Today there was a story about advertising of "junk food" with some dappy woman on More4 news quite ideally and succinctly putting across the whole reason why such arguments are utter rubbish. She said, quite simply...

It's just not right is it?

Ok, so that may be a slight paraphrase on my behalf, but it is more or less there. This woman's whole argument came down to the point that she, and others like her, don't think it is "right" that "junk food" is advertised online to our kids or on TV at all. I think she needs to worry about the multitude of problems she probably has to contend with (as we all do, we all have problems) rather than sit around moaning about ours.

The subject has been around forever it seems, with wave after wave of people, organisations and charities all wishing the death of junk food companies. In an ideal world for them no companies would ever sell us anything hazardous to our health or lifestyle and we would never know they existed even if they did. We'd be eating rye bread with avocado seven times a day and drinking our own urine no doubt if we listen to all of them at once. Why is it that so many in this country have forgotten that even if we currently can't regulate our own health when it comes to eating, that we should at least learn to do so?

But that is not the way it is going to be today, as MP Nigel Griffiths has decided that we should attribute junk food ad's the same stigma as swearing, graphic violence and sex and only show adverts of it after 9pm, and that we should somehow magically regulate the unregulatable and stop companies advertising online as well. He is attempting to put a bill to parliament that would see this waste of time discussed for entry into the law books.

There is no single solution to childhood obesity but tougher restrictions on the way unhealthy foods are marketed to children are essential

Griffiths, above, seems to think the issue is more complicated than it is. "No single solution" he says? I'm afraid there is. Well more importantly something like 25 million single solutions, the parents. I feel so clichéd even saying it yet it is something I seem to say with an increasing frequency these days. Why is it that this government not only ignores the parents need to raise a child their own way but now seems to forget they exist at all in the problem solving sphere! "No single solution" indeed. The problem is that until people like Nigel accepts that there is this one saving grace of a solution then people will never listen to what he's got to say seriously, at least that is what I truly, truly hope.

With a parent to say "not now, maybe later" or "maybe as a treat", with proper parenting techniques, and the eyes and ears that mean their child gets exactly the surprise treat they want when on special occasions and for special reasons "junk food" not only isn't harmful to a child but is also a very convenient and effective tool for educating and raising your child. To cost the industry because the parents are too lazy to tell their kids that they can't have pizza or KFC is very backwards thinking. My message to Nigel, not that he'd ever get it, is to put this wasted energy to finding initiatives to empower parents that somehow let their kids get the better of them, and to educate parents about the damage negligent choices on food can make to their child's health. Cure the real problem, not an industry that has only survived as it has because of such weak parenting standards at a time of economic prosperity.