Mosley’s takeaway? Only the government can stop obesity
Britain’s obesity crisis does not come down to personal responsibility. That was the angle pursued in Michael Mosley: Who Made Britain Fat? (Channel 4). When you guzzle that takeaway or load your trolley with family-sized chocolate bars, you are not to blame. It is the government – and the government before that, and the ones before that – which has failed to keep you slim.
We are helpless, argued Mosley and his contributors, when food laden with fat, salt and sugar is marketed to us through slick campaigns, and allowed to tempt us from the supermarket shelves, and politicians do nothing about it. “We make an average of 200 decisions a day about what we eat while being bombarded by advertising for cheap, unhealthy food, so that’s a lot to ask,” he said. “Instead, the government needs to improve the things we’re choosing from.”
All that successive government campaigns have done, since the days of John Major, is ask us nicely to eat less and move more. Even the last part of that is suspect, according to the programme, because evidence shows that exercise – while good for fitness and mental health – is of limited benefit for weight loss.
You may think this all reeks of the nanny state, but it does seem scandalous to me that England stars such as Harry Kane are promoting Mcdonald’s, or Cadbury is allowed to sponsor the “Big Six” football clubs. Because the statistics are grim: a quarter of children in Year 6 (aged 10-11) are clinically obese. A doctor in charge of the UK’S specialist childhood obesity units said her young patients suffer from conditions including diabetes, sleep apnoea and fatty liver disease. Some of the patients are one-year-olds.
Mosley claimed that the sugar tax was a great success, speaking to the Chancellor who brought it in (George Osborne, who couldn’t resist a dig at Theresa May) and the campaigner who fought for it (Jamie Oliver). They were good interviews, with Oliver making the startling claim that he suffered multiple break-ins and cybersecurity breaches after taking on the food and drink giants.
Mosley argued that the sugar tax should be extended beyond fizzy drinks, and perhaps that could have a positive effect on the nation’s health. But as online food delivery apps mean we no longer even have to burn calories by going to pick up a takeaway, and high streets are packed with fried chicken shops offering £1.99 meal deals to schoolchildren, can any government initiative really turn the tide? The question of who made us fat is academic now. T elevision is forever showing us tourist brochure India: forts and palaces, plummy-voiced maharajas. Occasionally, a Mumbai slum for contrast. Writing With Fire,
an Oscar-nominated film broadcast as part of BBC Four’s Storyville strand, gave us something very different.
Perhaps the synopsis doesn’t grab you: a documentary about a newspaper in Uttar Pradesh, staffed by women. But it delivered because so much of modern India was captured here, from its adherence to the ancient hierarchy of caste, the treatment of women, endemic corruption and the rise of Hindu nationalism. For a primer on Indian politics, you could do worse than start here.
The newspaper, Khabar Lahariya,
was created in 2002 by a group of Dalit women – otherwise known as “untouchables”. There is no better way to show up the cruelty of the caste system than the reporters featured in this film, all of them smart and capable when given the chance. A job on the paper transformed their lives. Suneeta was working in a mine aged 10. Now, in her 20s, she was confronting a police chief about deaths in illegal mine operations. The male journalists in the room told her off: “Always pamper an official with praise,” they said. Suneeta politely dismissed them.
Chief reporter Meera was fearless when covering a religious festival. “This has nothing to do with politics,” one dignitary assured her, with a self-satisfied smile. “Then why are you wearing the colours of the ruling political party?” she shot back. The women were similarly tough when asking politicians and police about the shocking prevalence of rape, with Dalit women frequently among the victims. This journalism is vital.
The newspaper’s shift to digital – making content for social media – was a framing device for the film. At first, staff expressed reservations because some had never used a mobile phone before, or had no electricity in their homes. By the end, Suneeta was invited to speak at an international conference in Sri Lanka. Her joy at seeing the ocean was as rousing as Khabar Lahariya’s
success against the odds.
Who Made Britain Fat? ★★★★ Storyville: Writing With Fire ★★★★