The irony of the Olympics is that it encourages people to eat, drink, and put on weight as they watch and admire the superfit on telly.
It’s August. It’s holiday time. It’s that once-every-four-years jamboree when everyone holidaying in rainy Britain settles down in front of the TV, and those abroad in sunnier climes watch from bars dressed in T-shirts. Yes, it’s the Olympics. That festival of the fat watching the fit, while obesity figures continue to climb.
I was sad when London ‘won’ the bid to host the Olympics. There are better ways of developing East London. The Olympics are now a parody of what they were once about. They are over-branded occasions when the unfit watch the fit push back the boundaries of physical contortion, and fast food brands yoke themselves to sport.
I wish London 2012 meant bicycle lanes everywhere, facilitating a quarter of London trips to be by bicycle. And setting up tai-chi classes for all 60-year-olds to keep them supple. And building outdoor gyms at every street corner, Chinese-style, so everyone has a gym. And phasing out car-based out-of-town hypermarkets. We should build exercise into daily life, not turn it into a voyeuristic experience.
Cynics argue that hefty inflation will do the job. No need for policy wonks. No need for intervention by the Nanny State. Or for Nanny Tesco’s Sport for Schools & Clubs or Nanny Sainsbury’s Active Kids or similar schemes that (laudably) scratch the surface.
Yes, a good dose of inflation will remind people how important food is by making food more expensive.
Hmm. Tricky, that one. Important though it is for food prices to internalise the full costs of the impact on health and the environment, food inflation hits the less well off the hardest. The key issue is which prices go up. A rise in the price of fatty foods may be fine from a health perspective as we want people to eat less fat, but we do not want fruit, veg and cereals to go up as people should eat lots of those.
For those who believe the ‘leave obesity to markets’ theory of behaviour change, National Statistics figures last week showed food inflation is serious, running at an annual rate of 13.7%..Back in June it was a mere 10.6%. It’s what drove overall inflation to 4.4%, triggering wage demands.
Inflation on oils and fats is running at an annualised 29%. Meat is at 16.3%. The bad news is that bread and cereals inflation is also up at 15.9%, and vegetables, including potatoes, are at 11.1%, while fruit is up 10.7%. So not much joy there. This suggests we do need policy interventions for behaviour change. Markets aren’t delivering.
So back to the Olympics. Cheers! Slurp. Glug. Munch.
Tim Lang, professor of food policy, City University
It’s August. It’s holiday time. It’s that once-every-four-years jamboree when everyone holidaying in rainy Britain settles down in front of the TV, and those abroad in sunnier climes watch from bars dressed in T-shirts. Yes, it’s the Olympics. That festival of the fat watching the fit, while obesity figures continue to climb.
I was sad when London ‘won’ the bid to host the Olympics. There are better ways of developing East London. The Olympics are now a parody of what they were once about. They are over-branded occasions when the unfit watch the fit push back the boundaries of physical contortion, and fast food brands yoke themselves to sport.
I wish London 2012 meant bicycle lanes everywhere, facilitating a quarter of London trips to be by bicycle. And setting up tai-chi classes for all 60-year-olds to keep them supple. And building outdoor gyms at every street corner, Chinese-style, so everyone has a gym. And phasing out car-based out-of-town hypermarkets. We should build exercise into daily life, not turn it into a voyeuristic experience.
Cynics argue that hefty inflation will do the job. No need for policy wonks. No need for intervention by the Nanny State. Or for Nanny Tesco’s Sport for Schools & Clubs or Nanny Sainsbury’s Active Kids or similar schemes that (laudably) scratch the surface.
Yes, a good dose of inflation will remind people how important food is by making food more expensive.
Hmm. Tricky, that one. Important though it is for food prices to internalise the full costs of the impact on health and the environment, food inflation hits the less well off the hardest. The key issue is which prices go up. A rise in the price of fatty foods may be fine from a health perspective as we want people to eat less fat, but we do not want fruit, veg and cereals to go up as people should eat lots of those.
For those who believe the ‘leave obesity to markets’ theory of behaviour change, National Statistics figures last week showed food inflation is serious, running at an annual rate of 13.7%..Back in June it was a mere 10.6%. It’s what drove overall inflation to 4.4%, triggering wage demands.
Inflation on oils and fats is running at an annualised 29%. Meat is at 16.3%. The bad news is that bread and cereals inflation is also up at 15.9%, and vegetables, including potatoes, are at 11.1%, while fruit is up 10.7%. So not much joy there. This suggests we do need policy interventions for behaviour change. Markets aren’t delivering.
So back to the Olympics. Cheers! Slurp. Glug. Munch.
Tim Lang, professor of food policy, City University
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