Bringing cakes into the office is killing your colleagues, says UK food watchdog boss

Every office has one – the inexplicably cheerful, kind and generous co-worker who brings in cake and/or biscuits and leaves them somewhere for their weight-sensitive colleagues to graze on. If that's you, stop. You're killing your comrades, says the chairwoman of the UK's Food Standards Agency, who reckons distributing …

[Piro]

What a load of cobblers

If you don't want to eat the cake, don't eat the cake.

If you're that weak that you eat the cake even though you don't want to eat the cake, that's on you.

We can't just kill what is just a bit of fun because some people want to project blame on others.

[UCAP]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Passive smoking is one thing that we can all agree is bad. However, there is no such thing as passive eating!

[Piro]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Yeah, to compare it with passive smoking is insulting, many of us spent time as kids (and there are many that sadly still do!) in places with smokers, with no choice.

Someone bringing in a cake isn't in the same ballpark.

I understand the idea behind the line of thinking - peer pressure, cake, unhealthy; but it's simple - have some restraint. Unless you're literally being bullied - but that's a serious work environment issue, not the fault of the cake.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: What a load of cobblers

There are lots of cakes I simply won't eat because I don't like anything sickly sweet or too fatty. But it's also true of my nephew who has always preferred fruit over chocolate.

[dinsdale54]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I, for one, am very pleased to hear that you won't eat your nephew.

[Androgynous Cupboard]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I did try one, but they're not very niece.

[John H Woods]

Re: What a load of cobblers

No nibbling the niblings!

[Trigonoceps occipitalis]

Re: What a load of cobblers - Whiskey Cobbler

Ingredients

3 ounces whiskey

1/2 to 1 ounce simple syrup, to taste

1 to 2 ounces club soda, to taste

Orange slice, lemon slice, or seasonal fruits, for garnish

Cherry, for garnish

What's not to like?

[James O'Shea]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Needs salt.

[David 132]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Fava beans and a nice Chianti.

[LybsterRoy]

Re: What a load of cobblers

NAh - needs garlic!

[Aussie Doc]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I, too, like kids but could never eat a whole one.

[RegGuy1]

Re: What a load of cobblers

If you wont eat them pass them over here...

[Captain Scarlet]

Re: What a load of cobblers

One thing I hate is people going around with a tin or cakes, often they go these need to be eaten and not accepting no thank you, I often say no about 5 times until they get the message.

[John Hawkins]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Would one of those people by any chance be called Mrs Doyle?

[Captain Scarlet]

Re: What a load of cobblers

No unfortunatley, although 15 years ago we had a less assertive Mrs Doyle who did lunches at the head office.

Friday was bacon sarnie day (Microwaved but well it was supplied by the company so)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Microwaved bacon sandwich? That's horrifying, you savages.

[Captain Scarlet]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Hay it was free and still miles better than a typical coffee shop microwaved bacon sandwich.

[Lil Endian]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Defo a different Mrs Doyle, the sandwiches would've been egg.

[M.V. Lipvig]

Re: What a load of cobblers

What you do to put an end to it is accept their food, then while staring them in the eye, drop it in the trash. Then keep staring at them until they walk away.

Course, I'm not big on workplace friends, so no issue for me. I'm there for a paycheck, not a social life.

Others may not want to upset the desk next door.

[ScrappyLaptop2]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I always waited until my next-cube neighbor got up for a moment, then put it on his desk.

[doublelayer]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I can't say I've had that experience; while I've occasionally had someone bring around stuff, they have always accepted a polite refusal and more often just left the food somewhere and told us about it. I know my experience doesn't work everywhere, but I hope it's more common than yours. If someone did that to me frequently enough, I'd either play a game of counting how many refusals it took to make them stop or I'd just accept something and discard it, depending on how comfortable I was with the way they were doing it.

[Piro]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Yeah that is irritating. Where I work, when people buy cake, it gets put out in the canteen and then you're free to grab some.. or not.

[jmch]

Re: What a load of cobblers

One place I worked I had a boss who was an excellent baker. She not only got a lot of (excellent) home-baked goods to the office, but also encouraged the whole team to bake (weird, but I was sort of OK with) and also pressured the whole team to bake their own cakes to bring to the office when it was their birthday ( which is absolutely not OK in my book)

So I get its my choice to eat or not, but its also not OK to pressure colleagues to eat cakes / chocolates / drink alcohol etc

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Reminds me of a conversation many years ago with a "vegetarian". He would criticise your lunch choices with a "That's bad for you!" while smoking a roll up.

He wasn't even a real vegetarian!!! He claimed to be one, because he didn't eat red meat, only chicken or fish.

Tw?t

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What a load of cobblers

One downvote....

Hey, Steve K - is that you????

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I imagine that the downvote (not from me) was from someone pointing out that ? isn't a valid wildcard in this context. Far better to put [ia] or just type what you meant. This isn't a school; you don't get punished for calling a twat a twat.

[Dave559]

Re: What a load of cobblers

"Not a valid wildcard"? Pah, maybe they're still using AmigaOS? ;-)

[The good absolutely terrible thing about regexp standards is that there are so many to choose from…]

[EVP]

Re: What a load of cobblers

”He claimed to be one, because he didn't eat red meat, only chicken or fish.”

Well, chicken and fish are sort of vegetables.

[RegGuy1]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Well, chicken and fish are sort of vegetables.

... as are Brexit voters.

[How many Brexiter downvotes will that generate?]

[Montreal Sean]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I have a friend who used to be a vegetarian, except she ate poultry.

Her reason? Chickens and turkeys are dumb.

[Norman Nescio]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Did you hear about the chicken farmer who went out of business?

All the chickens he planted died!

[jmch]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Vegetarians eat vegetables....

Humanitarians eat....???

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: What a load of cobblers

"there is no such thing as passive eating!"

You've not met my wife!!!

[Charlie Clark]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Add to this the sense of camerarderie that is fostered by sharing and communal dining (yes, this is measurable) and that includes people who don't particularly like cake like me. That's less cortisoid and other inflammatory hormones for the price of some calories, which can easily be burnt off by an extra few minutes walking,

But this shouldn't be about cake but about general eating habits: the sheer volume of ready meals in supermarkets is proof of this. Making simple and reasonably healthy meals isn't that hard but too many people have either never learnt or have forgotten.

