This Week in the New Normal #106

Our successor to This Week in the Guardian, This Week in the New Normal is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.

1. Return of the “planetary health diet”

The Lancet has published its review and recommendations for the UN’s “Planetary Health Diet”.

Spoiler alert: They’re in favour of it.

The EAT-Lancet report calls for a global food system that is “healthy, sustainable, and just”, echoing previous calls for a two-thirds reduction in meat production and consumption, with a mirrored increase in vegetable and cereal consumption.

The video accompanying the report has a few concerning quotes. Such as this one, on ultra-processed food…

“We need to make the healthy choice the easy choice […] one should not have to use will-power whenever you buy an item of food.”

Along with talk of making food shopping a “low agency decision” as opposed to a “high agency decision”…which sounds to me like taking choices away, but maybe I’m paranoid.

But really the video thrives on vibes and vagueness. They don’t pitch anything specific at all, they just have earnest, ethnically diverse women pitching words like “community”, “equality” and “sharing” and hope the message gets through.

Perhaps most interesting is the total lack of “alternative proteins” discussed. No lab grown meat, no bugs, not even soy.

2. You got a license for that refill?

Outrage across the UK this week, as “obesity laws” take effect banning free refills of sugary drinks.

Yes, they actually unironically have “obesity laws”. That’s what they call them.

The fast food chain Nando’s has a famous “bottomless fizzy drinks” policy, which will no longer apply to sugary drinks, only sugar-free varieties.

This is all about public health, you understand. That’s why they’re limiting sugar, but not cancer-causing chemical additives.

Morrison’s cafe’s and Wetherspoons pubs will likewise no longer be offering free refills on sweetened hot drinks like hot chocolate or mocha coffees.

It seems Britain’s government is committed to being as comically dystopian as possible.

3. Meloni’s Burka Ban

Italian Prime Minister is moving to ban the Burka and Niqab in public spaces in Italy, in a move to “discourage Islamic separatism”.

If you see every political policy as essentially advertising authoritarianism to one side of the political divide or the other — and your should, because it is — then this is clearly an example of marketing to the right wing, much like the porn ban (below).

“See, empowering the state to decide what people can or cannot wear is a good thing, because it will stop our country being over-run by Islam!”

Banning the burka is actually one of those rare examples that can be used for either side with virtually no change, because the same exact policy can be sold to the left as…

“See, empowering the state to decide what people can or cannot wear is a good thing, because it protect women being oppressed by religion!”

4. The latest age verification state

Two-weeks ago Arizona passed a law requiring age verification to access “adult content”, much like the age verification laws springing totally coincidentally all around the globe, this is essentially an end to online anonymity. Arizona is the nineteenth state to pass such a law this year.

This week, “adult content” giant PornHub announced they would be blocking all users in Arizona, as they have in the other 18 states that passed age verification laws (as well as France).

As discussed above, this is nothing but marketing.

“See, age verification means getting rid of porn!” is the message, and it’s selling the benefits of lack of privacy (and, eventually, Digital ID) to the conservative right.

It’s not true, either, of course. But that’s advertising for you.

BONUS: “Typical Canada” of the week

Not content with MAID-ing anyone who’s tired, old or sad, Canada is moving on to euthanizing animals as well…

It’s not all bad…

Highly recommend Carey Wedler’s excellent “The Most Dangerous Minority”:

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All told a pretty hectic week for the new normal crowd, and we didn’t even mention Biden’s returning cancer or the BBC’s handy guide for telling the difference between colds, flu or Covid (you can’t actually).

There’s a lot of change in the air, a lot of agendas in the works, if you see a headline, article, post or interview you think is a sign of the times, post it in the comments, email us or share it on social media and we will add it to the next edition.

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