It is the political party conference season, which means each day sees a politician (of whatever persuasion) trying to convince us that their particular set of statistics prove whichever point they are trying to make.  

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics" -  a phrase widely believed to have been said by Mark Twain, although others attribute the saying to Victorian prime minister Benjamin Disraeli.  

Whoever first coined the phrase, our political leaders have proven it to be true across the years, and continue to do so.

However, one pretty reliable source of figures is the Office for National Statistics, a genuinely independent body which produces the data which form the basis of so much government decision-making.  

And when it comes to the affordability of food, its latest analysis proves gloomy reading.

Even though the official rate of inflation fell to 6.7 per cent last month (and bear in mind this doesn’t mean that prices themselves have fallen, simply that they are increasing marginally less quickly), the rate of food inflation is running at more than twice that headline rate, at 13.6 per cent to be precise.

That is important, because for those on the lowest incomes, putting food on the tables represents a disproportionately large percentage of what they spend.  

When food inflation runs so far ahead of the headline rate (the figure on which pay rises and increases in benefits are generally based), those at the bottom of the economic pile fall even further behind.

It used to be said that Britain was a rich country with pockets of depravation.  Many years of rising inequality and economic vandalism means that we are now a poor country with some rich people living in it.  

As a result of rampant food inflation, according to the ONS, 46 per cent of Britons are buying less food each week.  That is not because they need less, but because they simply can’t afford to buy enough to feed their families.

Another study published this week, the BBC Good Food Nation survey, found that despite more people wanting to eat healthily, fewer people are actually doing so, for reasons of cost.

With the annual inflation rates for fresh vegetables running at a scandalous 14 per cent, the shameful truth is that a significant minority simply cannot afford to feed their families in a way which safeguards their health.

The BBC survey also shows that 4 per cent of families have used a food bank in the past year.

That might not sound a lot, but that equates to well over a million households across the UK, and nearly 16,000 households in Norfolk alone.

No country is devoid of poverty, but how is it that Britain, which we are still told is a world economic powerhouse, has got to such a state that we can’t even ensure that everybody has the very basic stuff of life, enough to eat?

Our entire political system seems designed to entrench privilege and wealth among those who already have it, and to exclude the rest of society from the opportunity to become part of the club.  

The evisceration of public services in the past decade or so, usually with the aim of bunging yet another tax cut to those who least need it, has resulted in the UK being one of the least equal societies in Europe.  

Only Bulgaria scores worse.

This matters, and not just for the poorest in our country.  

Quite apart from the unarguable moral arguments that no civilised society should let any of its citizens go hungry, there is a powerful economic case for reducing inequality.  

Figures (proper, academically robust statistics) repeatedly show that the most equal societies are the most prosperous (for everyone), the healthiest, the most stable, the least crime-ridden and the happiest of all.  

In other words, help the least fortunate in society, and everyone benefits, including the richest.

The exact opposite of the ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ argument.

Just before the coronation earlier this year, a YouGov poll found that two-thirds of Britons a ‘less proud’ of their country than the were five years ago.  

I’m not surprised; it is difficult to feel anything other than ashamed of a supposedly rich country which stands back and lets so many people effectively become malnourished.

If we can’t even ensure that everybody can feed themselves, we should hang our heads in shame.  

Something for the politicians who wrap themselves in the flag to think about.