From the U.K. — and a Conservative government, at that. “Pizzas must shrink or lose their toppings under Government plans to cap the calories in thousands of meals sold in restaurants and supermarkets. Pies, ready meals and sandwiches will also be subject to the new proposed calorie limits…. Under the draft proposals, a standard pizza for one should contain no more than 928 calories – far less than many sold by takeaways, restaurants and shops.” For the moment the restrictions would not be mandatory, but in a parallel initiative concerning sweet foods failures to meet the targets “have prompted warnings from ministers that tougher steps may be taken.”
The best place to fight coercive paternalism is on principle, before it gets this far. [Laura Donnelly, Telegraph (U.K.)]
6 Comments
Fundamentally, obesity is none of the government’s business. It becomes their business via the backdoor of socialized medicine, since gov picks up obesity related costs. If it maximizes happiness to eat too much, why is that bad?
If someone is an athlete, has not had breakfast, or has a high metabolism, a single serving pizza of current size is NOT too big. Some people even split them. Again, none of their business. Are they going to stop you from buying two?
They just need to re-issue the ration books. I am sure that they still have some leftover from the last war.
I’ll take three to go.
Bob
Supposedly we have a conservative government, there has been little evidence for that. This is probably another bight idea from the ‘Nudge’ unit.
Back in the 1960s, the Brits had a reputation as lousy cooks. Perhaps the May government will help them reclaim that part of their national heritage.
Filboid Studge!
Most of you have seen this already, including our esteemed web host,
but for any new readers–
Satirist “Saki” (H.H. Munro, 1870-1916) explains how unpalatable food made the British Empire great:
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/FilStu.shtml