Terry Pratchett gives us the idea of a God that goes mad, Nuggan. And it would appear that our rulers are following down the same path.
So, they note that large portions lead to eating more. Thus, small portions must be mandated.
Hmm, well, they can fuck off but note why they are mad:
Reducing portion sizes across the whole diet to realise large reductions in consumption may mean reverting to sizes of portions and tableware similar to those in the 1950s (fig 1). This would involve reductions of over 50% for some energy dense products, far greater than the typical 5% reductions currently offered and negotiated with the food industry.
British people in the 1950s consumed more calories per person per day than the British people of 2015 do.
They’re just mad. Time to put them out of our misery.
Public servants indeed. They seem to think we are cattle and it is their job to keep us in fine fettle.
It’s only a matter of time before your blockwart rousts you out of bed at 5:30 am for your morning exercises in the street.
“…reverting to sizes of portions and tableware similar to those in the 1950s “
Go in any fancy restaurant and see huuuuge plates. With teeny-tiny portions of food.
These people are idiots.
Public servants indeed. They seem to think we are cattle and it is their job to keep us in fine fettle.
As Perry de Havilland liked to say, a government service is an accurate description only in the sense that a bull services a cow.
This is not -yet–govt policy. The way to ensure that it never is will be to write to the BMJ calling for the sacking sans any compo of the four twats who wrote it and the confiscation of any pension they may have due.
Yes–it is shite arrogant beyond measure and all involved in it deserve a top quality beating but it is not yet a plan by BlueBoy PigPorker and his gang.
So what happened to it all being a problem with sugar, or fat, or whatever they’ve tried to blame gluttony on in the past?
And if it is about portion size, the amount of food you eat, will they consider acknowledging that exercise is actually relevant?
Thought not.
Puritanism is always mad. It’s a mental affliction, a brain disease, an indicator of internal cortical doolallyness.
It’s also of course heavily class snobbery based. The working man’s cafe always advertised “large portions” while the snob class were competing to spend more and more on less and less, as with nouvelle cuisine etc, as a means to display status (“look how much money I have to waste on so little food”).
But anyway, we genuinely are ruled by mad people. And so, this.
So, presumably it will be illegal to own plates greater than a certain diameter? Don’t laugh, this is the sort of thing they’d do if they had even half a chance.
That multi person gallows is going to need a bigger factory given the sheer number of people whose hanging is required in the NPPS – once more the idea of leaving people in peace to get one with their lives is anathema to the new Puritans….
The surprise is that the prodnoses haven’t gone for the option of relieving our lard-encased organs AND simultaneously saving the planet by suggesting that all central heating radiators be removed.
Coming soon from an SJW near you: a call for a plate tax and a radiator tax.
You will take my big man-plates from my cold, dead hands…
Rob wins the thread.
What did Hippocrates think about the size of tableware? Did he express an opinion?
Well I hear he and Plato didn’t always see eye to eye…
With the socialist NHS heading for a £2bn deficit and obesity-related conditions costing the NHS £5bn pa, this sort of dingbattery will inevitably get some sympathetic consideration in government. By its very nature, the NHS encourages nanny statism, in a way that insurance-based health systems do not.
“British people in the 1950s consumed more calories per person per day than the British people of 2015 do.”
I’d be interested in a the data for this.
In the mean-time, I wonder if “Fat Shaming” might be more effective (and targeted) than banning sugar, etc.?
This tomfoolery would be alarmingly easy to achieve. There are far fewer manufacturers than there are brands, so all you need is to reduce the size of dishwashers so that large plates won’t fit. Add in a bonus for reporting by any repairman and bingo:
A victory for greenery, BMA prodnoses AND a bonanza for the dish cartel. What could be more to the liking of the EU?
Where I work, I have cereal every morning. The portions are fairly small, so I just have two bowls…
Your colleagues will be encouraged to report you for having an extra bowl.
In the mean-time, I wonder if “Fat Shaming” might be more effective (and targeted) than banning sugar, etc.?
That’s the problem, though. On the one hand we have the feminists telling everyone that “big is beautiful” and being a land-whale is something to be proud of, and on the other you have the puritans telling us being obese is a problem. Which is it?
Gareth:
“I’d be interested in a the data for this.”
I don’t know the source for that, but I think the wartime ration was intended to deliver 2700 calories (other sources put it at 3,000). Note that this is a restriction (hence the rationing) and is above the current ‘recommended’ daily limits of 2000-2500 for adults. People are an inch or two taller now too.
There are far fewer manufacturers than there are brands, so all you need is to reduce the size of dishwashers so that large plates won’t fit.
Like they appear to have done in France: Ikea’s dinner plates don’t fit in the dishwasher here.
@Rob: I’ve seen figures quoted for wartime rationing that put a working man’s calorific allowance at 3000. Less for women of course, maybe the 2700 is an average across the population?
Worth remembering, those wartime ration figures were for foods that were “on ration”. People were encouraged to produce food to supplement those rations.
So fuel poverty is a good thing. Shiver the fat off.
“British people in the 1950s consumed more calories per person per day than the British people of 2015 do”- Back then the British ( and they were still that then) did more work – manual work.
They didn’t spend life sitting at screens.
Their children actually ran at times.
Fast food was not common.
It was in the early sixties when I had my first ‘help yourself to what you want ‘ meal in a government institute.
I have an idea for the BMJ, when one of their members gets a parking ticket, every single one of them can each pay the fine in full.
Same logic.