Who Will You Vote For?

[Saga Lout]

A few years ago I read that there are now more obese people in the world than there are starving people. I.e. food is now so cheap that even poor people can afford to become obese.

And obesity does not cost the country. It's mostly a personal cost, fatties die younger and quicker, saving the NHS many years of geriatric care while saving the country the cost of their pensions.

From a government revenue perspective, obesity is a GOOD THING™.

[Taipan]

A few years ago I read that there are now more obese people in the world than there are starving people. I.e. food is now so cheap that even poor people can afford to become obese.

And obesity does not cost the country. It's mostly a personal cost, fatties die younger and quicker, saving the NHS many years of geriatric care while saving the country the cost of their pensions.

From a government revenue perspective, obesity is a GOOD THING™.

Shit food is cheap. Fresh fruit and quality meats are still dependably high in price...

[Saga Lout]

Shit food is cheap. Fresh fruit and quality meats are still dependably high in price...

Reassuringly expensive, like Stella Artois.

[Horse]

the water you drink or swim in . . .

I wonder if the NHS has been having a word with government about the amount of sewage that is being pumped into water courses and is also fouling a lot of beaches. If these things are a danger to public health then I would expect the National Health Service to be shouting that it must be stopped and those culpable, punished. I hear no shouting from the NHS.

OFWAT seem totally toothless, so I'm not sure the NHS having a hissy fit could achieve much.

[Pirahna]

Shit food is cheap. Fresh fruit and quality meats are still dependably high in price...

Depends where you live. I get fresh oranges, lime, lemon for free most of the year. September I'll get pomegranates, October I'll get enough almonds to last a year, November is olives, all taken to the bodega and exchanged for oil, I anticiptate 10 litres this year. The stuff I buy is all grown in Spain, is fresh and affordable. Wifey is veggie so I only eat meat in restaurants, we do buy fish and there's no end of decent quality stuff.

[Count Steer]

the water you drink or swim in . . .

I wonder if the NHS has been having a word with government about the amount of sewage that is being pumped into water courses and is also fouling a lot of beaches. If these things are a danger to public health then I would expect the National Health Service to be shouting that it must be stopped and those culpable, punished. I hear no shouting from the NHS.

OFWAT seem totally toothless, so I'm not sure the NHS having a hissy fit could achieve much.

It's probably in the remit of the UK Health Security Agency anyway (it replaced Public Health England whose job it was to ' to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities'). The CEO is Dame err Jenny err Harries....remember her? The err fluent err Covid talking head.

It's an executive agency within the Department of Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State was Victoria Atkins....who should have been having the hissy fit at whoever was responsible for water.

[Taipan]

Shit food is cheap. Fresh fruit and quality meats are still dependably high in price...

Depends where you live. I get fresh oranges, lime, lemon for free most of the year. September I'll get pomegranates, October I'll get enough almonds to last a year, November is olives, all taken to the bodega and exchanged for oil, I anticiptate 10 litres this year. The stuff I buy is all grown in Spain, is fresh and affordable. Wifey is veggie so I only eat meat in restaurants, we do buy fish and there's no end of decent quality stuff.

I'm deffo talking about here. I used to go to northern Spain every year for 20+ years and always found the cost of fresh food was lower and the quality higher.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Well...where do you think them oranges in Tescos are from?

[cheb]

Who'd have thought that locally grown and harvested food is better quality and cheaper than imported food.

In 2003 I was in Greece and a fairly toity supermarket, Waitrose level, had turnips packed in pairs on polystyrene trays in their exotic vegetable section.

[Taipan]

Well...where do you think them oranges in Tescos are from?

Normally when in Spain we'd buy in the market off of some guy who drove his stuff in on a trailer pulled by his tractor! Out of interest, have you seen Simon Reeves program about the polytents?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06pqns2

[Count Steer]

OFWAT seem totally toothless, so I'm not sure the NHS having a hissy fit could achieve much.

It's probably in the remit of the UK Health Security Agency anyway (it replaced Public Health England whose job it was to ' to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities'). The CEO is Dame err Jenny err Harries....remember her? The err fluent err Covid talking head.

It's an executive agency within the Department of Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State was Victoria Atkins....who should have been having the hissy fit at whoever was responsible for water.

