A think tank has seriously floated the idea of government-run restaurants. The idea belongs in an age of wartime rationing, not the thriving, free-market food scene the City enjoys today, says Matthew Kilcoyne

One wonders if the festive sherry stocks have been hit rather hard in certain London think tanks this Christmas. How else to explain the remarkably wobbly vision for Britain’s food sector that’s emerged recently?

Nesta – The “UK innovation for social good” which is supported by lottery funding – has used our public backing to look into state intervention in dining, complete with misplaced wartime analogies and starry-eyed dreams of government-run canteens. Meanwhile the Autonomy Institute seems to have imbibed rather more deeply, producing a genuinely startling proposal for local authorities to effectively commandeer and close the cloud kitchen sector. Less Pot-au-feu on their menu and more Pol Pot.

Britain’s food scene has undergone a remarkable transformation over recent decades, driven entirely by private enterprise and consumer choice. From City institutions like Sweetings that have served perfectly poached fish to pinstriped patrons since 1889 (without public subsidy we might add), to the explosion of grab-and-go outlets serving everything from poke bowls to protein-rich vegan wraps, the market has delivered astonishing variety and innovation. You can get food from all over the world in the........

© City A.M.