[Stork]

Re: What a load of cobblers

This.

The problem isn’t the weekly cake at work, it’s all the stuff inbetween.

[yetanotheraoc]

Re: What a load of cobblers

RE measurable:

Let's test this theory by measuring the comradery generated by offering cake to a control group, and then measuring the response after offering carrots and broccoli to a test group (ducks).

Fifty-odd years later I still remember a Dennis the Menace cartoon. He goes next door to get his usual cookie from Mrs. Wilson. But Mr. Wilson brings him a carrot instead, saying "Beggars can't be choosers." Dennis replies "Beggars can't be rabbits neither."

[LybsterRoy]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I think the ducks would be happy with either, as long as the carrots and broccoli are chopped up

[Sceptic Tank]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I don't know about this. We're social creatures: refuse the doughnut / drink, feel like a party pooper and be branded as a non-participant for wanting to look after yourself.

[Tom 38]

Re: What a load of cobblers

When I was seriously dieting to get properly the right weight and be all healthy and exercise and stuff, I'd turn down the cake, but its not just turning down the cake, there was always cajoling to eat the cake "Oh go on, its just a small bit of cake" and more. It got to the point where if I knew there was birthday cake, I'd go take a ten minute break outside to avoid it. In big departments, cake is pretty frequent - it would be a weird week if there was not cake at least twice a week when we were all in-office, and now that we all go in on one day, there is always donuts and coffee at 11, cake in the afternoon.

Its cruel, because if you're dieting, its not that you don't want to eat the cake. You desperately want to eat that fucker, but willpower to achieve your goals is stopping you. Willpower is the only thing that a diet works on, once you break that willpower you're much more likely to cheat again - so encouraging people to break their willpower is such a dickish move.

Having said all that, I have no problem people bringing cakes in to work and the like. Please don't try to encourage people to eat it though, or shame them for not eating it. Don't be that forced frivolity person who tries to shame non-participants.

[tiggity]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Your go to excuse for avoiding cake, doughnuts etc. is to say you have health issues that prevent you eating them. Colleagues may then assume something like type 2 diabetes, but ideally will be polite & not enquire further, and if they do just politely say you don't want to discuss personal health issues (whereas in reality your health reason is just you don't want to be eating food that will help make you fat / fatter, is not good for your arteries, is encouraging damage to your teeth* etc...or if its doughnuts & you're me just that you find them such a vile combo of sugary fat flavours that trying to eat one would make you puke )

* "Brits actually have better teeth than Americans thanks to free healthcare"

Bit of a sore point on dentistry, in huge areas of the country nigh on impossible to get on the list of a NHS ("free / cheap dentist") & so people stuck with horrendously expensive private dentistry (or just avoid dentists to save cash)

[James Haley 2]

Re: What a load of cobblers

My go to excuse: I'm sorry but I break out in fat.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What a load of cobblers

When offered a cigarette, my sister-in-law once declined, stating "I'm allergic to cancer. It gives me tumors."

[Little Mouse]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Dieting really is cruel if you're addicted to overeating. You have to both eat AND be in control of your addiction 24/7. Smokers and drinkers ultimately have the option to go cold turkey, but you can't just "give up" food.

How many recovering alcoholics would manage to stay sober if they had to have a drink each day, I wonder?

[MiguelC]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Recovering alcoholics don't completely stop drinking, do they? It's what they choose to drink that matters.

[Stork]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Many do, as not at all is easier to control than a little bit.

[lglethal]

Re: What a load of cobblers

They give up drinking water, milk, coffee, as well? Man that's hard core. How do they survive?

(That is what the previous Commentard was referring to, they still drink, just not alcohol...)

[Charlie Clark]

Re: What a load of cobblers

If you're addicted, you're addicted, though I've not come across food addiction as a medical condition.

[MiguelC]

Re: What a load of cobblers

https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/compulsive-overeating-disorder

[Charlie Clark]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Yes, as a psychological condition it's well known. But that does not make it an addiction in the same way that alcohol and nicotine do. Though, of course, psychology has a lot to do with both, particularly nicotine and the induced stress association.

[david 12]

Re: What a load of cobblers

It's technically difficult to define "addiction", since it targets parts of the human physiology that exist for other purposes. As a result, the accepted definition of "addiction" now is that it's only "addiction" if it's illegal or has known harmful effects. As a result, opiods are "addictive" (illegal), but caffeine is not (legal).

It follows that things can be arbitrarily made 'addictive' just by making them illegal.

[Lil Endian]

Re: What a load of cobblers

There's a difference between addiction and dependence. There is overlap, but from my layman's perspective addiction tends towards the psychological/neurological while dependence tends towards the physiological.

I'm more than happy to hear clarification from someone in a relevant field.

I'm not even going to attempt to bring legality into that.

[jmch]

Re: What a load of cobblers

"that does not make it an addiction in the same way that alcohol and nicotine do"

Yes, addiction to sugary foods, or to certain types of foods IS an addiction same as alcohol and nicotine, i.e. there is a physical addiction (when deprived of it the body initially reacts badly), combined with mental addiction ( a compulsion, driven by thought patterns built up over years or even decades, to get a 'fix' of whatever it is that the body is craving ).

Telling someone who has spent a lifetime eating unhealthy foods to just give them up in favour of salads is not much different from telling a wino to simply give up their tipple of choice. Sure, ultimately it can be resolved by willpower, but willpower is like a muscle, it needs to be exercised to be strengthened, and addicts are addicts because their willpower has been unexercised for a long time. That is why addicts need support to recover, and making fun of them for not having any self-control is both cruel and counterproductive.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Agreed and I wasn't trying to downplay eating disorders of any kind: they often causes as much suffering for the patients and relatives as any kind of physiological addiction.

[Jimmy2Cows]

Re: Dieting really is cruel

Why do you think it's DIE with a T on the end...?

[Lil Endian]

Re: What a load of cobblers

That's a good point.

As for alcoholism, it's often very dangerous for an alcoholic to go cold turkey - to the point of possible fatality. The human body doesn't usually adjust well from 300+ units a week to zero overnight, slowly slowly is common advice from GPs, If the liver et al can handle a slow reduction, that's usually the way to go. If the liver cannot wait that long, it's probably too late. I am speaking broadly, so speak to your GP about your own situation if needed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What a load of cobblers

“possible fatality” already comes from 300+ units a week

On 4 bottles of wine a day, driving isn’t legally possible, and fatality is very possible…

[Charlie Clark]

Re: What a load of cobblers

4 bottles of wine a day? Will kill you eventually but lots of people do this for years before they realise there is a problem. But, in the case of treatment, the number of units will be reduced gradually to allow the body (and the brain) to adjust the biochemistry.

