Well I've heard it all now.
First they ignore the views of the public over issues like secondary school re-organisation in Stoke-on-Trent. (If you don't believe me, have a chat with the families campaigning to save Trentham High School).
Now, they're sticking their noses in to people's lives and trying to tell them what they shouldn't eat.
To whom do I refer? The town hall bureaucrats at Stoke-on-Trent City Council.
Or, as they shall now be known, the food police.
For the council's health overview and scrutiny committee (snappy title, I think you'll agree) wants to limit the number of takeaways allowed within a certain area. They also want to meddle with the type of food these takeaways are offering, and only allow them within a certain distance of schools.
Why? Because we're an obese city, apparently.
Now I'm all for encouraging people to be healthy. But what happened to personal choice? What happened to entrepreneurship and businesses doing business?
If people want to eat takeaways, they should be allowed to eat takeaways. Try telling somebody in Hanley, Burslem, Tunstall or Stoke that their local chippy's licence is being revoked because it's too near a school.
What's going to happen? Black market kebabs? Illegal pies and pasties sold under the counter?
If the ordinary people of Stoke-on-Trent felt their council served them well, and had its own house in order, perhaps this wouldn't be such a bitter pill to swallow.
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