Cross-party committee says ‘moonshot’ vow to end obesity epidemic in a decade will fail without personal leadership from PM
The UK government’s promise to reverse rising obesity rates in the next decade is “doomed to fail” without a major rethink and a new plan led directly by the prime minister, a cross-party committee of MPs has concluded.
The health and social care select committee said in a report that there are no signs the so-called “moonshot ambition on obesity”, set out in the 10-year health plan for England, will achieve anything significant.
Continue reading...Warm your hands on these sweet little envelopes of gently spiced, toffee-glossed apples wrapped in puff pastry. Perfect Bonfire Night fodder
These plump and rustic little parcels are perfect for Bonfire Night: warming, portable and, wrapped in a napkin and held in one hand, easy to eat outdoors. Filled with gently spiced, toffee-glossed apples, they are deliberately more homely hand pies than anything overly neat or patisserie-like. The small amount of miso in the filling deepens the toffee flavour and rounds out the sweetness, without making it taste too savoury or funky.
Continue reading...Andy Burnham must tread cautiously, but Brexit was a very grave act of self-harm – and he is right to address it
Andy Burnham’s opening debate on whether Britain should rejoin the EU is divisive, painful and politically risky. That is why it should be welcomed. To jeopardise his popularity so soon after coming to office might seem reckless, but the issue is urgent and not going away. Brexit is continuing to damage the nation’s economy. The prime minister’s job is to challenge, if not reform it.
The Brexit decade has evoked a bizarre sense of guilt among Britons. Opinion polls show nearly 60% regard it as a mistake, with just a third still in favour. Almost a quarter of those who voted for Brexit now regret it. While early forecasts of economic disaster were proved wrong, the accumulated cost of cutting links with Britain’s biggest trading partner is estimated at 6-8% of GDP.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...Next month’s poll no longer the contest it was, as Pedro Sánchez finds himself forced to defend government’s safety record
One of the most dependable cliches of contemporary Spanish politics is that it never pays to bet against Pedro Sánchez. Time and time again – as leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) and as prime minister – Sánchez has shown an almost preternatural ability to profit from adversity, and to confound expectations and wrongfoot his opponents.
But next month’s snap general election, called by Sánchez after rightwing and far-right parties voted down the housing reforms his coalition government had announced in response to angry protests, may suddenly not be the contest it once was.
Continue reading...