Friday, July 29, 2005

'Junk' food: a flawed formula

The Food Standards Agency has published guidelines to determine what foods should not be advertised to kids. But it's the idea behind the formula that is 'junk'.

In an effort to tackle rising obesity levels among children, the UK government wants to regulate what kinds of foods are advertised on TV while children are likely to be watching. However, they've already been criticised for producing some peculiar results.

For example, some popular breakfast cereals would fall foul of this definition - including Kellogg's All Bran - and adverts might have to be shown after the 9pm 'watershed'. On the other hand, various items from McDonald's, like McFlurries and Chicken McNuggets, would pass the test.

The real problem is that there is no such thing as 'junk' food. If a substance has nutritional value of some description, it's food, pure and simple. Many things that are defined as junk - like hamburgers, chips, and chocolate, for example - are extremely nutritious in a variety of ways, so long as you don't gorge yourself on them.

The other problem is the assumption that children will watch television and be seduced into eating crap. Children need no encouragement to eat foods which are supposed to be bad for them, and banning these commercials will make no difference. It's up to their parents to ensure that they get something approaching a balanced diet.

The causes of obesity are complex but the government seems intent on reducing them to simplistic slogans. Maybe the people behind this new formula might consider a new profession - TV advertising.

Junk formula demonises 'healthy' food, The Times, London, 29 July 2005

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Charity record, bombs

Neil McCormick, the rock critic of the Daily Telegraph, has produced a charity single as a response to the London bombs. It should by critically panned.

'People I Don't Know Are Trying to Kill Me' certainly wouldn't pass muster with writers like himself in normal circumstances. McCormick wrote the song and sang it himself when he realised that it would take far too long to get together some big name vocalists.

The result is a 'song addressed to our terrorist enemies, posed as a series of hard questions about why they would attack fellow human beings they have never met'. Or to put it more accurately, a rather embarrassing lyric sung by someone whose vocal performances are usually reserved for the bath.

'If I showed you pictures of my child, if we spoke for a little while
Could you let me be?
Or is that bomb strapped to your chest blessed and primed for death
Or victory?'

It goes on.

'And when I'm turned to dust, will Allah or Jesus claim me?
And will the God of Love, welcome up above
Those who would maim me?'

McCormick says that he was spurred to record the song by his friend, U2 frontman Bono. 'This is a song that needs to be heard now', he told McCormick. The lesson to be learned is never ask your friends for their opinion, especially when you're clearly agitated about something. They'll be kind rather than honest.

Still, any song that rhymes 'claim me' with 'maim me' has got to be more entertaining than that Crazy Frog.

Bono told me: 'Your song needs to be heard now', Telegraph, 19 July 2005

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Ted Heath: sailor sunk by the class war

Former prime minister Edward Heath, who died on Sunday, is remembered as a relative failure who took Britain into Europe. But he's also a reminder of a distant time when class mattered.

Heath became prime minister at a time when the postwar boom had ended and Britain was heading for economic crisis. In order to try to resolve the inflationary pressures that resulted, Heath made the first attempt at controlling wages, bringing him into direct conflict with the trade unions. His first attempt at an incomes policy was wrecked by the miners in 1972, and when he tried to introduce statutory wage controls in 1973, the miners again threatened an all-out strike.

As a result, he called an election in February 1974 on the basis of 'who runs the country' and lost to Labour, if only just. When a second election was called in October 1974, Labour won an overall majority, although a very narrow one. In the event, the Labour government went even further in reducing living standards than Heath had and it lost power after the disenchantment of its working-class constituency led to a prolonged series of strikes - the 'winter of discontent'.

But the Tories learned their lessons from Heath's defeat, paving the way for the much more explicit battle that Thatcher fought, and won, against the working class in general, and the miners in particular, in the 1980s. Today, 'class' is usually defined in terms of how much money you earn, or where you shop. Heath reminds us of a time when the class war could bring down governments.

Obituary: Sir Edward Heath, BBC News, 17 July 2005

Monday, July 11, 2005

Grief and horror become news porn

A mother's grief, the stench of rotting flesh, the terrifying near-misses: did we really need to know?

The London bombings started as a genuine, multi-faceted news story worthy of in-depth coverage. Not only did the facts of the incident need to be uncovered, but the reaction to the attacks provided us with insights into society. But now all we are left with is a desperate attempt on the part of news organisations to maintain this fevered state of interest - and the result is a pornographic focus on tragedy.

BBC News today, for example, features the grief-stricken face of Marie Fatayi-Williams, whose son Anthony is missing. The quality newspapers over the weekend splashed the photograph of a young woman whose fiancé could not be found. Meanwhile, we receive ever more details of the horrific scene in the hot and narrow tunnel under King's Cross where police and forensic specialists pick through the corpses for clues.

It may be that there is an audience for such stories, but pandering to a desire for vicarious grief is wrong. There are few new facts to be disclosed about these incidents. What is needed is a discussion of the wider ramifications of Thursday's events. If the media can do no better than titillate, it would be better if they found another story to report.

Mother makes plea for missing son, BBC News, 11 July 2005

Friday, July 08, 2005

Not just terrorists attacking freedom

UK home secretary Charles Clarke says that ID cards wouldn't have stopped the London bombs - but we should have them anyway.

'I doubt it would have made a difference', said Clarke. 'I've never argued...that ID cards would prevent any particular act.' It's hard to see what effect ID cards would have on terrorism at all. Nonetheless, they are part of a creeping incursion on our rights justified by the terrorist threat.

There is discussion today of further legislation - even though Britain already has draconian terror laws. Anti-terrorist powers were only recently 'topped up' by the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, which granted the authorities the right to detain suspects without trial. The London attacks could encourage this trend.

While parts of the government talk up our vulnerability, yesterday's events demonstrated the opposite. London coped perfectly well. The majority of the disruption was caused by the decision to close down public transport, not the bombs themselves. Creating a climate of fear is self-defeating. If it becomes apparent that London can be paralysed by even the possibility of an attack, terrorists won't need to lift a finger. Any misplaced backpack will spark a terror alert, and any idiot phoning through a warning will be taken seriously.

If standing up to these nihilists is supposed to be in defence of freedom, it would be perverse to use the situation to attack that freedom further.

ID cards 'wouldn't stop attacks', BBC News, 8 July 2005

Anti-terror bill: a hollow debate, by Brendan O'Neill