Where are the govt. plans to prevent illness?

[EuclidianGeometryFan]

Just been reading about what the government will do to get people on sickness/disability benefits back to work.

Better than nothing, but it smacks of pissing in the wind.

Where is the sugar tax? A mars bar should cost £7-8
A litre bottle of fizzy pop should cost £10-15

Where is the internet ban to protect teenage mental health? How about a law to say no person under 18 can own or carry in public any internet-connectable device?

Where is the housing? How about big wealth taxes on property and a massive build-out of socially-rented state-owned housing?

Where is the support for parents of pre-schoolers going out of their minds with worry about debt? How about a 'nursery fees' scheme like the student loan scheme: parents have the right to 8 hours a day of full time care from when the baby is age 9 months, payable back through the PAYE tax system if they earn enough.
Note - right, but not compulsion.

Where are the plastic bans, the forever-chemical bans? Where are the pollution bans? The clean-air acts to prevent any vehicle over 1000cc engine being used in a built up area?

So much could be done, but won't be, because the rich have to be allowed to get richer.

Why do you assume mars bars and drinks are making people sick?

What about deliveroo etc delivering kebabs/mcdonalds at all hours? Greggs and Costa??

All more calories than a mars bar at 260 cals

@taxguru
If schools want to save staff costs and teacher time by doing stuff online, they should supply the devices, which by law would have no other internet capabilities, in particular no social media.

Schools must already have some scheme in place for children whose parents can't afford to get them any device?

As far as I know, sugar is more of an issue than fat.
But yes, you could also legislate about proportions of fat in food. I wouldn't go down that route.
Humans evolved eating animal fat. We did not evolve eating concentrated sugar, except for rare finds of honey.

There are many things we didn't 'evolve' to do....but there you go

You want us all to go back to be cavemen?

In what way is a nursery fees scheme or social housing going back to be cavemen?

Or are you just talking about sugar?
What would be your solution to the epidemic of obesity? with ensuing diabetes, knee and hip issues, cancer, heart attacks, strokes, etc. etc.
The NHS cannot go on like this. Nor can we keep paying this amount of benefits to all those too ill to work.

I agree but the government have been ignoring the issue for years, they are too in the pockets of the food industry.

Voluntary policies have not worked and regulation is needed as was done with the tobacco industry. They are instead now cosing up to big pharma and supporting the roll out of GLP-1 to fix the issues the food industry has created.

https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/media-centre/house-of-lords-media-notices/2024/october-2024/the-government-needs-a-plan-to-fix-our-broken-food-system-and-turn-the-tide-on-the-obesity-public-health-emergency-says-lords-committee/

The sugar tax just turned unhealthy sugary drinks into unhealthy drinks containing artificial sweeteners. I can only imagine in a few years they will finally admit that the latter are far worse for the health of those who drink them.
Education in healthy eating and teaching people how to cook quick, cheap, nutritious meals from scratch would be a far better approach to healthy lifestyles than any nanny state tax on UPFs

What would be your solution to the epidemic of obesity? with ensuing diabetes, knee and hip issues, cancer, heart attacks, strokes, etc. etc.

Education.

The NHS cannot go on like this. Nor can we keep paying this amount of benefits to all those too ill to work.

Many people who are unable to work through ill health are in that position because they are amongst the 6 million people on NHS waiting lists.

How much more would people smoke and drink alcohol if it was still as cheap?

I can't think of a time in my life when alcohol was cheaper (in relation to earnings) or more readily available - it's dirt cheap and there to buy in supermarkets 24 hours a day.

Have you thought of going into politics OP? It sounds like you have all the ideas and plans to execute them.

The biggest driver of illness is poverty.
And I’d say nowadays the air.

So…

When is the government going to tackle poverty (1/3 of children live in poverty)?
When is the government going to clean the air? Current viruses being one the biggest drivers of the increase in chronic health.

@SweetSixty
I can't go into public life - the media would have a field day with digging up my mis-spent youth 😁

Education in healthy eating and teaching people how to cook quick, cheap, nutritious meals from scratch would be a far better approach to healthy lifestyles than any nanny state tax on UPFs

@ohtowinthelottery
Many people already know how to cook quick and cheap nutritious meals. Jamie Oliver et. al. have done their work over the past decade or so.
It is just tastier to eat fast food.
But as I said up-thread, I see sugar as a bigger threat than fat and UPF. I might be wrong, I will leave that to the medial experts to decide.

Where education fails, legislation is needed.

Why can’t people do things without being directed by the government? Things don’t need banned. You don’t have to cater to the lowest denominator.

Too much boozing, smoking and a greasy kebab and a king sized Mars Bar on the way home I bet. 😂

Seriously though - a lot of this shit is because of the last 14 years of poor government.

