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Milkshake Tax

Listlad

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Messages
3,971
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Boris Johnson’s take on the Milkshake Tax

The Government is planning a ‘milkshake tax’ to tackle childhood obesity

“Bombshell proposals buried in a new Green Paper warn that the soft drinks levy will be “extended to sugary milk drinks” if manufacturers don’t change their recipes to make them healthier.

It comes a year after Jamie Oliver demanded Theresa May act – telling MPs a Strawberry Yazoo contained nine teaspoons of sugar.”

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9390360/milkshake-tax-childhood-obesity/
 
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My kids only ever had milk, just plain milk to drink when they were little, problem solved!
 
I used to drink milkshakes in the UK, I never got "obese" either.

Perhaps it was because I used to get outside a lot, fishing, playing competitive sports, walk to school till I got a second hand bike given to me, fat chance of being a lounge lizard as the tv was not allowed to be turned on till my dad got home from work.

Tax the parents of obese kids, and leave the shakes alone...

Edit: typo
 
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Funny you should say that. I have been losing even more weight by being active over the last couple of months.
 
Where there's government, the next tax will surely follow. That's why I can't be bothered voting anymore.

But I'll happily criticise them every chance I get. In Australia, plenty of opportunities for that
 
Our two sons were pretty fit when they were younger, they were outside most of the time doing various activities including playing junior league soccer, and picking up natural immunity by getting dirty.
 
To be frank, I was really considering the tax as a suitable way of reducing the chances of the population as a whole of ending up with T2 diabetes. History seems to suggest that self control hasn’t worked for many of us leading for a need for some form of state intervention.
 
Listlad said:
The Government is planning a ‘milkshake tax’ to tackle childhood obesity
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I think he should look at how many playgrounds are being closed. From the Guardian, a paper Boris didn't lie for,
"A series of freedom of information requests to local authorities found that 112 playgrounds were closed in the 2014-15 financial year, and a further 102 in 2015-16.
Councils also revealed that they had 80 more closures in 2016-17, followed by plans for 103 in the current budget period and at least 51 closures planned for 2018."

The full article is at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...ns-playgrounds-in-england-close-owing-to-cuts
 
Just as a point of interest. We have a playground almost outside our back garden. It is fairly newly developed. There is also a fantastic one in nearby St Anne’s, built with lottery money. We are going there this afternoon.
 

For what possible end other than to meekly surrender your individual freedoms? Unbelievable the latitudes to which some would simply give in order to comply with interfering governments.
 
Mike D said:
For what possible end other than to meekly surrender your individual freedoms? Unbelievable the latitudes to which some would simply give in order to comply with interfering governments.
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Sometimes Mike, governments need to intervene. Getting the balance of intervention spot on is the trick. Intervention on smoking has been a good example of that.
 
Listlad said:
Sometimes Mike, governments need to intervene. Getting the balance of intervention spot on is the trick. Intervention on smoking has been a good example of that.
Click to expand...

I'd hardly extend credit to any government for simply doing the painfully obvious in regard to smoking and related health issues. But THIS issue is a long way away from that, but like a buzzard on a gut wagon, those in power can't help themselves.
 
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Listlad said:
Sometimes Mike, governments need to intervene. Getting the balance of intervention spot on is the trick. Intervention on smoking has been a good example of that.
Click to expand...
What Governments need to do is educate and then trust people to make their own choices. We all know people who, despite the warnings, still smoke and drink etc. The milkshake tax is a step too far as milk is a nutritious drink/food - it’s what goes into it that can cause issues so perhaps a low sugar one could be devised.
 
I agree. Education is the way, in an ideal world. My theory is that despite the education, many people will still ignore the warnings etc. I think we ourselves probably did to some degree when we over indulged in our earlier years?

In terms of the House of Commons etc, from Boris Johnson to Tom Watson, it seems though that both sides of the house want to go the fiscal and or legislative way with sugary products.
 
I am usually of a libertarian persuasion but given that my taxes must pay for preventable diseases like diabetes, I think it is perfectly reasonable to tax sugary milk to 'shape the path' for people away from junk and towards actual food.
It is not as if those on the lowest incomes as Boris terms them, need to drink milkshake or fizzy pop after all.
Getting kids to exercise more is kind of a red herring in this debate and a way for Big Food to look good whilst not making their products any less junkier.
Would totally agree that active kids are healthier mentally and physically but think it is a parents' responsibility to let their kids go free range as much as possible. It is not the school or state's responsibility.
I am not blaming Big Food here as it is ours and by extension, Public Health's responsibility to make evidence based decisions on dia-obesity prevention. At the moment there is no clear steer (witness the ludicrous legal issues of defining 'junk' food in the banning of those ads on the tube by Mayor Khan) but nobody disagrees that sugar is toxic and has zero nutritional benefit.
I'd vote for a politician who is honest about this but as Boris shows he is playing to the anti Nanny State crowd out in the Tory shires right now hence staying on safe ground about making the streets safe to play on.
 
food 50+years ago was a different thing. Even the wheat and animal feed was different.
 
A tax on sugar is just another way of getting money out of the public. If people want sugary drinks then they will still buy them. And why not? Some artificial sweeteners have been shown to cause fatty liver and therefore insulin resistance and therefore T2. It wasn't sugary drinks that caused my T2 because I stopped having them in my teens.

So yes let's make evidence based decisions. It's not as simple as sugar has calories and calories make you fat. If only it was.

I am T2 and currently taking a course of antibiotics that have changed my taste buds. I manage to take the tablets with a full glass of water but am very thirsty a lot of the time. I have reverted to sugary drinks as I have a bad reaction to artificial sweeteners. It's a case of just getting through what I have to get through however I can.
 
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