To hell with the BMA, the spirit of Corona lives on
Monday, July 13, 2015 at 11:45 When I was a small boy, growing up in Maidenhead in the Sixties, fizzy drinks were a rare treat.
If we were thirsty we drank orange squash or Robinson's lemon barley water. Very occasionally my mother would buy a bottle of 'pop' from the Corona van that sold door-to-door.
The very name brings back incredibly vivid memories of my early childhood in Berkshire – playing in the nearby woods or on the green across the road from our house that was so typical of its era it even had a carport.
According to Wikipedia:
Corona was a brand of carbonated beverage available in the United Kingdom produced by Thomas & Evans Ltd. The firm was created by grocers William Thomas and William Evans when they saw a market for soft drinks caused by the growing influence of the temperance movement in South Wales.
The company's first factory was based in Porth, Rhondda, and eventually the company had 87 depots and factories. Corona was sold to The Beecham Group in the 1950s and subsequently to Britvic Soft Drinks, but stopped trading as a brand in the late 1990s.
For years Corona was as close as I came to Coca-Cola and other fizzy drinks. Now of course I drink Diet Coke and (Waitrose) lemonade as if it's tap water.
There are three reasons for this:
One, I like the taste.
Two, I can afford it.
Three, a friend of mine who spends half his life climbing the world's highest peaks (and is therefore very fit) drinks nothing else, apart from alcohol.
If it's good enough for him it's good enough for me.
I mention this because the British Medical Association now wants a 20 per cent tax on sugary drinks.
Ironic, isn't it, that a product first considered a more healthy option to liquor now finds itself under attack, especially in an era when drivers going to the pub are in desperate need of a non-alcoholic alternative.
Is there no end to the BMA's interfering nanny state agenda?
Thankfully, while the newspaper reports have been desperately one-sided, there are signs of opposition.
A sugar tax would hit the poor the hardest (IEA)
A sugar tax would send us down a slippery slope (TPA)
We've been doing our bit too. Rob Lyons, campaigns manager for Action on Consumer Choice, has been on BBC Five Live and BBC Radio Wales.
Here's his full response:
Tax on sugary drinks "regressive" and "illiberal" say campaigners
Campaigners say proposals for a 20 per cent tax on sugary drinks are "regressive" and "illiberal" and will have little impact on the nation's health.
The British Medical Association is calling for the measure "to subsidise the sale of fruit and vegetables and help tackle the increasing level of obesity and diet-related health problems in the UK".
Rob Lyons, campaigns manager for the consumer group Action on Consumer Choice, said:
"Sugar taxes, health warnings and other proposals to curb our sugar consumption will have little impact on people's health because sugary foods only make up a small proportion of our diet.
"The proposals are regressive because their impact is based entirely on consumption, not the means to pay, so they will have a disproportionate impact on those on lower incomes.
"They are also illiberal because government has no business dictating what or how much consumers should eat and drink.
"Once again taxation is being used as a form of social engineering. It's a blunt instrument designed to force rather than educate people to change their behaviour."
The full Action on Consumer Choice website will go live later this month.
In the meantime, the spirit of Corona lives on:
In 1950 the firm launched Tango, one of its more enduring line of drinks which would continue to be manufactured after Corona ceased as a company.
Below: Corona – Every Bubble's Passed It's Fizzical
Reader Comments (4)
Thanks for the video link - I remember that. I've now just wasted half an hour going through other ads from the 70s and 80s. Strange and worrying how many I do remember. All that stuff in my head from all those year's ago. And I bet I'll forget to buy dog food on the way home tonight!
Interesting also that we owe the latest 'folk devil' to the temperance movement in the first place.
What next? Perhaps the BBC reporting the Salvation Army abandoning music displays after a doctor warns that tambourine playing causes permanent wrist damage?
The name Corona survives as a lovely refreshing light bottle beer which is very cheap in supermarkets when bought in bulk. It is usually drunk with a sinful slice of lemon or lime. No doubt the BMA would see that as marketing to children, or encouraging children to become alcoholics, and as the drink is enjoyable and tastes very nice, I expect the puritans to demand a ban and even more tax on it some time soon.
First they came for smokers who know more than anyone that these so called "health professionals" have no real credibility anymore.
"Is there no end to the BMA's interfering nanny state agenda?"
I don't know how to break this to you, Simon, but - err - no.