I think you give a misleading impression of this Bethel character by referring to him as a former nightclub entrepreneur. He is much more dubious than this. According to Wikipedia, he is a failed politician who owed his presence as a govt minister entirely to the fact that an ancestor four generations back was made a Lord as a result of his banking and political connections. So he inherits a title and then that clown, Boris Johnson, puts him into the Department of Health just in time for Covid. And what does he do? He negotiates lots of dodgy deals for his friends involving multi-millions of pounds, and then conveniently loses all his Whatsapp messages setting up the deals. He gives three different explanations for not having the messages, but confronted with the evidence admits he deleted them all "because he thought they were backed up". He also, inter alia, sponsored a Parliamentary Pass for the lover of the then Minister of Health, Hancock.
His is a record of malpractice, deception, corruption and failure. Why waste time reading what this pathetic crook writes? It says something about the times that this individual can achieve some prominence despite achieving nothing worthwhile in his lifetime. His great great grandfather has a lot to answer for in accepting an hereditary peerage which has allowed this good-for-nothing descendant to live off the public purse.
As for Van Schalkwyck and Gilmore, yet more academics (I nearly put pseudo in front there, but these days they are all pseudo) who reel off all the right (ie left) phrases that the grant giving woke institutions adore. At least you have given me a few more names to avoid in the future. My list grows longer by the day.
Great post. Along with just ignoring that people have agency and can make decisions based upon what they like, the biggest problem on my view with the Commercial Determinants of Health BS is that it distracts from the other very well documented problems of social determinants of health, things over which people often have no control but that seriously affect their health. If you just blame big junk food, big alcohol, etc you give the social structural inequities a pass that they do not deserve. Ironically (and you and I may argue about this) both point to problems of capitalism but one is an illusion and one is very real. (It's the aspirational lefty paradise thing that also irritates me although I am a lefty)
Bread when well made is fine. I see. So well-made bread doesn't have exactly the same ingredients as not-well-made bread. Consumers are absolute bloody idiots for buying in greater quantity the type of bread they vastly prefer.
BTW I occasionally make my own bread and know all the "artisinal" tricks, very few of which make any difference to taste or texture. The loaf just looks prettier.
I don't live in UK, so I don't know what Hovis puts in their bread. It's likely the same as every other high volume baker. Sourdough i.e. yeast bread has a different consistency crumb which doesn't make it any better. The overwhelming majority of consumers don't like it as much.
I think you give a misleading impression of this Bethel character by referring to him as a former nightclub entrepreneur. He is much more dubious than this. According to Wikipedia, he is a failed politician who owed his presence as a govt minister entirely to the fact that an ancestor four generations back was made a Lord as a result of his banking and political connections. So he inherits a title and then that clown, Boris Johnson, puts him into the Department of Health just in time for Covid. And what does he do? He negotiates lots of dodgy deals for his friends involving multi-millions of pounds, and then conveniently loses all his Whatsapp messages setting up the deals. He gives three different explanations for not having the messages, but confronted with the evidence admits he deleted them all "because he thought they were backed up". He also, inter alia, sponsored a Parliamentary Pass for the lover of the then Minister of Health, Hancock.
His is a record of malpractice, deception, corruption and failure. Why waste time reading what this pathetic crook writes? It says something about the times that this individual can achieve some prominence despite achieving nothing worthwhile in his lifetime. His great great grandfather has a lot to answer for in accepting an hereditary peerage which has allowed this good-for-nothing descendant to live off the public purse.
As for Van Schalkwyck and Gilmore, yet more academics (I nearly put pseudo in front there, but these days they are all pseudo) who reel off all the right (ie left) phrases that the grant giving woke institutions adore. At least you have given me a few more names to avoid in the future. My list grows longer by the day.
Great post. Along with just ignoring that people have agency and can make decisions based upon what they like, the biggest problem on my view with the Commercial Determinants of Health BS is that it distracts from the other very well documented problems of social determinants of health, things over which people often have no control but that seriously affect their health. If you just blame big junk food, big alcohol, etc you give the social structural inequities a pass that they do not deserve. Ironically (and you and I may argue about this) both point to problems of capitalism but one is an illusion and one is very real. (It's the aspirational lefty paradise thing that also irritates me although I am a lefty)
"These people are not really interested in consumers having choice. They just hate corporations."
Suggested amendment: "They just hate corporations and consumers."
Hovis, like most mass produced bread today, is junk. Soya flour and Datem are ingredients, no thanks.
However bread when well made is fine.
IME When the likes of Bethell is involved in any public health issue you can bet there's a pretty penny to be made by him and whatever he's promoting.
Bread when well made is fine. I see. So well-made bread doesn't have exactly the same ingredients as not-well-made bread. Consumers are absolute bloody idiots for buying in greater quantity the type of bread they vastly prefer.
BTW I occasionally make my own bread and know all the "artisinal" tricks, very few of which make any difference to taste or texture. The loaf just looks prettier.
Correct, or are you claiming all bread has the same ingredients?
What do you put in your bread? Compare it with the ingredients on a pack of Hovis, let’s see the difference shall we?
I don't live in UK, so I don't know what Hovis puts in their bread. It's likely the same as every other high volume baker. Sourdough i.e. yeast bread has a different consistency crumb which doesn't make it any better. The overwhelming majority of consumers don't like it as much.
And Googling would be impossible?
Yes, why don't you?
I did, you're the one who didn't.