It is not uncommon for celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to turn on Parliament and call on them to tackle the obesity crisis that is facing Britain, especially in the youth. He claimed that while there has been a new "Sugar Tax" introduced that makes beverages with higher sugar content more expensive to consumers, which urges them to buy the cheaper drinks that contain less sugar, it has "let British kids down" by not also targeting their sugary drinks.
Oliver took out a bottle of strawberry Yazoo milkshake and announced that the bottle contained over nine teaspoons of sugar, and yet the product has gone untaxed under the new law.
These milkshakes are readily available at affordable prices in vending machines in schools across the country. This led to a call by the renowned chef for Parliament to extend the "sugar tax" to milk-based drink that have a ton of added sugar in them.
MPs didn't seem interested
The Yazoo power play is reminiscent of the dark "I drink your milkshake" closing scene from the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed epic "There Will Be Blood." Oliver and his TV co-host marched into Parliament to attack MPs about milkshakes. It was all very Daniel Plainview in its execution. However, the MPs didn't seem to be taking any of it as they groaned and muttered and rolled their eyes all throughout his presentation. Either they feel that the current sugar tax is taxing enough or they simply don't believe that there is a place for entitled celebrity figures in politics. But then again, one did get elected to be the President of the United States, so anything's possible.
