[Bradders]

Slightly on topic, but another take on this was the FA bounty competition ($1000 for 8A and $5000 for 8B is not too shabby).



Although you'd be slightly annoyed if your secret FA proj appeared on the bounty list and Jimmy Webb swooped in to casually take the FA and also claim a cash prize for it too!

Thanks for reminding me of this, lovely video.

Although it was $5,000 overall, I.e. $1,000 per problem. Still looks like a pretty good way to make a living 

[Fiend]

Apropos of nothing, while I was waiting for my partner to collect a parcel at the BP garage/Spar near me I wandered round the aisles. Normally I’m just in and out so don’t really pay much attention, but f*** me I was appalled at the offering. I mean I know petrol stations aren’t health food shops but still. It was just brightly coloured energy drinks, chocolate bars, crisps and sweets as far as the eye could see. I guesstimated 95% of what that place sells is either pure sugar, ultra processed crap, tobacco or vapes.

Just what a healthy population needs.

, forgot to reply at the time but I had exactly the same experience a few years ago popping into the BP garage at the Mottram traffic jam. I looked at colossal wall of confectionary next to the counter whilst trying to find a slightly more suitable snack, and thought "Fuck me this is just so much toxic shit with no nutritional value whatsoever". Don't get me wrong I will treat myself to some toxic shit with no nutritional value whatsoever (a bit of chocolate here and there, occasional soft drink, a few sweets rarely - in the context of it being a small and rare amount in addition to a broadly balanced diet) so I'm no puritan, but the sheer amount of objectively damaging pseudo-food was quite dismaying.

[mrjonathanr]

Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS £2.5 billion every year, equivalent to 2% of the health service's budget.

but

Obesity costs the NHS around £6.5 billion a year and is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer.

Q: which one is the Prime Minister not campaigning to reduce consumption for this week?

[stone]

Apropos of nothing, while I was waiting for my partner to collect a parcel at the BP garage/Spar near me I wandered round the aisles. Normally I’m just in and out so don’t really pay much attention, but f*** me I was appalled at the offering. I mean I know petrol stations aren’t health food shops but still. It was just brightly coloured energy drinks, chocolate bars, crisps and sweets as far as the eye could see. I guesstimated 95% of what that place sells is either pure sugar, ultra processed crap, tobacco or vapes.

Just what a healthy population needs.

, forgot to reply at the time but I had exactly the same experience a few years ago popping into the BP garage at the Mottram traffic jam. I looked at colossal wall of confectionary next to the counter whilst trying to find a slightly more suitable snack, and thought "Fuck me this is just so much toxic shit with no nutritional value whatsoever". Don't get me wrong I will treat myself to some toxic shit with no nutritional value whatsoever (a bit of chocolate here and there, occasional soft drink, a few sweets rarely - in the context of it being a small and rare amount in addition to a broadly balanced diet) so I'm no puritan, but the sheer amount of objectively damaging pseudo-food was quite dismaying.

I travel very rarely nowadays, but I was gobsmacked at how different a small supermarket in southern Spain was (that was eight years ago, apparent they are following us now). They had globe artichokes, cuttle fish, etc etc. The guy I was with was put out that they didn't have any ready made pasta sauce sugary crap. 

[Dingdong]

Smoking is estimated to cost the NHS £2.5 billion every year, equivalent to 2% of the health service's budget.

but

Obesity costs the NHS around £6.5 billion a year and is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer.

Q: which one is the Prime Minister not campaigning to reduce consumption for this week?

This week sunak did a BBC interview where he said he fasts for the first 36 hours of the week so he can gorge down on sweets the rest of the week, unbelievable.

[spidermonkey09]

I travel very rarely nowadays, but I was gobsmacked at how different a small supermarket in southern Spain was (that was eight years ago, apparent they are following us now). They had globe artichokes, cuttle fish, etc etc. The guy I was with was put out that they didn't have any ready made pasta sauce sugary crap.

This is jumpers for goalposts stuff surely, its hardly surprising that a supermarket in southern spain had globe artichokes given they are local to there! Ditto cuttle fish, I'm shocked that somewhere near the Med had a good selection of seafood.

Obesity costs the NHS around £6.5 billion a year and is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer.

So whats the biggest preventable cause of cancer then? Oh right, its smoking, which in fairness the government are attempting to outright ban for future generations.

[User deactivated.]

This week sunak did a BBC interview where he said he fasts for the first 36 hours of the week so he can gorge down on sweets the rest of the week, unbelievable.

Just in case anyone else wants to try this, there is nothing unique about fasting that is beneficial for weight loss, cardiovascular risk factors, inflammation, or appetite control when average calorie intake is equated (e.g. intermittent fasting vs normal calorie restriction).

Meta analysis (42 papers and 27 randomised controlled trials were included): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35531785/

However, the proven number one factor in determining weight loss outcomes is adherence to the diet, so do whatever allows you to restrict calories. If that's fasting for you, great. I like IIFYM ('if it fits your macros') - yesterday, I ate a big slice of cake that my son baked, yet I remained approximately at energy balance for the day.   

[Dingdong]

I could in no way fast for 36 hours, I’d be so grumpy 

I just thought it was kinda bad for the PM to be pushing that kinda rhetoric on BBC about smashing all the sweets

[User deactivated.]

So whats the biggest preventable cause of cancer then? Oh right, its smoking, which in fairness the government are attempting to outright ban for future generations.