[Ideasource]

Re: What a load of cobblers

A useful Will requires discipline tempering by the heat and pressure of temptation.

After all the primary utility of willpower is to let you steer yourself beneficially, despite uncontrollable and often counter-to-your-course environmental variables.

[Charlie Clark]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I've never had a problem with that. There are things I like and things I don't like and if I'm not hungry I don't like to eat. There are times when I drink alcoohol and times when I don't. I respect that in others, what's so hard about it?

[Bebu]

Re: What a load of cobblers

"a party pooper and be branded as a non-participant"

Almost a definitition of sanity in thus world.

"Sorry. I won't have a piece of your crypto cake but don't let me stop you."

I definitely would politely decline cake proffered by Travaglia creations and probably move to another continent. :)

[seldom]

Re: What a load of cobblers

If (Doughnut freshly fried)

{

While (not cool enough to to eat without burning mouth)

{

wait 5 seconds

}

eat

If Ask ("Do you have some alcoholic drink to give me?")

{

Reply("Best friend forever")

}

else

{

Reply("Thanks for the doughnut, now fuck off because some of us have work to do and can't get paid for handing out doughnuts and alcohol free drinks all day.")

{

{

else

{

Ask ("Why don't you have proper doughnuts?")

If Ask ("Do you have some alcoholic drink to give me?")

{

Reply("I'll forgive you for the shitty doughnuts.")

}

}

[Dwarf]

Re: What a load of cobblers

A good example of why the brackets should not be on their own line

That was unreadable.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What a load of cobblers

> If you're that weak that you eat the cake even though you don't want to eat the cake, that's on you.

I think your view is a little simplistic; I used to hold the same position as you until a number of years ago when I received a medical treatment requiring copious quantities of steroids. These drove me into a steroid psychosis, for which I was prescribed anti-psychotic medications. These, naturally, work by altering your brain chemistry, and often have significant side effects. In my case, it drove my appetite insane - I uncontrollably ate everything I could get my hands on, and by the time the problem was stabilized I'd gained 30kg (subsequently dropped, but with considerable difficulty).

Having experienced massive differences in my personal drive to eat, I can readily understand that everyone has a different level of drive to over or under eat. So, I agree, that choosing to eat too much cake is "on you", but you must take into account that making that choice can be vastly more difficult for some people than it is for you.

[Piro]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I'm sorry you went through that - my intention wasn't to belittle people with serious issues.

[Captain Scarlet]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Can always take in fruit as well, tbh before Covid for two of my birthdays I started doing just that.

I found the fruit was often gone before the cakes.

[disgruntled yank]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Did someone mention cobblers?

https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/cherry-cobbler/

[Piro]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I could really go for a crumble right now.

[deadlockvictim]

Re: What a load of cobblers

That's right: cakes don't kill people, people kill people.

Oddly enough, Eddie Izzard springs to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZVjKlBCvhg

[sabroni]

Re: What a load of cobblers

I bet adverts don't work on you either and I'm sure you've never felt pressured to do anything by anybody else in any social situation.

This kind of facile, simplistic view of the world is pretty much useless in reality.

Got a lot of upvotes from the Daily Mail readers though.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What a load of cobblers

What level of socialism is attained by your government protecting you from a slice of cake at work.

[werdsmith]

Re: What a load of cobblers

Cake is not banned from the office. Somebody made a suggestion.

There are no gulag places waiting for people who offer a tray of cookies or a tray of Krispy Kreme.

[An_Old_Dog]

Re: What a load of cobblers

If co-workers simply brought in cake and left it in the lunchroom with a note reading, "Free Cake", that would be one thing. Ignoring that cake is 100% on you to do or not do.

If co-workers bring in cake, and urge/harangue co-workers to "Try some of my aunt Lilly's cake -- it's great!", that's another thing. Co-worker pressure makes it less-than-100% on you to ignore the cake. It could be a form of workplace bullying.

If a boss brings in cake ... that's yet a third thing. A boss-provided cake could be interpreted as an implied statement of, "Eat the cake, or don't get your desired working hours/vacation days selection/raise/promotion."

As for mass-media advertising, it's like gambling addiction and alcohol addiction: some people are more susceptible to it than others.

[elsergiovolador]

Cake

I think author of this article wants to eat a cake.

Go on. Open Deliveroo and get a big one.

Nobody is watching.

[Peter2]

Re: Cake

Do you think that the UK food watchdog is hoping that millions of people are going to book deliveries of cake to their office just to spite them?

[Excellentsword]

Re: Cake

I'm actually not that into cake, my weaknesses are beer and burgers. I ordered one after writing this. I shouldn't have because wife came home famished and not up for cooking so I skipped dinner and she had a burger too. Deliveroo is a slippery slope.

[DJV]

Re: Deliveroo is a slippery slope

Obviously too much grease on the food in that case.

[darklord]

Clearly she isnt liked

so no one offers her cake and biscuits in her office. no surprise there then.

Just because they're there doesn't mean you have to partake.

What about company's leaving fruit bowls out for free pickings in a warm environments with lots of coughing and sneezing around. In this climate that's a def nono. but no mention of that

Sounds like a sore loser to me. maybe worry about dodgy restaurants and the supply of goods in 3rd rate convenience shops.

[Mooseman]

no cake = revolution!

I work in a school, virtually every day is some staff member's birthday, and traditionally they bring in cake/biscuits/fruit. If they tried to stop that, there would be a riot.

[cookieMonster]

That’s taking

the bloody biscuit

[the spectacularly refined chap]

Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

Do you want to sign the card for XXX?

Who's that then?

S/He's the one four banks of desks along that ...

Never spoken to them in my life.

So are you signing the card?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

As far as my colleagues know, I've never had a birthday.

I'd like to keep it that way as well.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

Hi Phil

[elsergiovolador]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

I've Been Waiting For This Moment For All My Life...

[Fr. Ted Crilly]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

Yeah, don't get me started on arseholes you don't get along with either...

