United Kingdom VII: Taking Pride in Your Success

[MartyG]

Even with taxes, that frozen pizza will be cheaper, especially when they work out which chemicals they can use to replace the salt, thus complying with the new taxes, but by no means healthier.

Or they'll just reduce the amounts of salt and sugar.

The folks on the other side of legislation will always try to push back on regulation because they don't want to do it - it's an expense for them and takes effort, impacting on the stack it high, sell it cheap formula of cutting corners at every step (not that this is even proposed legislation at this point let alone actual legislation - it's just a report with some recommendations that the government will probably ignore as they don't listen to experts). It's no different than any other organisation resisting change. They fear change.

Read the full report - not just the headlines.

[Neon Ignition]

The sugar tax mostly led to many non-diet brands vanishing from sale forcing people to have diet variants with little consideration on whether the diet variants were even any healthier. If I go to the shops now I've effectively been nanny stated into being trusted less to make a decision on buyonb a bottle of Coke than I am a crate of lager. The disparity is obscene and exposes that it was a poor tax all along. Now it's to add a sugar tax on top of a sugar tax.

The cold reality is it's wringing pounds of out those in poverty. Many dependent on cheap convenience consumables because their means don't allow for other options. We're on a hard fast road to children and families living in a first world country and starving to death. The sugar tax is a cheap and easy scam to profit off it in the meantime.

[QualityChimp]

How depressing is it, though, that the notion of reducing less sugar and salt and encouraging people to eat more fruit and veg gets the instant cynical reaction of "where's their cut in all this?"

Does Matt Hancock have a mate that is a farmer that can get onto the VIP marrow supplier list?

[MartyG]

How depressing is it, though, that the notion of reducing less sugar and salt and encouraging people to eat more fruit and veg gets the instant cynical reaction of "where's their cut in all this?

Quite - especially when there are actual real things that the government has actually done for reals to bash them with - rather than an independent report which outlines a whole host of suggestions that would make the food industry more sustainable and healthier.

Edit: And right on cue, Johnson kind of implies ruling out implementing the suggestions: https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-food-reliance

Asked about the proposal after a speech in Coventry, Johnson said: “I’m not, I must say, attracted to the idea of extra taxes on hardworking people. Let me just signal that. I shall study the report with interest.”

He was non-committal on the report more generally, saying: “It’s an independent report. I think there are doubtless some good ideas in it. As I said earlier on we believe in tackling obesity, trying to help people to lose weight, promoting exercise and tackling junk food advertising and so on.”

[wheelaa]

48.5k.

[teddymeow]

It'd be nice to have more carrot and less stick. Unfortunately not something the Conservative party specialise in.

Ironically, more carrot would help people be healthier.

[Shoju]

What are they replacing the sugars with though? Harmful sweeteners? I try to avoid most of these sweeteners as I noticed a link between stomach problems and them many years ago and yet there's more and more them about now. Many other concerns have been raised about them too. I'd take sugar over that junk any day. A friend who has diabetes has issues with this too as he relies on having something sugary on hand.

[Neon Ignition]

It was never a serious health proposal, if it were then stuff like Crisps still wouldn't be 80p for a massive multipack

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

Speaking of bad Government moves - well beyond prediction we soared up to 48,500 new cases today with three more days left to crack that 50k marker

[Cassius_Smoke]

So we are saying that the same government that is willing to let the bodies pile up at the door, care about our healthy eating? Bull****. If this goes ahead its because someone will be getting rich off the back of it.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jul/15/gb-news-shows-attracted-zero-viewers-after-boycott-over-taking-the-knee

Pushing their anti-taking the knee stance GB News sometimes hit a viewership of zero this week

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/16/summer-chaos-predicted-as-16m-in-england-told-to-isolate-in-a-week

1.6m people have been told to isolate in the past week

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2021/jul/16/uk-covid-live-hospitalisation-numbers-chris-whitty-coronavirus-latest-updates

Whitty has warned hospitalisation levels could reach 'scary' levels in the coming weeks

[MartyG]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/20...aking-the-knee
Pushing their anti-taking the knee stance GB News sometimes hit a viewership of zero this week

It made me laugh that the purported channel of free speech, sacked one of their presenters for expressing his free speech.

[QualityChimp]

It made me laugh that the purported channel of free speech, sacked one of their presenters for expressing his free speech.

They had 0 viewers last week after that.

[QualityChimp]

Johnson is being lambasted for his rambling speech yesterday.

Embedded Tweet

[QualityChimp]

I just had a phishing email come through from HM Revenue and Customs and laughed that it was obviously fake as it came from a Hotmail account and there's no way the Government would be using private email accounts...

Embedded Tweet

[cutmymilk]

It is so simple that it is infuriating. Let's use numbers like 50 million and 50 thousand because even thick people know how much 50 is. All they seem to do is brag about numbers rather than speak about actual changes that have been made under their party.