The obesity crisis is genuine,but trying to solve it by insulting people’s intelligence is a non-starterIt’s that time of year again, around the Christmas period, or when we all notice that there’s an obesity crisis. The causes of the crisis depend entirely on the political persuasion of the speaker,of course. And here advance the politicians to demand that we make sure that people aren’t doing things that aren’t healthy (by “people” we of course mean destitute people).
The thing is, paternalism generally backfires. The health select committee’s call for a 20% tax on sugary drinks is the inevitable result of a misidentified problem – in this case, and the opinion that sugar is too cheap,rather than that healthier alternatives are too expensive. Or alternatively, that parents are just pouring sugar down their kids’ throats with not a single thought for the health consequences, and rather there being a serious problem with the food supply.
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Source: theguardian.com