Kiwiblog

Deborah Coddington writes in the HoS:

It’s official: we’re a nation of idiots who can’t make decisions to save ourselves or take responsibility for our problems.

That’s according to two academics from Otago University, researchers in public health, Dr Gabrielle Jenkin and Penny Field, who specialise in the obesity epidemic.

Interviewed this week by Kathryn Ryan on National Radio, Field tossed off a comment which sent me into deep despair. Obesity, she said, was “not a problem with individual choice and self-discipline, which we’ve proved successfully doesn’t work”.

Instead it’s the fault of “big institutions and the market”.

Actually the problem is lack of market forces. Make overweight people pay more to fly, and pay more for healthcare and you’ll see more people lose weight.

This attitude from academics is patronising and silly. Yes, there are some grossly obese people for whom stomach-stapling is the only resort, so impossible is it for them to lose weight, but they’re a small minority.

For the rest of us, choice and self-discipline most definitely does work. Eat less food, whatever that may be, and exercise more. If we jettison that weapon in the weight-control battle, what next? Budgeting? Fighting fraud? Why bother prosecuting directors of finance companies who fail to protect the savings of investors by exercising self-discipline and choice, but excuse themselves by saying they were victims of the global financial crisis?

Jenkin’s final words were that the food industry needs to be held accountable for obesity. No. Individuals need to be held accountable and stop blaming food and its makers for their problem.

Hear hear.

The Herald reports:

The World Health Organisation has suggested that a complete ban on advertising junk food to children is preferable to more limited controls such as those used in New Zealand.

Why stop there? Just head onto the eventual solution of banning all food that that health ****s deem unhealthy.

Or at a minimum, have the state inject some foul tasting substance into all prohibited food items, so kids won’t enjoy the taste anymore.

And lets also shoot Mr Whippy. That mass killer has much to answer for with his alluring tones that summon the kids in a neighbourhood to done out on lethal ice cream.

Adolf at No Minister blogs:

A couple of enterprising guys have set up a food stores in South Auckland and Wellington where people can go and buy half price groceries. Yes, that’s right, half price groceries. The stores are called ‘Reduced To Clear.’

What a wonderful example of enterprise. What better way to help people through the recession than to provide an opportunity to buy some basic grocery lines like soap, detergent, tinned fish, tinned soups, pasta meals, chocolate, biscuits, nuts, cheese and one day soon, frozen vegetables at half price or less.

Hell, if you can buy groceries at better than half price, who needs a tax cut?

The trick is, these guys buy in from manufacturers surplus stock which has passed its ‘best used’ date but is nowhere near its ‘use by’ date. All the stock on sale is safe to eat or use and complies with all statutory standards.

But that’s not good enough for the Food ****s.

Apparently the ****s are upset because Cadburys‘ products feature. Good God, you can’t have beneficiaries buying chocolate!!!!

As my first ever boss used to say,

“Shoot the bastards!”

I share his despair at the zealots. They are only a short step away from advocating that food they disapprove of be banned.

The Herald reports:

The Government has lopped another limb off Labour’s “bureaucratic” public health tree, ending state funding for the Obesity Action Coalition.

This is excellent news. Labour often funded groups which then in turn lobbied Parliament and the Government on social issues – despite this being something the Auditor-General had warned against.

When we talk about state funding of political parties, we should also look at state funding of lobby groups.

The Herald does a summary:

Gone or going:

* Funding of Obesity Action Coalition.
* District health board staff who help schools with nutrition policy.
* Rule that only healthy food and drink be sold at schools.
* Labour’s plans to control food industry recipes.

Staying or coming:

* Promotion of healthy food at schools.
* New physical activity scheme for schools.

Excellent. Far too much time is spent trying to ban food or food advertising, and not enough promoting exercise.

Anyway let us look at what the Obesity Action Coalition has been doing.

On its website it is promoting and linking to the Greens petition to being ban the tuckshop food police. So the Government has been funding a lobby group to argue against Government policy. I repeat lobby groups should not be state funded.

And they have many reports. Take this report on Pacific Island obesity.  One of their recommendations is:

Banning access to and advertising of foods high in fat, salt and sugar

Banning advertising is bad enough, but banning access to certain foods!!!