[Charlie Clark]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

No, I don't sign cards for people who I can say something to personally.

I love sending birthday, greetings and post cards to people I don't see regularly but otherwise restrict them to very special occasions. Make it personal or special or don't bother.

[Joe Drunk]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

The food bringing or the card signing doesn't seem to happen here on the left side of the pond. The last time I remember signing a card for someone was during my time as an IT support employee at a corporate travel agency with about 70 employees. We all knew each other so when you signed a card it was someone you interacted with regularly. No one brought cakes/biscuits or any other food unless it was a special occasion. Prior to that I worked in a warehouse with about 30 predominantly male employees and there were never any cards to sign or birthday cakes or any other food brought to work. No one knew anybody's birthday but we did enjoy pints on occasional Fridays at the pub.

Fast forward to now as a consultant. No cards to sign or Birthday celebrations. We're all here temporarily so have little time for such indulgences. Occasionally some SVP will call us all to a meeting and there will be coffee, bagels and muffins. No one brings snacks to share with the team on a regular basis. This of course doesn't mean people don't bring their own snacks but the point is if you want cake or biscuits you will have to bring your own.

@Excellentsword: My weakness is pizza & beer.

[werdsmith]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

Card signing happens when someone leaves, or someone has some serious health problem keeping them off work. Usually accompanied by a sturdy envelope for putting cash in. I’ve never seen a card for any other reason.

[Lil Endian]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

There's a good reason not to sign that card ~

Bernadette: Well, there's this lady in our office who's retiring, and they were passing around one of those big cards for us to sign, but no one told me she was in a horrible car accident over the weekend, and what I was signing was not a retirement card, but was actually a get well card. So on the card, in the hospital, next to the woman who's clinging to life, are the words "Hey Vivian, you deserve this. And at least with you gone, no one will steal my yogurt out of the fridge. LOL, smiley. P.S., Good luck, wherever you wind up."

[Apols for a second TBBT ref in one day, too on the nose not to though!]

[Sp1z]

Re: Can we get rid of birthday cards too?

Just start digitally signing them and write out the signature hex on the card.

They'll soon stop asking.

[Roger Greenwood]

Some people...

... when they walk into a room, suck all the joy and fun out the atmosphere. Can we ban those people instead of cake? Would be great for morale (sorry, "mental health").

I know the BOFH will have a better method of dealing with them, but some of us are too timid for that.

[wolfetone]

Re: Some people...

I'm starting to think Professor Susan Jebb is one such person who doesn't get invited to such events that have cake on offer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Some people...

Well probably not from now on.

I suspect she might find that attendance at meetings she organises drops off a bit too, if she gets known as "no biscuits Jebb"!

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: Some people...

Many respectable food watchdog bosses said that they weren’t going to stand for that sort of thing, partly because it was a debasement of fun & social interaction, but mostly because they didn’t get invited to those sorts of work parties.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Some people...

Thank you. It's always nice when someone shoehorns in a quote from Mr Adams :-)

[Fr. Ted Crilly]

Re: Some people...

Ah yes the toxic damping cloud...

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Some people...

Would be great for morale (sorry, "mental health").

It was, for a short time, Well Being, but I believe the current fad term is "mindfullness" :-)

[Ryan D]

Oh for the love of kittens

This presupposes that people don’t have the ability to self regulate and make informed decisions. What total bunk. Comparing this to something like passive smoking (which in my part of f the world is rather easy to avoid with all the prohibitions in place)is simply a joke.

Let’s be honest, there are a good many number folks who simply don’t care for the majority of sweets and the like and shy away from them. There are other who will only indulge in the office as they don’t buy them outside / for home, and there are those who just eat anything they get their paws on.

People will be people.

[Mike 137]

Re: Oh for the love of kittens

"This presupposes that people don’t have the ability to self regulate and make informed decisions"

The political elite has always thought this (which is why the franchise took so long to become universal). The reality is that they judge us by their own standards (witness the boozy parties with throw-ups and fights in Westminster during the covid lockdown).

[cybersheep]

Re: Oh for the love of kittens

On the passive smoking front, yes for an adult I agree it should be relatively possible to avoid, but not so for kids. Every morning when I walk my children to school I see other parents smoking while they take theirs in, quite often with a baby in a pushchair too - those kids have essentially have zero choice in being exposed to their parents smoke.

[xyz123]

Re: Oh for the love of kittens

Edit to be in line with the article:

On the passive eating front, yes for an adult I agree it should be relatively possible to avoid, but not so for kids. Every morning when I walk my children to school I see other parents eating while they take theirs in, quite often with a baby in a pushchair too - those kids have essentially have zero choice in being exposed to their parents cakey habits.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Oh for the love of kittens

Or the "pasty babies", ie young, not very well off mothers feeding Greggs[*] pasties[**] to their toddlers.

* other brands may be available and the Greggs ones are probably "slices" or "bakes" since Cornwall decided to be assertive over the name of its "national dish" :-)

** Ginster abominations don't count, even if they are assembled in Cornwall.

[Norman Nescio]

Re: Oh for the love of kittens

Given that El Reg is looking to appeal to a left-pondian audience, perhaps it should be pointed out that Gregg's pasties are not pasties, but pasties, otherwise they might think that our eating habits are...unusual.

[doublelayer]

Re: Oh for the love of kittens

The difference, which I think you probably already know, is that if a person is smoking next to me, I'll be breathing in some level of smoke from them unless I set up a barrier or leave. If someone is eating next to me, I do not eat any of what they're eating by my proximity. There may be other problems, but it's much easier for me to breath something in the air that I don't want to than for me to put something I don't want to into my mouth and swallow it.

[Anonymous McKnowsnowt]

Re: Oh for the love of kittens

Not a huge fan of cake, more a fan of crisps and nuts, goes better with beer o'clock.

[Piro]

Re: Oh for the love of kittens

Crisps and beer is a combination I favour too.

I'm more for savoury than sweet. Cheers!

[codejunky]

Excellent

"says the chairwoman of the UK's Food Standards Agency"

If this is the greatest problem we face then this is a job that can be removed and free up tax payer money. Along with Jamie Olivers sugar tax idiots.

[Alex Stuart]

> But while we're on stereotypes, Brits actually have better teeth than Americans thanks to free healthcare

Yeah, that's not gonna last long. From what I can tell, NHS dentistry is basically nonexistent these days unless an existing patient/customer.

