History is not without irony, it seems: a government whose leader’s only job prior to politics was selling junk food now sees fit to finger-wag New Zealanders about junk food. But it shouldn’t really surprise anyone. It’s just another excrescence of the same arrogant bureaucratic class and the same deluded socialistic faith in central planning that gave us lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
Primary schools will have to ban fizzy and sugary drinks if a new government health proposal is adopted.
Pupils will only be allowed to drink water, milk and non-dairy milk substitutes under the plan announced today.
Sugar-sweetened drinks account for more than a quarter of children’s sugar intake in New Zealand and the proposal has been welcomed by health experts.
Ah, yes: “health experts”. The same “health experts” who’ve been catastrophically wrong, again and again, over the last few years. In a saner era, these people would long ago have been shamed into silence, if not actually tarred and feathered.
But that’s not reckoning with the ivory tower arrogance of bureaucrats and leftist politicians. Their message is always the same: you’re just too stupid to manage your own little lives, so we have to do it for you.
After all, we’re better than you — and we know it.
“If kids eat and drink well, there are a myriad of benefits and good outcomes for learning,” Minister of Education Chris Hipkins said.
We can only conclude then, that Chippy grew up on a diet of Coke and KFC.
Of course, that’s not to say that there isn’t a problem.
“Research shows that dental decay is now the most common disease reported among children in New Zealand, and rates of obesity among children increased significantly between September 2020 and August 2021.
The issue, though, is what to do about it: treat New Zealanders as if they’re particularly stupid, naughty children who just need a good smack from Nanny and sent off to bed early – or as if they’re indeed grown adults, perfectly capable of making their own decisions for better or worse.
Other options being considered include promoting healthy food and nutrition.
Stuff
Hmm. That sounds too much like giving the hoi polloi a choice to make up their own minds. Great Marx, no!
After all, start treating Kiwis like rational adults and they might start asking questions about a great many other policies their “betters” are foisting on them.
It’s all about the greater good, after all.
