It’s immoral to delay curbs on unhealthy meals and blame the cost of living crisis – as the PM must know only too well
You’d think a person would remember why they were admitted to intensive care and nearly died, even if that person was a politician, with one of those notoriously short memories. In April 2020, just over two years ago, Boris Johnson could have become our late prime minister. Another life snuffed out by Covid-19 to add to the daily death toll. Others in his circle caught the virus, but for him it was nearly fatal – in part because his obesity made him highly vulnerable to the disease.
Johnson himself said this. It’s not a matter of debate. In the aftermath, and to his credit, he launched another anti-obesity strategy. There have been a lot of them, but more on that later. This time, the government’s proposals looked promising, aimed at curbing the heavy marketing of junk food that ends up in children’s stomachs and turns into the internal fat that surrounds adult organs, causing chronic illnesses. I’ve seen the X-rays. It’s not pretty and it kills. And this grim spiral costs NHS England at least £6bn a year.
Sarah Boseley is the former health editor of the Guardian
