Was it just me or did anyone else’s hackles rise when Gordon Brown told us to stop wasting food and save money while he’s on a jolly junket at the G8 summit in Japan?

Of course he’ll no doubt be busy saving money himself this week while he rubs shoulders with world leaders, enjoying a few days in the lap of luxury.

I was so livid, it made me want to kick my recycled cardboard wind-up radio into the ‘small electrical items only’ recycling bin.

Now, I’m not one to join the anti-government bashers every time our MPs decide to spend our hard-earned cash lavishly furnishing their part-time homes or pay family members or nannies handsomely for clearing out their office bins (or not in some cases).

But I can’t see why these very busy and important leaders have to travel around the world to have these G8 meetings - about four a year apparently.

Surely, with the fantastic technology available to us these days, they could hold these conferences online and with total confidentiality while in their own countries, instead of polluting the atmosphere with their unnecessary and fuel-guzzling flights. And that’s not even taking the cost of security into account - 20,000 police have been drafted in to seal off the venue of the summit in Hokkaido.

Does the British taxpayer foot an eighth of this bill?

So, how many more of these ridiculous and condescending comments are going to be foisted upon us by our Nanny State instead of someone actually dealing with the problem at source?

I’m no expert, but I would have thought our PM would look at the way supermarkets operate - after all a government office kindly grants them permission to build their stores wherever they want after they’ve been turned down on perfectly acceptable grounds by local councils.

Supermarkets are constantly reported to be throwing away millions of pounds worth of food a year. There are even charities who take on food that is on or past its sell-by date to distribute to the less fortunate in this country.

On top of that, supermarkets fly in produce from every corner of the world, with some of it kept in huge refrigerated storerooms at an enormous cost to the environment, rather than take a cut in their massive profits by sourcing it locally or at least within Europe.

So, when Mr Brown sits down at one of the many banquets at the G8 summit, I wonder if he’ll be urging his counterparts to shop sensibly, eat their five a day, stop smoking, stop drinking, cycle to work and properly compost the mother-in-law’s hairnets.

Bread and water anyone?