[jdiebdhidbsusbvwbsidnsoskebid]

Free healthcare

"Brits actually have better teeth than Americans thanks to free healthcare"

Point of correction, NHS (National Health Service) dental care in the UK is not free. Firstly, it's paid for through taxation and secondly, it's still not free at the point of service. Subsidised would be a better word.

Some (children, pregnant people etc.) get genuinely free dental healthcare at the point of service. But most people don't. I pay about £60 every few months for a dentist to spend 10 minutes poking about and (usually) saying "that's fine, see you in 9 months". That's just a check up. On the same cycle I pay the same amount for a "hygenist" (not as fully qualified as a dentist according to my surgery when I queried this) to actually do some ongoing maintenance.

Occasionally the dentist night tell me I need a filling or something (which is about £50 on the "free" NHS, or £180 if horror of horrors you want a tooth coloured one instead of a high contrast shiny black one)

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to pay this and grateful that I can afford it easily enough. I'm also a strong supporter of the NHS and I'm currently disgusted at how the UK government has allowed the NHS to decline to the state it is now. I'd be happy to pay more tax if the government would fund it properly - it needs paying for somehow. But to any journalist or non UK reader: don't call it free.

[blackcat]

Re: Free healthcare

"(which is about £50 on the "free" NHS, or £180 if horror of horrors you want a tooth coloured one instead of a high contrast shiny black one)"

Seriously? That is a lot of money. Admittedly I don't know ANYONE who actually has an NHS dentist. Last time I had a filling at my dentist it was under £100 for a tooth coloured one.

The NHS is good (or at least was) if you really were about to die. But if you have something minor or long term wrong then they are crap. Then those minor or long term issues get worse and then they have to fix the resulting critical issue which costs MORE....

Anyway, someone here is leaving and has brought cake :)

[elsergiovolador]

Re: Free healthcare

I know someone who was at NHS dentist last week. He is now getting private appointment because NHS dentist made it worse.

[Insert sadsack pun here]

Re: Free healthcare

There are very few "NHS dentists". Most dentists in the UK do both private and NHS work in varying proportions, and are private sector workers. Your friend might get their appointment subsidised by the NHS, but the next patient for the same dentist might be paying privately.

[moonhaus]

Re: Free healthcare

"I know someone who was at NHS dentist last week. He is now getting private appointment because NHS dentist made it worse."

Someone should tell your friend that the appointment will be with the same dentist.

NHS or private payment has nothing to do with it, if you're not happy with your dentist change dentist. You can't blame your bad choices on the NHS.

[MJB7]

Re: Free healthcare

Changing dentist almost inevitably means changing _to_ paying privately. There are very, very, few dentists taking on NHS patients these days (with the possible exception of children - but even that is dying out).

[werdsmith]

Re: Free healthcare

I am an NHS dentist user. You just have to go on a waiting list for 6 months if you want to go NHS.

My daughter had three years of orthodontics, for which she thanks all you tax payers. Her perfect smile was free, not a penny spent by us.

[nobody who matters]

Re: Free healthcare

",,,,,,,,,Point of correction,................I pay about £60 every few months for a dentist to spend 10 minutes poking about ........."

May I correct your correction?

I don't know where you are getting the figure of £60 for an NHS dental check-up, but it is certainly not in line with current NHS charges. For some years there have three levels of charge for subsidised NHS dental treatment. Currently these are:

£23.80 for a check-up or emergency pain relief or temporary filling

£65.20 for permanent fillings, extractions or anything involving root canal work

£282.80 for crowns, dentures or bridges.

These are not cumulative charges, so anything that needs doing in preparation for work that comes under the higher charge band is covered by that single charge (ie. £282.80 will cover the full diagnosis, pain relief, root canal/extraction and crown or denture needed as part of that same course of treatment, you don't have to pay separately for each stage of the work).

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Free healthcare

"I'd be happy to pay more tax if the government would fund it properly - it needs paying for somehow."

I believe someone once implied that the NHS would get £350m a week extra. I'm sure that must have been true. It was on the side of a bus :-)

[ChoHag]

"Other people are making me fat"

Put. The. Fork. Down.

[David 132]

And she should also

Shut. The. Fork. Up.

[Dabooka]

What a load of bollocks

Where I work I must hear as many people declining due to diets or whatever as I see indulging. Or maybe having a half of slice etc.

Never a problem we all know. If you don't want to eat it don't eat.

Likened to passive smoking? FFS

[Vikingforties]

The cake is a lie!

Cave Johnson here.

When Aperture Science bakes we don't leave things to chance. We pack 23% more calories per calorie into our baked goods.

Try getting around that, humans! We're done.

[David 132]

Re: The cake is a lie!

Combustible lemon cake. Yum.

[Phil O'Sophical]

Re: The cake is a lie!

I remember a BBC Christmas lecture where the presenter dipped some chocolate cake in liquid oxygen, and then set fire to it as a demo of how many calories it contained.

It's impressive to see a slice of cake go up like magnesium ribbon!

[werdsmith]

Re: The cake is a lie!

Sugar as fuel makes for some good pyrotechnics. Mixed with ******** it create a near explosive rapid combustion.

Redaction for obvious reasons.

[Howard Sway]

what you get advertised is chocolate and not cauliflower

Even if you started wrapping cauliflowers up like chocolate in brightly coloured foil packaging with cartoons on it, I still don't think there's much room to display many of them by the checkout, or that anyone feeling a bit peckish is going to casually buy one to eat on the bus. What would the advertising look like? "New! Cauliflower-Zero. The cauliflower you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite!"

Maybe chocolate coated cauliflowers might get folks interested.

[Arthur the cat]

Re: what you get advertised is chocolate and not cauliflower

Maybe chocolate coated cauliflowers might get folks interested.

I believe you can get chocolate coated broccoli for kids.

[M.V. Lipvig]

Re: what you get advertised is chocolate and not cauliflower

If you want kids to eat broccoli, you put cheese on it. Lovely lovely melted cheese.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: what you get advertised is chocolate and not cauliflower

I seem to recall a fad for chocolate covered sprouts at some point in the past.

I like chocolate. I like sprouts. But not on the same plate, never mind as a "fusion" :-(

[Lil Endian]

Re: what you get advertised is chocolate and not cauliflower

Maybe chocolate coated cauliflowers might get folks interested.