And look at this press release on how public policy should be set:

OAC Executive Director Leigh Sturgiss told the committee the public health workforce uses a tool called the “scream test”. “The likely success of a proposed measure is gauged by the degree to which the affected industries protest. If there is no “scream”, chances are the proposed measure will be ineffective. The tobacco industry and its allies used to scream a lot, and now the fast food industry and its allies are screaming as well,” Ms Sturgiss said.

So their aim is to make affected industries scream loudly. So much for weighing up costs and benefits.

If the public health workforce really do use a “scream test” then I think the Government should use a “scream test” on the public health workforce. This is a good start.

The Greens are still in mourning for the loss of the food police:

School tuckshops are selling 14 per cent more junk food such as pies and sausage rolls than last year, sparking calls for the reinstatement of healthy eating guidelines.

The Green Party released its annual school food survey yesterday.

It showed a 14 per cent rise in pie, hot dog, sausage roll and hot-bite sales compared with the year before.

More than half of the 50 schools surveyed sold donuts, cookies and cakes while 42 per cent sold chips.

The Green Party says the survey results show an urgent need for the reinstatement of the School Food Guidelines ditched by Education Minister Anne Tolley this year.

Hmmn 50 schools. What sort of margin of error do you get from just 50 responses? It is +/- 14.3%.

Tolley told The Press schools were still required to promote healthy food and drink options and she trusted school boards of trustees to make appropriate decisions.

No, no, no. Teachers must be forced into becoming the food police. We need audits, inspections, dawn raids. You can not trust the people!!

I’m delighted the Greens are launching a major campaign to bring back the food police into schools.

This will remind everyone of the growth of nanny state over the last nine years.

And even better, what lies in wait if a centre-left Government is elected in future. With NZ First dead and United Future down to one MP, it will be almost impossible for Labour to form a Government without the Greens.

I hope the Greens do not stop at school tuck shops. They should get really ambitious and propose the food police be given these additional powers:

• Dawn raids of homes at breakfast times to check breakfasts are healthy and nutritious
• Flying Squads to swoop on major supermarkets to make sure all unhealthy food is placed on the top aisle so no one below 5’6″ can reach it
• Random audits of teenagers in public places to check their diet

Yay. This release just out from Anne Tolley:

Schools will no longer be required to act as food police under changes announced by Education Minister Anne Tolley today.

“As part of the National Government’s commitment to reducing compliance for schools, I have decided to remove the clause in National Administration Guideline (5) which states ‘where food and beverages are sold on schools’ premises, to make only healthy options available’.

“Feedback from schools I have spoken to suggests that this clause has created confusion for many of them particularly around fundraising and school events. The government considers regulation in this area unnecessary.

“I believe boards of trustees should be able to make their own decisions about appropriate food and drink options. After all, they are parents who should be aware of what ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods are. I am confident they will act responsibly.

Oh my God, you can’t trust parents. It is the Government’s job to decide what can be sold to their kids at school. Or at least it used to be.

“It should be noted that clause (ii) in the National Administration Guideline (5) that requires schools to promote healthy food and drink to students remains in place.

“I am aware of the great work that the majority of schools have already done in this area to ensure their students can make informed decisions about what they eat and drink as part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Labour never got the difference between promote and control. It is one thing to promote healthy food. It is quite another to ban food you disapprove of as unhealthy.

“This change will help schools to concentrate on core business – providing students with a quality education and learning environment and concentrating on improving education standards.”

That would be good.

This is a small issue, but a symbolically important one.

Children of NZ rejoice. The Government has today made your lives better with its new school tuck shop regulations hilariously called the National Administration Guidelines.

The NAG do not ban unapproved foods, they are still allowed to be sold once a term. So no doubt we will have roving squads of food inspectors making sure that unapproved foods are not sold more than three times a year.

Once the tuck shops have been NAGGED into line, then school libraries will be audited to make sure that only healthy approved books are being made available for lending. Unapproved books which are being borrowed too regularly will be burnt!

The Greens are aghast that some schools are not following “guidelines” and are still selling pies and cakes.

How dare they. Send in the Food Police I say and close those non comforming schools down.

Never mind that some pupils may eat sandwiches 95% of the time and only want to buy a pie once a month on really cold days. They must have that choice removed from them.

Never mind that the pupil wanting to buy a cake is actually the School’s fittest pupil and has just set a record for the 1500m race. He or she can not celebrate with a cake.

Once the pies are eliminated for the country’s good, next will be the soft drinks. All sales of Coke will have to be replaced by Ribena as the next step of the master plan!