Book excerpt: Food security and housing a nation with an expanding population should be key priorities for a small island like Britain. Yet both are being thwarted by record land prices. In the last 10 years, farm land has risen by almost 200% - with feeding the nation a secondary consideration to speculators buying up thousands of acres annually to avoid tax. If planning permission is given for new housing, prices can rise fifty-fold - making a vast profit for a few and home ownership a distant dream for many. In this provocative book, journalist Peter Hetherington argues that Britain, particularly England, needs an active policy to address these areas and stronger action by the government. This important debate will attract interest among academics and postgraduates in planning, surveying, housing management, rural policy and social policy, political organisations, the Third Sector, social enterprises, national housing organisations, community and voluntary groups.