Fat Tax Bombshell for Brit Lardies

[Mr Xtreme]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/s...765925,00.html

As a big fan of junk food I'm concerned. I'm not overweight but looks like I'm going to have to pay the price for the fact that Britain's waistlines are ballooning.

What's the point of it? If people can't resist over-eating then what makes anyone think that they will be able to resist spending more money to carry on?

[mAd_ScIeNtIsT]

Well, Blair has to raise money somehow for his next war....

[Shahreen]

Thing is, you could argue that people who choose to eat 'healthier' foods are also paying over the odds. Okay it's not a tax per se but I still resent having to pay twice as much for some so called organic carrots, just because they've left the dirt on them.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if the healthy options cost so much then how can you blame people with low incomes for the more junk food options which usually cost much less.

Vanessa Feltz must be crying into her hair extensions right now.

[amelie]

In graduate school...we discovered that in low income nieghborhoods there were fewer grocers with fresh produce and many many more cheap fast food alternatives...to get to a better grocer involved driving/taking a bus and that made it much more difficult.

Eating healthy is more expensive and more difficult for people living in poorer neighborhoods.

[714]

Originally posted by mAd_ScIeNtIsT:
Well, Blair has to raise money somehow for his next war....

i think you mean Bush's next war

[Mr Xtreme]

Originally posted by shahreen:
I guess what I'm trying to say is that, if the healthy options cost so much then how can you blame people with low incomes for the more junk food options which usually cost much less.

and tastes much better you conveniently missed that part out

There's a health food shop near where I live but all the organic vegetables look like they died last month. As opposed to the bright and shiny fare at Bookless which positively glows in comparison.

[Shirin]

I don't really think that healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food.

It depends upon what you think is healthy.
Try an apple instead of a bag of crisps. Or a carrot instead of a bar of chocolate. Same cost or less for something that is much better for you.

At the table, roast or boiled potatoes cost less than fried potatoes and are much healthier. Obviously some vegetables require more time to clean but even that is a healthy thing! A glass of water is cheaper than coke, fanta, wine or beer and does you a lot more good.

It's not a question of cost but of culture. Of how people spend their leisure time. That's why I think Blair's campaign is dommed unless he ALSO tries to chage the culture behind the food choices.

[Mr Xtreme]

I think the campaign has hit the rocks. I read somewhere today that the 'Fat Tax' is going to be ditched.

[Thap]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3506507.stm



Health Minister Lord Warner had said 900,000 claimants of incapacity benefit were obese.

But the Department of Health now says the real figure for England is only 900 people and blamed an "administrative error" for the mistake.

The mistakes means £70,965 is paid out every week in England to obese people - not the £70.9m initially suggested


Fat-headed researchers and even fatter mouthed politicians

[Shahreen]

900 fat people in England? They must all live in Birmingham then.

[Kaleem]

Did they count people with teeth only? Is that why its only 900?

[Mr Xtreme]

Originally posted by shahreen:
900 fat people in England? They must all live in Birmingham then.

No there's a fair few in Sunderland too. I'm starting to think we'd get more sense coming from the politicians if the Health Minister was Mr Bean.