Much like Glaswegians were encouraged to eat healthier by whacking batter over a Mars Bar!

[Icon: gotta wash it down with something!]

[Pete 2]

Other views are available

says the chairwoman of the UK's Food Standards Agency

> Speaking to The Times in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the watchdog she runs

So in reality just another pub-level opinion.

File under: ignore.

[Repne Scasb]

Passive smoking? Let's investigate

I have done a scientific study and despite using several different types of cakes in several different office locations, at no point did the cake move towards me. Several colleagues verified this. With 100% reproducibility we had to move to the cake and actively eat it. At no point did cake enter our bodies without active deliberation on our part, so I am at a loss (well, not in the calorie sense) to see the equivalence with passive smoking. I'll keep trying though.

[TRT]

Re: Passive smoking? Let's investigate

Really? I found that the cake gradually diffused into the work environment.

[Evil Auditor]

Re: Passive smoking? Let's investigate

Gradually?

Wifey: We've received this "great" Belgian chocolates! Would you like them? - Evil me: Ugh. Don't be shy, just bring them to the office.

And, apparently, they diffused instantly into the work environment. Bring to the office is a great method of food disposal.

[Piro]

Re: Passive smoking? Let's investigate

Definitely one that warrants further investigation. I look forward to the peer-reviewed study.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Passive smoking? Let's investigate

I look forward to the beer-reviewed study!

[moonhaus]

Re: Passive smoking? Let's investigate

"I have done a scientific study and despite using several different types of cakes in several different office locations, at no point did the cake move towards me"

It's not cake that's the real danger, it's blacmange from the planet Skyron.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Passive smoking? Let's investigate

>"I have done a scientific study and despite using several different types of cakes in several different office locations, at no point did the cake move towards me"

Well obviously not while you're watching at them.

They only disapear when not being observed - like leftover pizza in the fridge

[TRT]

Cake is bad, m'kay.

Don't do cake. Cake is bad.

M'kay?

[blackcat]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay.

Cake, its a made up drug!

[Potemkine!]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay.

Especially space cake. Don't bring one at work, it could have an impact on productivity.

[Joe W]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay.

Yeah, don't want to be too productive

[Pete 2]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay. ... quick promotion

> Cake, its a made up drug!

So is the plan to bring in a "doctored" cake the day before the mandatory drug tests and offer it to people in more senior roles?

[Arthur the cat]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay. ... quick promotion

So is the plan to bring in a "doctored" cake the day before the mandatory drug tests and offer it to people in more senior roles?

Unless the management are paying more for the proper tests, poppy seed cake would be very effective and require no doctoring. Not, of course, that I'm suggesting doing anything nefarious.

[TRT]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay. ... quick promotion

Washed down with a hemp smoothie.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay.

Cake is bad.

Agreed. Badly affects the Shatner's Bassoon* region of the brain, and can cause massive water retention around the cervical spine, known as 'Czech neck'. Shouldn't be allowed anywhere, let alone in the workplace...

_{* With apologies to Brass Eye <coughs>}

[TRT]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay.

The scary thing is that there are people in the workplace who have been to university and are probably on their second or third proper job who were born AFTER South Park.

[Lil Endian]

Re: Cake is bad, m'kay.

You are Phil Collins and I claim my fiver!

PS. Do you know where your children are?

[Icon: that is Phil right there, Shirley!]

[Steve Davies 3]

This is getting out of hand

Big Brother is wanting to govern our lives every minute of every day[1]... No mention of self control or having some cake and not having a desert later.

I wonder if this dictat applies to gluten free zero sugar cakes? That would probably blow their tiny minds into outer space.

[1] not quite as bad as a proposed law in Texas making it mandatory for all food labelling to state that 'no by products of abortion were used in the making of said item' which does not happen because we are not cannibals are we?

no matter how batty we think our politicans and civil servants are, they are just not in the same league as many on the other side of the 'pond'.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: This is getting out of hand

gluten free zero sugar cakes... have you seen the list of chemicals they use to substitute for the missing goodness? And the side-effects of those chemicals?

I'll take actual sugar over aspartame any time.

Try to cut back, sure, but replacing it with other shit is not good.

[M.V. Lipvig]

Re: This is getting out of hand

No such law proposed in Texas. The closest law to that in the US is California's Proposition 65, which requires that anything that may have something that has thr slightest chance it can cause cancer be labelled as such. As a result, everything sold in California has a Prop 65 label. In California, cake causes cancer. So do washing machines, condoms, and any other consumer product. If you want to eat cake, don't eat it in California or you'll get cancer. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if cancer treatment drugs don't have s Prop 65 label.

[werdsmith]

Re: This is getting out of hand

I wonder if this dictat applies to gluten free zero sugar cakes?

What dictat are you referring to? A person speaking to a newspaper giving her opinion in a personal capacity is a dictator?

[Chris Miller]

It appears Susan Jebb watched an early episode of Brass Eye and concluded it must be a documentary.

[ComputerSays_noAbsolutelyNo]

Save applied cake science

I have the theory, that the last piece of cake doesn't get eaten,

it is cut in half, and only a half is taken;

the remaining half becomes the new last piece of cake.

In countless experiments, my theory held up much more often than not.

[disgruntled yank]

Re: Save applied cake science

Zeno's pair o' bites?

[43300]

Re: Save applied cake science

Ah, but what happens eventually is that after being divided several times, the last bit gets snaffled by somebody when they think nobody else is watching!

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: Save applied cake science

That's usually me, albeit while making a fresh cuppa.

[Lil Endian]

Re: Save applied cake science

I cut the piece of cake in half, but take the last piece, leaving the penultimate chunk. Creates quite the conundrum to a stoned mate, I can tell you :)

[Winkypop]

What, what?

Restrict cakes?

But what about hot sausage rolls, spring rolls and party pie Wednesdays?

[Fazal Majid]

Innumeracy

I fail to see how only 1/3 or 33% of Americans are overweight but 2 in 5 or 40% are obese, which one would presume also means overweight.

[graeme leggett]

Re: Innumeracy

33% of Americans are overweight

40% are in the next bracket - obese

[DS999]

Re: Innumeracy

It is still not written clearly. Is it that 33% are overweight, 40% are obese, and the remaining 27% are normal or under weight? Or is it that 33% are overweight, and of those 40% are obese?