I hate smoking, but I would not vote for a ban on it. The reduction in smoking over the last 30 years has been one of the biggest successes for population heath, achieved largely via education, tax, etc (there were many factors). Prohibition of substances on the other hand has a less than stellar track record (see alcohol and other recreational drugs).

[spidermonkey09]

Fair enough, thats a point of debate, I was more responding to mjr's point that the govt was doing nothing about obesity when its the 2nd biggest cause of cancer, which loses salience given that they are trying to do something about smoking, which is the number 1 cause of cancer, despite the advances that you've alluded to. For me that and banning disposable vapes are really positive policies (slim pickings admittedly).

It will be interesting to see if they get that legislation through before they get kicked out in the autumn.

[Wellsy]

I agree with Liam on the obesity topic. I think for a lot of people, they think being fat is basically fine and normal and to be athletic is very different and other. I'm not sure how we change that but I think it is essentially normalised to be overweight in our society. And I don't think shaming people for it would help. Ideally we'd try to adjust diets and exercise on a macro-scale and push society towards a more healthy balance.

[seankenny]

This is jumpers for goalposts stuff surely, it’s hardly surprising that a supermarket in southern spain had globe artichokes given they are local to there! Ditto cuttle fish, I'm shocked that somewhere near the Med had a good selection of seafood.

Those kinds of posts should only be made if you’re willing to reference the female labour force participation rate and compare it to the UK’s. French regulations were suggested above and, whilst I suspect they are good, my first instinct was to see what proportion of French women work as compared to here. No prizes for guessing what I found…

[spidermonkey09]

I don't understand what you're getting at, I'm prob being thick; could you expand?

[seankenny]

A bunch of men discussing increasing the unpaid work that is usually more of a burden to women isn’t an edifying sight, but acknowledging that might make it a little more palatable.

That was some of the subtext behind the excellent Vittles article that Falling Down posted above. Also sits behind this article which isn’t really about food, but about work:

https://open.substack.com/pub/vpostrel/p/three-important-facts-that-affect?r=5v9r&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

[abarro81]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't understand what that's got to do with whether Spanish shops are more likely to sell particular products? Did you quote the wrong post?

Unsurprisingly, I don't notice a major difference in Spanish (or French) supermarkets vs the UK in terms of product offerings. But then I tend to shop in Lidl/Carrefour in Spain and Aldi/Sainsbury's in the UK, so I wouldn't really expect to. Ditto for France. My experience of small village shops in Spain is also that they're pretty bad for buying healthy food.

[spidermonkey09]

What Barrows said. Whats that got to do with globe artichokes?

[seankenny]

Why does a society with higher rates of women working have shops selling slightly more convenience foods? I am a little surprised at your naïveté here… or perhaps you genuinely believe that housework is no longer gendered?


I mean, I don’t see that much difference between French/Spanish and U.K. supermarkets either, but others do and the differences at the margin have to come from somewhere. I’m just not that into hand waving comments about “culture”.

[Wellsy]

SpiderMonkeys point is that globe artichokes and cuttlefish are not rarer delicacies in a country where they are local food, which hasn't got anything to do with female participation in the Labour force

(Yes in the UK it is approx 20% higher than Spain/France)

[Bonjoy]

Did UKB just 'jump the shark'?

[ali k]

I was more confused by the jumpers for goalposts reference. Is there an alternative meaning to the fast show joke? Or did I just not get that joke in the first place and I’ve been using it wrong this whole time? 

[Bonjoy]

Good to know that the aforementioned junk food garages are doing it to smash the patriarchy

[teestub]

I bet there are plenty of mothers and fathers in the UK who would prefer to not be working and looking after their kids and laboriously cooking globe artichokes instead, but have to work because pay is so shit and housing is so expensive!

But anyway about them cuttlefishes

[seankenny]

SpiderMonkeys point is that globe artichokes and cuttlefish are not rarer delicacies in a country where they are local food, which hasn't got anything to do with female participation in the Labour force

(Yes in the UK it is approx 20% higher than Spain/France)

Hmmmm I wasn’t referring to that, but to Stone’s “jumpers for goalposts” post… but also, local production is surely a very small part of why we eat what we eat? Especially in a highly urbanised country that imports 46% of its food. We could have cuttlefish if we wanted it, no? Just like we have tuna or anchovies.

[spidermonkey09]

I was more confused by the jumpers for goalposts reference. Is there an alternative meaning to the fast show joke? Or did I just not get that joke in the first place and I’ve been using it wrong this whole time? 

I've got no idea what I was talking about anymore really but I've always used 'jumpers for goalposts' as shorthand for excessive nostalgia; ie, when people are looking back to a simpler time, when kids played football in the streets, nobody locked their doors, in the style of those 'ooo remembers proper bin men' local facebook groups! In this context I thought Stone's post could be paraphrased as 'back in the day shops sold proper food' and I was gently ribbing this.

Just gone and rewatched the fast show clip though, brilliant!

[abarro81]

Ah, I get seankenny's point now... though like I said, I don't notice a meaningful difference in shops between the countries in question.

I don't notice a major difference in Spanish (or French) supermarkets vs the UK in terms of product offerings. But then I tend to shop in Lidl/Carrefour in Spain and Aldi/Sainsbury's in the UK

I just realised that this is not quite true... Euro Aldis are terrible, unlike UK Aldis. But Euro Lidls are good, just like UK Aldis