It appears that some common sense is coming from the EU at long last in that they are about to repeal their ridiculous marketing standards legislation.

This is the crackpot legislation which defined the size and standard of all manner of fruit and vegetables on sale in shops and supermarkets.

It decided, for example, the curvature and length of cucumbers and the size of apples, plums, etc., and meant that unless items were the right size it had to be set aside for mulshing down into other foodstuffs and couldn't be on sale in the shops.

That's why you only see "perfectly" shaped vegetables in the shops, even though the vast majority of people would be prepared to buy mis-shapen vegetables and fruit provided they were otherwise wholesome, and especially if they were cheaper.

Farmers have, in reality, destroyed the mis-shapen items, resulting in tons of otherwise good food going for recycling.

In my book that's criminal, in a recession or not.

When petrol and diesel prices went through the roof there was quite a dramatic reduction in the number of vehicles on the roads.

Have you noticed that now the price has come down again road chaos has returned? It seems that despite a recession and money becoming tighter, the vast majority are still not prepared to walk or use the buses or trains.

It makes me wonder how bad things have to get before we end the love affair with our cars.

Still on the recession, banks have been pilloried for bringing the recession upon the world , perhaps quite rightly, because they should have known that the packaged mortgage loan debts they were passing from one to another had no chance of being re-paid.

I have no sympathy for them in that regard, but what has come since has me questioning the government's double standards.

Take, for example, the situation with Northern Rock. On one hand the government want taxayers' money which has been pumped into the bank repaid as quickly as possible. Then, in the next breath, they want it and other banks to lend out more.

Firstly, the banks have to get money in so they can lend it out. That means they had to offer reasonable rates of interest. Then they have to make sure that whoever they lend the money to can repay it.

And that, in a recession, is no easy square to circle. And for the government to make out that the banks are ogres for not passing on bank rate reductions is hypocricical when they know full well that banks must ensure they don't fall into another bad debt pit again.

It really is time for the government to stop playing politics and to explain things as they really are.

Do we really want our tax money pumped into banks for them to lend out to ailing businesses which will go to the wall in a few weeks, or to lend out to people to boost the flagging housing market, only to see them default on payments in a few months if they lose their jobs?

The emphasis through this recession must be to ensure people have a roof over their heads and have sufficient food and heating – the necessities of life.

We must bring into use all houses which are currently standing empty – having people homeless when there are homes lying idle is criminal.

Empty homes should be heavily taxed. And it's time to tax those people who can afford it. We should no longer have one of the lowest taxes for the rich in Europe.

If Britain is going to endure a severe recession then it's right that we all endure it, not just the poor, elderly and vulnerable.

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