The last line of your OP is interesting - So much could be done, but won't be, because the rich have to be allowed to get richer.
At last we have a government taking actions (Inheritance Tax) that are not designed to make the rich richer. Look at the pasting that's receiving from those who don't like their pips being squeezed.

If we want the changes you suggest then money would have to be poured into the system and most people don't want to do that. They really, really don't want to do that.

Type 1 here and my doctor did recommend lucozade as a hypo treatment. And as anyone with type 1 knows, nothing is an exact science and hypos are very much part of our lives. Anything can affect your blood sugar from stress levels to hormones so you're shitty comment of 'you may want to see your doctor if your that badly controlled' is insulting. Stick to what you know because type 1 diabetes management clearly isn't one of them

It is just tastier to eat fast food.
Crap fast food like McDonalds with mean little chips, plastic burger and polystyrene bun is not tastier than a decent home cooked meal.

A home made pizza is much better than a swimming in grease ridiculously priced Dominos.

Home made cake is probably much better than a nylon McFlurry.

It's laziness, not taste, that makes people eat this shit.

If we want the changes you suggest then money would have to be poured into the system and most people don't want to do that. They really, really don't want to do that.

@SweetSixty

A sugar tax should be a revenue-raiser (until people cut out eating sugar), and it would save the NHS.

The nursery fees scheme would have a big up-front cost but should be revenue neutral. (The student loan company is a private company and makes a profit).

The bans on polluting chemicals wouldn't cost the government anything.

Yes the social housing would cost a lot. Surely enough people would vote for it if they honestly believe they or their children or grandchildren could get a secure rented home.

Sugar is in fast food....it's what makes it addictive

Having several hypos a day is definitely abnormal and needs investigating.

If I want to eat chocolate or sweets then I absolutely should be an able to without it being taxed to the hilt because others can’t control themselves. Instead of making the government the one responsible for individuals and what they do this needs to be down to individuals. Your other suggestions are also batshit crazy and neither sensible nor affordable.

@T4phage no it's not. Excerise while having insulin on board can cause hypos, even doing the bloody housework with no insulin on can cause hypos.
Dont talk about stuff you have no experience in.

This is a troll post - surely?!

Whilst I agree with most of your post, I must refute your claim that it is just laziness, why people eat that crap. I think the way that Society is set up in modern times, is causing so many issues. Two adults with children now having to work, instead of a parent being at home, and making homemade dinners etc. Now they are at work full time, and having to keep all these balls in the air, and it is not all possible, no matter the lies that have been peddled over the years about having it all. Food has just become something that is easy to grab on the run, or buy ready prepared, or just have someone poorly paid on a bike delivering it. The Government has a lot to answer for about the constant availability of rubbish, harmful food.

The government has no shortage of plans, e.g. Henry Dimbleby's excellent report. They commission them but tend to ignore them as they aren't vote winners, or get shouted down by influential commercial interests eg supermarkets and industrial food companies. As we can see from this thread, people are desperate to defend their right to access junk food but not healthy food. It's tasty poison but somehow we have got to the point where it's the default food option.

These can be prevented by eating regularly and having the right regime for the diabetes. It's classed as poor management to be relying on refined sugar several times a day. You'll be telling me next that it's fine to go on a boozy night out if you simply inject more insulin.

No Government can bring about huge sweeping changes, everything has to be done in steps.

Your post OP is all over the place, loan for nursery fees, sugar tax, engine size. One thing at a time.

Getting people out of their cars would be a start, make public transport reliable and cheaper, but you need to put the public transport in place first, then make car travel more difficult. Put cycle lanes apart from roads in place. This would get more people moving and carrying things. But just this alone would take years.

The Government are saying they are concentrating on reducing the backlog of medical procedures, how can you get people motivated to be fit or even stand to cook if they are in pain?

The Government have talked about the difficulties in building housing stock, there are only a finite number of tradesmen. But they are going to reduce the discount on right to buy, which will hopefully help keep some of the remaining stock as social housing. There are laws coming in to make renting more stable for tenants as at the moment there can't be a discussion about housing without the private rental sector involved.

You can just wave sweeping statements around and expect solutions. This is what Liz Truss tried, she was in office 49 days, days, and her ripple effect on interest rates, hence mortgages and rent increases will be felt for at least a decade. This is what happens if you change too much too quickly.

There is also other small matters of climate, international relations, security which you don't mention at all.

Reduce the NHS backlog, which could free up resources to put more into prevention or early screening. Get people to use their pharmacies and not use A&E instead of their GP. This is where you start. Not charging £8 for a mars bar.