Depending on what definition they are using for "overweight" (my BMI is >25, but primarily due to lots of muscle rather than the small amount of fat I have around the middle) I could believe either one is what was meant.

[M.V. Lipvig]

Re: Innumeracy

BMI is a horrible way to measure whether one is obese. For my height of 6 foot 4, BMI says I should weigh 178lbs. When I were a lad of 18 and in the military, doing all those young troop exercises and whatnot, I weighed 190lbs and looked scrawny. My face looks practically skeletal in old photos. If I weighed 178lbs I'd look like an anorexia ad. Mind you, I am overweight (being in your 50s will do that) but at 225lbs the Dunlap* I carry is for a motorcycle, not a car, and my waist size is smaller than my inseam. While overweight, I am far from obese but according to the BMI scale I should be fitted for a scooter and a moomoo.

*We Americans refer to pot guts as a spare tire, because our bellies Dunlap over our belts.

[Paul Crawford]

Re: Innumeracy

In medical terms 'overweight' is the stage before 'obese', and that is the stage before 'morbidly obese'.

[Arthur the cat]

Re: Innumeracy

and that is the stage before 'morbidly obese'.

which is the stage before Mr Creosote.

[Dave559]

Re: Innumeracy

"Just one waffer-thin mint?"

[Craig 2]

Re: Innumeracy

Or, In medical terms overweight is a range rather than a boolean...

[Neil Barnes]

I should just like it on record

That at no time when I supplied a cake for the office was I ever trying to kill anyone.

Oh no sir. Not me.

[hatti]

Very sensible indeed

I thinks it's a very sensible idea to ban cake from the workplace, it's very important to maintain a clean working environment especially with IT gagdets and gizmos and I suspect the same applies to scientific laboratory settings where cleanliness will impact the outcome of experimentation.

Oooh look! Emma from accounts has just brought in doughnuts (om nom nom !!!!!)

[Arthur the cat]

Re: Very sensible indeed

I suspect the same applies to scientific laboratory settings where cleanliness will impact the outcome of experimentation.

In some labs the outcome of experimentation may affect the lethality of the cake.

[werdsmith]

Re: Very sensible indeed

Turn over your keyboard and tap the back, see if you can free enough detritus to compress into a Jordan’s bar.

[TRT]

I brought home made cake into work. It was much appreciated.

The goodness of the cake spoke for itself. I used self-praising flour.

[Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese]

Killing my colleagues with cake?

I hadn't realised that was a feasible option. I'd been contemplating more BFH-inspired approaches, but that sounds like a lot less effort.

[Anonymous Coward]

How to discourage returning to the office, even more...

There's little joy in most workplaces. Psychological condition is arguably every bit as important as physical.

[A. Coatsworth]

Demolition Man

Ah, cake is not good for you, and it's been deemed that anything not good for you is bad and hence, illegal

[Rich 2]

Yes but….

“Bringing cakes into the office is killing tor colleagues”

Have you considered that some of them deserve it?!

[Evil Auditor]

stop. You're killing your comrades

Did it ever occur to you, that this is indeed my aim?

[43300]

"But while we're on stereotypes, Brits actually have better teeth than Americans thanks to free healthcare,"

Best of luck finding an NHS dentist who is taking new patients these days. They are nearly as rare as rocking horse shit!

[Daniel Hill]

My boss saw this reported on BBC News and expressed his disappointment that, given our team's history of being somewhat rebellious and contrarian, nobody had supplied cake that day in response.

Needless to say, the issue was corrected by lunchtime!

[xyz123]

Terrible nasty horrible woman doesn't like the cakes people bring into the office, so says NO-ONE should have cake at all. ever.

I'd ask her what foods she really likes and what she hates.

And only solely bring in stuff she hates.every.single.day.

[jollyboyspecial]

Why are so many public servants apparently compete idiots? Or is it that maybe getting a job like stop you from thinking before you open your mouth? Which on further thought is still an idiotic thing to do.

Passive smoking is not something you do out of choice. You can't passively eat cake. It's definitely something you do out of choice. So if she's telling us that if somebody offers her cake then she is forced to eat it then clearly she needs help. Or is the on the other hand suggesting that she has willpower but the rest of us have not?

However you cut the cake, she's an idiot.

[nobody who matters]

I have a belief that a lot of people become civil servants because they can't cope with a 'proper' job in the real world.

And regardless of whether they are a civil servant or not, some of them have to keep exercising their mouths, otherwise their brains might start to work.

[Boris the Cockroach]

IF I wanted

to kill my colleagues, there are far quicker, simpler, cheaper, more reliable and more denailable options than feeding them too much cake.

An open window perhaps.... next to the spot where the carpet is'nt nailed down properly (I needed some nails for another project)

Or that faulty lift shaft door when everyone is in a rush to get home ( what fun someone can get upto with a nail shorting the door switch)

Or the smoking shed in the car park.. that somehow got full of petrol fumes.....(amazing things nails)

Although I am saving the best until last...... this years easter decorations will involve our cheif mangler....(and some nails)

<<<off to the pub after reading far too much BoFH for his own good

[M.V. Lipvig]

Re: IF I wanted

You swing a hammer for a living, don't you? I say this because all your solutions involve nails.

[Boris the Cockroach]

Re: IF I wanted

No.... several things I use at work are an extremely sarcastic wit, a cattle prod and a Thor number 2 copper/hide mallet(thrown usually.. as the victim as run out of range of the cattle prod)

I'm not allowed to make solutions any more.... not since the day someone dropped the laptop into one of the chemical treatment baths.. and then made to retrieve it...

[herman]

Cauliflower

I think cauliflower would be one of the easiest habits to break. Cauliflower cakes! Anyone? Anyone?

[Pirate Dave]

"Every office has one – the inexplicably cheerful, kind and generous co-worker who brings in cake and/or biscuits and leaves them somewhere for their weight-sensitive colleagues to graze on."

No, "every office" does NOT! Dammit, I knew I shoulda took that other job so I could have been eating cake and cookies, maybe even pies, all these years. Manufacturing is no place for civilization. Bummer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bugger.

I used to accept cakes as bribes for getting project work done a little faster than might otherwise be the case. Usually shared them around because I didn't want to hog them all for myself.

Fun while it lasted.

[jglathe]

Life is dangerous.