PS Guess what Victoria Atkin's hubby does for a living....


....he's Managing Director of British Sugar.

[irie]

OFWAT seem totally toothless, so I'm not sure the NHS having a hissy fit could achieve much.

It's probably in the remit of the UK Health Security Agency anyway (it replaced Public Health England whose job it was to ' to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities'). The CEO is Dame err Jenny err Harries....remember her? The err fluent err Covid talking head.

It's an executive agency within the Department of Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State was Victoria Atkins....who should have been having the hissy fit at whoever was responsible for water.

6
PS Guess what Victoria Atkin's hubby does for a living....

....he's Managing Director of British Sugar.

Ah yes, the sugar industry. If you want to know the origins of the "obesity epidemic" read this book: "Pure, White and Deadly" by John Yudkin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure,_White_and_Deadly

Pure, White and Deadly is a 1972 book by John Yudkin, a British nutritionist and former Chair of Nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College, London.[1] Published in New York, it was the first publication by a scientist to anticipate the adverse health effects, especially in relation to obesity and heart disease, of the public's increased sugar consumption. At the time of publication, Yudkin sat on the advisory panel of the British Department of Health's Committee on the Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy (COMA).[2] He stated his intention in writing the book in the last paragraph of the first chapter: "I hope that when you have read this book I shall have convinced you that sugar is really dangerous."[3]

The book and author suffered a barrage of criticism at the time, particularly from the sugar industry, processed-food manufacturers, and Ancel Keys, an American physiologist who argued in favour of restricting dietary fat, not sugar, and who sought to ridicule Yudkin's work.[2] In later years, Yudkin's observations came to be accepted.[note 1][2][4][5][6] A 2002 cover story about sugar by Gary Taubes in The New York Times Magazine, "What if It's All Been a Big Fat Lie?", attracted attention,[7] and the following year a World Health Organization report recommended that added sugars provide no more than 6–10% of total dietary intake.[8] In 2009 a lecture on the health effects of sugar by Robert Lustig, an American pediatric endocrinologist, went viral.[9] The subsequent interest led to the rediscovery of Yudkin's book and the rehabilitation of his reputation.

[gremlin]

I've been away for a couple of days and I'm now confused by this thread. Are we now saying we're voting for fatties or not voting for fatties?

[Yorick]

I've been away for a couple of days and I'm now confused by this thread. Are we now saying we're voting for fatties or not voting for fatties?

Fatties? Where?

[gremlin]

I've been away for a couple of days and I'm now confused by this thread. Are we now saying we're voting for fatties or not voting for fatties?

Fatties? Where?

We're voting for them, dear. You know, the waddly ones.

Something about showing us their fanny-mesto. Not sure I want to see that, mind....

[Cousin Jack]

OFWAT seem totally toothless, so I'm not sure the NHS having a hissy fit could achieve much.

Ofwat are not just toothless, they are a major component of the problem, allowing non-profitable companies to borrow vast sums, not for investment in infrastructure but to pay dividends.

[mangocrazy]

OFWAT seem totally toothless

Too much sugar?

[Yorick]

I've been away for a couple of days and I'm now confused by this thread. Are we now saying we're voting for fatties or not voting for fatties?

Fatties? Where?

We're voting for them, dear. You know, the waddly ones.

@taipan?

[Count Steer]

PS Guess what Victoria Atkin's hubby does for a living....

....he's Managing Director of British Sugar.

Ah yes, the sugar industry. If you want to know the origins of the "obesity epidemic" read this book: "Pure, White and Deadly" by John Yudkin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure,_White_and_Deadly

Count Steer wrote: (soz, I edited instead if replied)

Indeed. I had a copy back in the 70s. What happened to him after was a disgrace.

They're still feeding into us by stealth as in the now ubiquitous 'brioche' buns as we gaily follow the Americans down the 'support the sugar industry' path by adding it in lots of things that don't need it. Breakfast cereals and soft drinks were just the visible tip of the iceberg.

