Sugary Drinks
Comments
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I take your point and I am a non smoker. They call smoking a public health crisis. They plaster warnings, fund campaigns, push behaviour change. But behind the scenes the Treasury banks £8 billion a year from tobacco duty.
If health was the real priority they would have banned it years ago. But they did not because addiction is profitable.
So when people ask why smokers get NHS care maybe flip the question. Why does the government profit off a product it claims to fight. Smokers are not freeloading. They are helping fund the very system that treats them.
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I see an argument for both sides but I think it's a scary and slippery slope, and would ask where would they draw the line?
You could also argue that drinking to excress, smoking, obesity and so on are all societal issues, and who is responsible for that? And all of them have links to mental health and whose responsible for the lack of mental health support in this country?
Individual responsibility is important, but so is accounability on a societal scale and most these things are controlled by the 'decision makers' up top. They fill our food with rubbish then blame us for being addicted/overweight.
It's well known UPFs have a very negative impact on health, but the sugar tax has resulted in more UPF use, so actually seems to do the opposite of the supposed benefit
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I agree with so much of what you've said!
I think it's important to remember it wasn't just a 'labour' thing. I hate how they're selling it but it wasn't put into action just by them, I believe conservative government were in charge when the legwork began
The petition with nearly 3 million signatures has already been responded to with a very simple 'We will introduce a digital ID within this Parliament to help tackle illegal migration and make accessing government services easier, and enable wider efficiencies. We will consult on details soon.' which really is outrageous!! Not even a discussion, just a 'we will be doing it anyway!'
I think people forget they already took away so many of our rights, like many types of protesting, how long until these digital IDs can be used to restrict your access to things because you behave or live in a way they don't agree with. Scary scary times.
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but what if said person with lung cancer had worked full time and paid there dues for 40 years smoker or not he or she deserves the same treatment as someone who has never worked do they not the nhs is to help and heal the sick not to line the pockets of the ones at the top of the tree at the publics expense
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100%!
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The intent behind the sugar tax was to reduce sugar in drinks, an aim that isn't anything but good.
Unfortunately, manufacturers instead of reducing sugar levels, have largely replaced sugar with artificial sweeteners instead, which is not in my opinion a good thing.
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Yep i take your point, if you have paid into the system you entitled to care, as you are if you have never worked. Without sounding too flippant on what is a serious subject, if you can afford to smoke 40 a day nowadays, then you can probably afford to go private…..😏
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Then the system would fail unless all the money the workers have paid in was refunded and everyone went private then we have a system where you can't pay you dont get treated unless you want to be a guinea pig for new drug trials
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Not if you have a pre existing illness, disability. BUPA only want healthy customers.
My ajoined neighbours, a man and wife in their late sixties, they both smoke. He sounds like he is being garrotted alot of the time. He has COPD but refuses to quit.
Buying 40 of the cheapest 'smokes' ( mustn't use f word apparently) daily between them, it still costs about £30! We are talking cheap nasties llike Richmond, not nice Regal or Bensons. Over £200 per week, they do without so much just to maintain their habit. It is their only pleasure, and I sometimes think the treasury are wrong to beggar them for it.
I agree with the age restrictions agreed by Parliament( not sure if it has become law as of yet), but couldn't those of us born before 2009 get a reprieve from ever increasing duties?
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I know how you feel losing a loved pet
I. Lost 3 cats within 5 weeks last summer
You never get over it
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It was a month yesterday my heart is truly broken she was my life
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My tongue was firmly in my cheek! Look without getting too deep and personal, and this is slightly off topic, but my Mum had emphysema and COPD through working in the mills when she was 15 in the '40's and '50's, so not really her fault she got ill? She was very ill in hospital and before she died, when she was 81, she couldn't get a bed half the time because they were taken up by certain people who got ill through their own choice of 'abusing' their bodies……I shall leave it there i think.
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My tongue was firmly in my cheek! Look without getting too personal, and sorry for going off topic, but my Mum had emphysema and COPD which she got from working in the mills when she was 15 in the '40s and '50s, so not her fault she got ill? When she was very ill in hospital, before she died, she couldn't get a bed half the time because some of the people were in there having gotten ill through their own choice……i shall leave it there i think.
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You can leave it wherever you like mate, I wasn't having a go at you. Have a pleasant evening.
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What should be banned is the use of palm oil in food stuff. It's cheap, so now it is thrown into everything for companies to profit, removing natural more expensive ingredients that were used before. Anything that you can run your car on, should not be ingested. Deforestation is huge because of palm plantations & it doesn't matter if companies say it's from a sustainable source, it is just because the forest had already been destroyed for them to use it. The government should look at that for the high obesity rates & ban it!
As for banning sugar in fizzy drinks, that is taking away a choice, sugar is probably better than some of the manmade sweeteners. Aspartame has actually been classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans. Given the choice of rotten teeth or cancer of the liver, I would stop smiling. 😉 Although, I haven't drunk pop in years.
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I. Know. I'm. So sorry I really feel your pain
Cats are my life
And losing them is heartbreaking
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Thankyou Amberpearl my life will never be the same I picture her all over the house she was very vocal bossy id say for yum yums and chew chews anything food she would demand for ages im so used to her reminding me by barking that its feeding time I used to say how much do you love your mummy and she would bop my nose with hers god she was so amazing ah my one true love I know you lost yours this year too 💖 heartbreaking
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It's truly heartbreaking
I piece of me died with every cat that died
14 since 2016
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I stopped drinking 'ginger' when Charlie Cox (deceased elderly brother of the actor, Brian Cox) would sell me tins of lager, so about 13 yo!
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Thats alot of heartache how did you cope
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