Free will and all that

[Jeff Smith]

This is by far the most Daily Mail comment section I've ever read on here.

"THEY WANT TO TAKE OUR CAKE!"

No one is taking your cake, relax.

[Lil Endian]

Sooo....

...you read the Daily Mail.

I'm sure it'll be work out for the best. Here, relax, have some cake!

[TRT]

The comments section of the Daily Mail...

aka "The bottom half of the internet" is a place of endless amusement.

Two examples:

On the recent rail strikes...

"The unions have to realise we are not living in the 1970s anymore. Their working practices are outdated. The railways need to be dragged into the 20th Century NOW!"

and on one of their "The Internet is perplexed by these maths questions" pieces...

"This is easy for those of us with double-digit IQs".

[John Brown (no body)]

This was covered on Radio 4 on Thursday.

The presenter took a mic out into some of the other program offices to see what went on there. Most places seem to have "cake" table or desk where they get put fr others to snack from. One Journo claimed it was a conspiracy encouraged by upper management to get staff more hyper on a sugar rush and make them more productive. I nearly spat my cake out when I heard that!! They should place safety warnings on lines like that so I can pull into the hard shoulder and not get half-eaten cake all over the windscreen!!!

[Snowy]

Promotion

Killing of your colleagues is one way to get that promotion and this way you do not need to supply the roll of carpet and some lime, I'm sure Simon would approve.

[M.V. Lipvig]

Nobody ever gained a pound eating MY cake!

They lost a few pounds though, rather quickly, and with a pained, surprised look because there wasn't a speck of chocolate anywhere.

Nobody ever remembers that exlax also comes in tablet form, meaning all sorts of non-chocolately treats can deliver the same gut punch

So many icons to choose from, but I'll go with "surprised."

[Anonymous Coward]

We used to have someone who brought in cake

and I'm sure it was only a coincidence that there was an ambulance called to office on the day she brought in results of her strangest experiments – spam and pineapple upside down cake

[TooOldForThisSh*t]

Healthy Living ?

Many years ago the company (USA) I worked for had annual Health & Wellness events where everyone attended. We all got our blood pressure checked, weight and etc. Skin cancer screening too if someone wanted. Lots of brochures, some swag and a piece of cake. The kind of cake with a 1inch layer of frosting on top. When I pointed out that a granola bar or apple would have been more in keeping with the topic of the day, I was called a "kill joy" by the organizers :(

Those events ended when the company was reorganized and sold to another company. Obviously the new owners didn't care about "Health & Wellness" of their new employees :)

[TeeCee]

Deduction.

One thing that this tells us is that the Chairthing of the Food Standards agency is a fat bastard who suffers from an almost total lack of self-control.

[martinusher]

You soon know what's desirable and where to leave it.

The problem I've had is that you don't bring enough for the locusts. If the stuff's any good then it will disappear in seconds.

But this isn't about the article. The article is telling us that feeding treats to our colleagues is unhealthy, its killing them. We should just spend 8 hours a day in our cubes eating health food in limited quantities, or something like that. After all, 40 hours a week sitting hunched over a computer, that's not unhealthy, is it?

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Boris - stuffing his face

even after his brush with death

Boris Johnson's brush with death when he caught COVID-19, which he attributed to being "way overweight."

"A butler secretly brought around £27,000 of luxury organic food into Downing Street for the prime minister,"

https://www.tatler.com/article/boris-johnson-carrie-symonds-daylesford-hamper-luxury-food-deliveries-downing-street

https://metro.co.uk/2021/05/22/butler-smuggled-27000-of-organic-food-into-downing-street-for-boris-14628328/

May be JCB will fix him up with a custom mobility scooter when he becomes too obese to get about

[Fruit and Nutcase]

Ambushed by a cake

Tory MP says Johnson was ‘ambushed with a cake’ on his birthday

Conor Burns’s attempt to defend the PM over No 10 parties inspires mirth on social media

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/26/ambushed-with-a-cake-defence-of-boris-johnson-inspires-mirth

icon: drinks are in the fridge

[Anonymous Coward]

and every part of the public sector

says it's too short of funds to do its job. There's one salary we could do without paying for.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe we need an Offline Safety Bill

as much as we need as an online one.

Oh wait, we don't need either.

[Tron]

Rebel! Eat Cake!

I smell the nudge unit at work. In response to this, I shall be buying a large chocolate cake this week, and humbly suggest that this should now be known as Cake Week in perpetuity.

For the record, I exercise regularly and have a below average BMI.

Maybe it is time all government ministers and government scientists were regularly weighed and placed on strict diets if they are obese. After all, they have very important jobs and must remain healthy for the nation!

[MrGreen]

Great Distraction Susan

So Susan doesn’t want to do anything about nearly every processed supermarket product containing seed oils or massive amounts of sugar that’s making people ill or obese, so blames it on office staff?

Great distraction technique.

Apart from meat, fruit and vegetables, try buying something from your chosen supermarket that doesn’t contain toxic seed oils. Top tip, vegetable oil is not made from vegetables.

[John Savard]

An Error of Analysis

I could accept that people need an environment that supports their choice to eat a healthy diet. And so if more people brought in lettuce or whatever to snack on instead of cake, those people might be helped.

However, many people don't feel that way.

But the thing in the article that made me think that the people saying this had lost their senses was right at the end.

People don't prefer chocolate cake over cauliflower because there are more advertisements on TV for chocolate cake. This isn't food industry brainwashing at work. These are the innate food preferences that are natural for people; some people have struggled against those preferences after learning that some foods are healthier than others. Of course, ever since agriculture started, it's been too easy to make what we like, so that our preferences are out of sync with what's healthy.

When meat and calories were hard to get, and there were no refined sugars, our preference for fats made us eat enough protein to survive, and our preference for sweetness got us to eat healthy fruit.

If you think the source of the problem is TV commercials, you're not going to make any real headway in solving it.

[Citizen99]

Nanny State-ist leave my cake alone!

[Postscript]

Better cake than Covid

Why worry about getting fat from cake when your coworkers prefer to give you Covid instead? A gift that lasts a lifetime and may contribute to 100% weight loss.

[rototype]

Used to happen a lot pre-Covid

Now it's just occasional. People would bring in cakes etc for their Birthdays and put them in the communal eating areas. Generally if I knew the person I might indulge - problem was always getting to it before it was all gone.