Newcastle – Panic on a Plate: why society still has an eating disorder.
Labour has declared a war on junk food. From 1 October next year, adverts for many crisps, chocolates, fizzy drinks and fast food will be banned from our TV screens before the watershed. There will be a total ban on paid-for advertising of products high in fat, sugar and salt, while local councils will be given more powers to control hot food takeaways near schools.
It looks like the nanny state is back with a vengeance. But this time matron gets in on the act, too. A new scheme of ‘health MOTs’ will see NHS staff going into our workplaces to weigh us and refer any of our chubster colleagues to weight-loss clinics. Fat shaming is fine, apparently, as long as the state is doing it.
But is that really fair? Almost a quarter of Year 6 children are ‘obese’ according to NHS data. During the pandemic, unhealthy lifestyles were found to be a significant factor in who was vulnerable to hospitalisation and death. Many argue that we need to protect the NHS from the strain of an unhealthy society and Labour’s plans are based on the ethos of ‘prevention is better than cure.’
In addition, there have been many concerns about industrially processed foods which are ‘designed and marketed to be addictive’, according to one best-selling author, Dr Chris van Tulleken, in his book Ultra-Processed People (2023). We don’t really know what it’s doing to our bodies, he says.
But isn’t this more of the plebs needing to be told what’s good for them? An extension of the NHS being protected from the public? A panic on our plates?
Rob Lyons, author of Panic on a Plate: How society developed an eating disorder (2011) will join us on Tuesday 5 November to discuss the issue. Rob is science and technology director at the Academy of Ideas. He writes on a wide range of issues, but takes a particular interest in issues around the economy, environment, food, energy, risk and the harm principle which he covers on his Letter on Liberty, Beyond the Harm Principle. He has also written reports on sugar taxes, the impact of the smoking ban on pubs and the culture wars over nicotine and edited a survey of views from a wide range of commentators on the future of food. He is a frequent commentator on TV and radio.
Come and join the discussion
You are warmly invited to join us at The Telegraph, Orchard Street, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 3NY (behind the Central Station), for our next meeting on Tuesday 5th November 2024 at 19:00.
See here for location.
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