 views0 comments