IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon has written for The Critic in response to new research by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) on calories contained in popular takeaway meals.

Christopher wrote:

“What is Nesta and how did it end up with a deputy director for a healthy life calling for the state to regulate sandwiches? It was created by the Blair government in 1998 with an endowment of £250 million from the national lottery. It was supposed to be an engine of innovation. It was supposed to unlock potential and deliver economic growth. Instead, it became a cautionary tale about the nature of quangos.

“Skip forward 25 years and Nesta has become just another money-guzzling mouthpiece of conventional wisdom. In addition to its inevitable commitment to ‘equity, diversity and inclusion’, it has three core ‘missions’: ‘A Fairer Start’, ‘A Healthy Life’ and ‘A Sustainable Future’. This agenda is so bland that it is almost impossible to argue with. The problem with Nesta is not that its aims are inherently bad but that its policies are stupefyingly predictable.”

Read Christopher’s full piece here.