[irie]

Karol Sikora in the Telegraph today. Probably behind a paywall so quoted in full.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/0 ... el-farage/

Only Nigel Farage is telling the truth about the NHS

Embracing private healthcare while training British doctors is the sort of radical reform we need

KAROL SIKORA 18 June 2024 • 11:12am

When attempting to gather political support for my campaign to reopen our empty cancer centres, I emailed a great number of MPs from the Tories, Labour, Lib Dems and others. I was hopeful they would share the same sense of urgency as me. Getting these facilities reopened would have saved countless lives during the worst cancer backlog I have ever witnessed. I was wrong. The vast majority ignored me, a handful made a token effort but nothing more. One MP genuinely did his best, Sir Graham Brady, and I’m very grateful.

I sincerely asked for help and most couldn’t even be bothered to reply. The election comes round, and all of a sudden I have politicians knocking at my door. Where was that interest when it was needed?

I went into this election with a low opinion of Westminster politics. I was asked to examine the various plans from the main political parties on healthcare and the NHS. Did I expect much? No, not really. More of the same, zero admission of a crisis, general platitudes accounting for nothing and the usual worshipping of the holy shrine of our NHS. There were simply no innovative ideas.

Labour will always be held back by its fanatical devotion to Bevan’s original concept. At least Wes Streeting wants change and seems very capable. But he will be held back by the party’s leftist origin. Its manifesto is packed with the usual humdrum, with no genuine commitment to the radical change that’s required. After 76 years every system surely needs a major overhaul.

The Conservatives? Speaking honestly, I almost didn’t bother reading it. They’ve had fourteen years to sort out this mess, and have objectively failed on all counts. I don’t trust a word they say. There are a few murmurings in their plans which I can agree with. But why should we believe them now? If they thought their changes were so necessary, why haven’t they already been implemented?

I judge people on what they have delivered, not what they say they will deliver. Under their watch the bureaucracy of overpaid apparatchiks sitting in fancy offices well away from the frontline appears to have grown beyond all recognition.

From the Liberal Democrats, there are a few interesting ideas, particularly on a commitment to named doctors for the elderly and sick. But where would these doctors come from? That patient group requires a lot of time. Just try to get a GP appointment for yourself – it’s not so easy, and they are surely too scared of rocking the professional boat to make the big changes needed. On the whole their plan lacks ambition.

And then I read Reform’s plan. I could have written it myself. Sharp, concise, controversial and radical. We do need something different to get us out of the mess we’re in, and it’s certainly that.

Lifting frontline staff out of paying basic rate tax for three years – common sense. It will help to stop the brutal brain drain we’re experiencing and actually encourage more British youngsters into healthcare. Clever, too, as more senior staff will still pay tax as they are in a different bracket. Ending training caps for medical students and writing off student debt following ten years service. Good idea. Capable staff with ambition, skill and determination can ascend from the bottom to the top. Hospital porter to brain surgeon may at last really be possible. This is a long term plan which won’t see fruition for 5 years – but that’s just the attitude we need.

Tax relief of 20 per cent on all private healthcare and insurance. Fantastic. It will make healthcare a consumer good leading to far more innovation in its delivery. The usual suspects will moan about privatisation, but quite frankly if hardworking families want to spend more on private healthcare then it should be welcomed and encouraged. It will benefit everyone, freeing up space in the NHS for those who need it. Alongside it is the commitment to properly embrace private healthcare, which would surely help clear the backlog.

Patients within the NHS who can’t see a GP within three days will receive a voucher for private treatment – again, a good idea. Patients should be treated like valued customers, rather than a nuisance to be dealt with.

Finally, and perhaps the most important, cutting waste and unnecessary management. From someone with half a century experience of dealing with the NHS, let me tell you – it is rife with incompetent bureaucrats who contribute nothing to the smooth running of the system. They deliver nothing for patient care, and disrupt the activities of frontline staff doing the actual work.

Armies of PR spin agents, diversity officers and intrusive management many now working from home. Layers and layers of bureaucracy starting with the top in NHS England and the Integrated Care Boards need to be slashed away. That money needs to be redirected to the frontline.

Make no mistake, the NHS is in crisis. We need radical ideas for radical solutions. Reform offers something different. I applaud their efforts.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Sikora

Karol Sikora (born 17 June 1948)[1][2] is a British physician specialising in oncology, who has been described as a leading world authority on cancer.