Boris's Brainwaves

[sandra4444]

A few months ago he was giving millions away in £50 vouchers to have your bike fixed so you could become fighting fit, and avoid obesity.

Now he does a U turn on junk food. What a joker! Eat plenty of chocs, sweets, salty snacks, any rubbish you like., and protect the NHS?

[sandra4444]

Salt, fat, sugar, that's all any government need to focus on. Let that slide and the NHS will continue to struggle.The only reason that large amounts are used is to cover up the poor contents of the food or drink.

[barry1010]

carole, when I was growing up most peoples diets were shocking by today's standards. Lots of sugar in many cups of tea every day; lots of toast smothered with butter/marge/dripping; puddings such as suet puddings, roly poly, fruit pies all with custard most days. A healthy snack for a child was a glass of full fat milk with a cheese sandwich or two made with thick slices of white bread, a lot of cheddar cheese and butter. Lots of sugar added to cereals. Very fatty cuts of meat - the bacon was mostly fat. A lot of stodge and sugar every day.

The difference was exercise. We didn't have a car so walked and cycled miles every day. My parents both had very physical jobs and even housework and gardening were very hard work. I know young people who spend 90% of their waking hours sat down - and they are grazing all day. No wonder they are fat.

[tiggerblue10]

Home Ec. is still taught but it's called Food Tech now. Well at little Tigs's school it is anyway. I paid £10 at the beginning of the food tech term to cover ingredients and he came home with apple crumble, flapjacks, rock cakes and biscuits. All very nice but not exactly nutritional and full of fat and sugar but I think it's more about them learning to combine ingredients together.

When I was at school in the early 80s I remember learning how to scramble eggs and make a fish pie. We had to take our own ingredients and dishes in.

[sandra4444]

You are correct barry, up to a point. The lack of exercise like you say is one of the main problems.
The only thing I would add is that most of the foods you mention that we all consumed many years ago have been messed about with in the form of additives to prolong shelf life.

[youngmafbog]

Boris is becoming more likeable by the day.

Now if he would just drop the Net Zero. lower taxes to boost the economy and start more drilling in the North Sea to ease the fuel crisis I might even vote for him.

[naomi24]

Sandra, 17.40. You say Boris is trying to get people to eat healthily - which directly contradicts your OP where you say he’s doing the complete opposite.

[New Judge]

//He is trying to get people to eat a healthy meal.//

Not the government’s job.

Cannot eat cheaply? Nonsense. I went to my local Aldi today. I bought a large (and I mean large) cauliflower for 59p. It will do Mrs NJ and me for at least two meals. Loose broccoli was £1.39 a kilo. Half a kilo would make a side for four. You can buy turkey steaks very cheaply. Beef mince is not that expensive. It needs thought and application and a bit of time. We are by no means strapped for cash but we eat healthily and cheaply at home. People living near me have their McDonalds delivered (£3.99 delivery charge). They even have their coffee delivered. Many people are lazy and indolent and see time spent preparing and cooking decent meals as wasted. Their children will grow up with the same attitude. Eating is something to be dealt with quickly, with as little bother as you can get away with and if possible whilst you are doing something else. And nothing any government can reasonably do will alter that.

[sandra4444]

NJ. Not the governments job? Then you better tell the government we don't need a health minister, or local public health. Or in fact a NHS.

I didn't say your couldn't eat cheaply, You can eat cheaply and healthy. That's why I said a lot of parents need educating.

[cashier]

Frozen veg, said by some nutritionists to be as good for you as fresh, is cheap at Iceland. People could buy that a bag would serve a family of four twice, probably more times depending on the ages.

[sandra4444]

naomi. I don't exchange my views, or debate with them when they are just down right rude. So in future don't expect such.

[Togo]

Haha wish the terminally agitated would make their minds up. They are like the Pushmepullyou from Dr Doolittle. Is there a hunger "crisis" with the underpriveleged unable to get enough to eat and verging on starvation, or is there a fast food glut making the same hard of thinking obese after being tempted to overeat by the wicked suppliers? Or is it whichever suits todays guilt trip for the offended by default?

[naomi24]

My expectations have never been high, Sandra. Simply pointing out that you are contradicting yourself. No response necessary.

[Boto]

I would rather eat unhealthy food than no food.

[Ellipsis]

It's a U-turn, to help people who have the choice of heating or eating to stuff themselves with junk food.

But this is nothing to do with those people. It's everything to do with Tory MPs, those with a similar outlook to youngmafbog who finds himself typing "Boris is becoming more likeable by the day."

He needs the support of those MPs with what's coming at him soon, from Partygate police and Sue Gray enquires.

That's all this is. Reversing his softer policies to keep or regain support from his own MPs with what's to come. Nothing to do with letting the poor eat cake.

[Deskdiary]

I’m not a huge fan of BJ, but I am starting to feel a bit sorry for him.

He’s in an invidious position and no matter what he does there’s certain people, as this thread has shown, and with likes of Hymie and their ilk who will find wrong in everything he does.

He could cure world hunger tomorrow and there’s people on this site who would criticise him for not doing it sooner.

They have nothing constructive to say, so they’re best ignored.

[jourdain2]

There is, of course the point about 'Freedom of Choice'. Some people choose to eat junk food, others choose not to. It has to be dearer to go to a KFC than to buy fresh veg., a bit of meat and then to cook it.
A great deal of the problem is (or was - I'm not right up-to-date) the National Curriculum. Cookery morphed into Domestic Science, which morphed into Home Economics, which became entrenched in 'Food Technology' of all things. The actual cooking bit became minimal. It may have changed, of course.
Main point is - I don't want a Nanny State telling me all the time what I should or shouldn't do. This is already sliding into saying what I must do - and this must be resisted.

[carolegif]

Jourdain, exactly my point. I remember my first cookery class - how to make a cup of tea and slice of toast! I was first out in the morning, so I had to make the tea for my mother and brothers, and I made my own toast! But later lessons taught me the basics. When I married, I bought Delia Smith’s cook book. I still have it, albeit with loose pages and many stains on the pages!
There were very few ready meals, Vesta were the first!

[ToraToraTora]

I love the way Boris gets all the lefty 5C types whining like jumbo jets!

[sandra4444]

Most of the political whining comes from your direction on a daily basis. Or any other mud you can find to sling around the site in the hope of creating monumental disagreement.

It was the jumbo's that Boris hoped to encourage on their bikes. Yet another off the cuff fag packet idea that cost the tax payer millions.

[New Judge]

//Not the governments job? Then you better tell the government we don't need a health minister, or local public health. Or in fact a NHS.//

I'm not particularly sure we need a health minister. The recent incumbent has been somewhat unsuccessful in getting the NHS to comply with the government's wishes. He cannot get GPs to resume face to face consultations or to undertake weekend and evening surgeries; he cannot get hospitals to resume normal visiting arrangements.

We don't need Local Authorities at all (as I have been banging on about for what seems like forever) and we certainly don't need them interfering in medical matters.

We need the NHS to cure the sick and injured in a timely fashion. This is their overriding task and one which they have failed to achieve successfully for a number of years, despite being showered with humungous quantities of taxpayers' dosh and being "protected" from failure by shutting large swathes of the economy down and depriving people of their basic liberties. When they can show that they can do their day job it might be acceptable for them to try to control the prices at which retailers sell their goods. Until then they should concentrate their efforts on getting the waiting lists down.