Boris Johnson’s plan to tackle obesity announced on Monday received a good deal of media coverage.
The point about obesity and health issues is an important one and a policy commitment to address the issue is welcome.
Whether it is more than Johnsonian window dressing, particularly as seriously tackling the matter will have consequences for business we shall see.
One detail that was noted but no more than that was that there will be legislation to require restaurants, pubs etc display calorie information for meals and items sold.
Again this is a decent enough idea. One major chain already does this and unsurprisingly its Wetherspoons headed up by Johnson’s political ally Tim Martin.
In fact Spoons have printed calories on their menus for ages and deserve credit for doing so. I’m not sure it makes that much difference to customers, which is not to demean them, but to take the point (Guardian Editorial) that a successful effort to tackle obesity cant all be about urging individuals to sort their diet out but also making sure they have easy access to healthier choices (in terms of reduced fat, salt etc etc).
I don’t expect (I might be wrong) that those who write Editorials for papers like the Guardian frequent Wetherspoons too often, if at all, which can be seen in a positive or negative way. This particular piece of Johnsonian Old Corruption- boosting the business of one of his mates- should have been worthy of comment though.
There are two wider points here, amplified rather more directly in a letter from Michael Rosen also in today’s Guardian.
Firstly the Government needs to do more itself to address a range of issues around COVID-19 and not just leave it up to individuals and then blame them if they don’t do something.
Secondly ‘doing more’ must mean more than announcements and handing contracts to mates of the Government to do things which end up not working (except for the mates obviously)
Government Policy
introducing legislation to require large out-of-home food businesses, including restaurants, cafes and takeaways with more than 250 employees, to add calorie labels to the food they sell
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