Sugar tax

On the question of excercise.......I've noticed that a large, luxury coach now picks up kids each morning, on the road near to us. It appears to be hired by a school.

The bus stops are about half a mile apart. I had wondered why there were about 4 or 5 cars (all newish, mostly 4x4) parked at the side of the road together. Now I realise that they are parents taking their kids to the bus stop.

Worse is, they park up, waiting for the posh coach to arrive, so that their little cherubs don't have to stand outside in that awful fresh air, waiting a few minutes for the bus to come.

Unbelievable!

I agree that I'd prefer a small amount of sugar to chemical sweeteners but we aren't talking about small amounts of sugar in these drinks. There's 7 teaspoons of sugar in 330ml of Coke, I can't dissolve that much sugar in plain water. 

Smoothies have the same amount in 250ml. It's still sugar even if it comes from fruit. 

Theres a Starbucks coffee on sale with the equivalent amount of sugar as two cans of Coke. 14 Teaspoons!!!!

There's added sugar in so many foods and then extra salt is added to balance the flavour. I don't want rising amounts of hidden sugar and any initiative to halt it is fine by me. 

If they don't make it then we can't buy it 

Could not agree more

One thing is certain, we can't afford people expecting the NHS to insulate/repair the consequences of lifestyle without a substantial rise in taxes.

I'm sitting here reading CT eating a Mars bar and drinking a can of coke , best go for a run....

That's what huskies do anyway. You'll have to come up with something a bit more challenging.

I do not think for one minute that this will help . 

For example Cigs ( i dont smoke ) they have gone up and up an still people smoke , and the government are laughing at you that do . 

So the People and Kids who Drink Cola etc yes its bad for you in the long term but its a  combination of issues.

We all go to the Supermarket ( well most of us do) we have a choice what we put in the trolley. Everything in Moderation, but for Obesitey yes its a  problem here in the uk, but so is Drugs Alcoholism gambling. etc. As a  parent and grandparent how times have changed the kids have more choice they have more say than when my own two were little. And they certainly have more money to spend . 

People will still buy and drink full sugar drinks but because the manufacturers are hit rather than just the consumer there's a reasonable expectation that they will reformulate the products to get below the point where they have to pay up