Over the last 4 to 5 weeks my life has revolved around shifting all of our belongings and painting most of the rooms in the house.
Yesterday was hot, and with nothing to drink but tap water I wandered down to the supermarket to get an icy cold drink.
So why is it that bottles of filtered water are more than double the cost of bottles of Coke, Lemon Squash and Ginger Beer? Surely as these all contain filtered water PLUS other ingredients, such as flavouring, preservatives and a lot of sugar. Surely a simple bottle of water should be cheaper?
I understand that market forces create demand, and that there is more demand for flavoured sugary drinks than there is for bottles of water, but what effect does this have on the less financially fortunate in our society?
Sugar and Diabetes go hand in hand, and the cost of diabetes to society is great. Yet, as a struggling mum, (even one trying to do the right thing for her kids) is going to be tempted to buy a 2 litre bottle of orange fizzy if it is half the price of a 1 litre bottle of water!
Surely we want to encourage people to eat and drink food that is good for them don’t we?
We all know that the sale of water in bottles in this country is a bit of a sham. After all most tap water is just as good. But, when people are in a situation where they need a drink ‘? say at a train station or a sporting match ‘? why not subsidise bottles of water and make them substantially cheaper than sugary soft drinks?