{"id":316697,"date":"2025-10-13T06:26:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T06:26:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=316697"},"modified":"2025-10-15T07:27:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T07:27:40","slug":"this-week-in-the-new-normal-106","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=316697","title":{"rendered":"This Week in the New Normal #106"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Off-Guardian \u2013 Oct 12, 2025<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Our successor to <em>This Week in the Guardian<\/em>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/category\/this-week-in-the-new-normal\/\">This Week in the New Normal<\/a><\/em> is our weekly chart of the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>1. Return of the \u201cplanetary health diet\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Lancet has published its review and recommendations for the UN\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2025\/oct\/02\/planetary-health-diet-could-save-40000-deaths-a-day-landmark-report-finds\">\u201cPlanetary Health Diet\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Spoiler alert:<\/strong> They\u2019re in favour of it.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/commissions-do\/EAT-2025\">EAT-Lancet report<\/a> calls for a global food system that is <em>\u201chealthy, sustainable, and just\u201d<\/em>, echoing previous calls for a two-thirds reduction in meat production and consumption, with a mirrored increase in vegetable and cereal consumption.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qVaDbTZK7u0?si=UopQZKs4c5LzXyjs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>The video accompanying the report has a few concerning quotes. Such as this one, on ultra-processed food\u2026<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cWe need to make the healthy choice the easy choice [\u2026] one should not have to use will-power whenever you buy an item of food.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Along with talk of making food shopping a \u201clow agency decision\u201d as opposed to a \u201chigh agency decision\u201d\u2026which sounds to me like taking choices away, but maybe I\u2019m paranoid.<\/p>\n<p>But really the video thrives on vibes and vagueness. They don\u2019t pitch anything specific at all, they just have earnest, ethnically diverse women pitching words like \u201ccommunity\u201d, \u201cequality\u201d and \u201csharing\u201d and hope the message gets through.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most interesting is the total lack of \u201calternative proteins\u201d discussed. No lab grown meat, no bugs, not even soy.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>2. You got a license for that refill?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Outrage across the UK this week, as \u201cobesity laws\u201d take effect banning free refills of sugary drinks.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, they actually unironically have \u201cobesity laws\u201d. That\u2019s what they call them.<\/p>\n<p>The fast food chain Nando\u2019s has a famous <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/nandos-coca-cola-bottomless-obesity-sugar-b2840638.html\">\u201cbottomless fizzy drinks\u201d policy<\/a>, which will no longer apply to sugary drinks, only sugar-free varieties.<\/p>\n<p>This is all about public health, you understand. That\u2019s why they\u2019re limiting sugar, but not cancer-causing chemical additives.<\/p>\n<p>Morrison\u2019s cafe\u2019s and Wetherspoons pubs will likewise no longer be offering free refills on sweetened hot drinks like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/uk\/home-news\/morrisons-free-refills-hot-chocolate-government-b2842287.html\">hot chocolate or mocha coffees<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wpa-warning wpa-image-missing-alt aligncenter size-full wp-image-316698\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/No-free-refills.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"867\" data-warning=\"Missing alt text\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/No-free-refills.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/No-free-refills-480x640.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 650px, 100vw\" \/><\/div>\n<p>It seems Britain\u2019s government is committed to being as comically dystopian as possible.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>3. Meloni\u2019s Burka Ban<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Italian Prime Minister is moving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2025\/10\/09\/giorgia-meloni-burka-niqab-ban-public-places-italy\/\">to ban the Burka and Niqab in public spaces in Italy<\/a>, in a move to \u201cdiscourage Islamic separatism\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>If you see every political policy as essentially advertising authoritarianism to one side of the political divide or the other \u2014 and your should, because it is \u2014 then this is clearly an example of marketing to the right wing, much like the porn ban (below).<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSee, 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!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>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\u2026<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSee, empowering the state to decide what people can or cannot wear is a good thing, because it protect women being oppressed by religion!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>4. The latest age verification state<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Two-weeks ago Arizona passed a law requiring age verification to access \u201cadult content\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n<p>This week, \u201cadult content\u201d giant PornHub announced they would be <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.azcentral.com\/story\/news\/politics\/arizona\/2025\/09\/23\/pornhub-to-pull-out-of-arizona-over-new-age-verification-law\/86299670007\/\">blocking all users in Arizona<\/a>, as they have in the other 18 states that passed age verification laws (as well as France).<\/p>\n<p>As discussed above, this is nothing but marketing.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cSee, age verification means getting rid of porn!\u201d<\/em> is the message, and it\u2019s selling the benefits of lack of privacy (and, eventually, Digital ID) to the conservative right.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not true, either, of course. But that\u2019s advertising for you.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>BONUS: \u201cTypical Canada\u201d of the week<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Not content with MAID-ing anyone who\u2019s tired, old or sad, Canada is moving on to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c0kn6x711y2o\">euthanizing animals as well<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Pic euthanized-balugas-canada-650&#215;528<\/p>\n<h3><strong>It\u2019s not all bad\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Highly recommend Carey Wedler\u2019s excellent <a href=\"https:\/\/pleasuretoburn.substack.com\/p\/the-worlds-most-dangerous-minority\">\u201cThe Most Dangerous Minority\u201d<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>All told a pretty hectic week for the new normal crowd, and we didn\u2019t even mention <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2025\/10\/11\/politics\/joe-biden-radiation-therapy-cancer\">Biden\u2019s returning cancer<\/a> or the BBC\u2019s handy guide for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cly1rryv2ryo\">telling the difference between colds, flu or Covid<\/a> (you can\u2019t actually).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Support Off-Guardian:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/offguardian\">Ko-fi<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.subscribestar.com\/offguardian\">Subscribestar<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=CKFB3MH8CGB9U\">Paypal<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/off-guardian.org\/2025\/10\/12\/this-week-in-the-new-normal-106\/\">Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Charting the progress of autocracy, authoritarianism and economic restructuring around the world. This week: the UK clampdown on hot sugary drinks, Italy\u2019s ban on the burka and the campaign to promote euthanasia  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":280317,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-316697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=316697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316699,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316697\/revisions\/316699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/280317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=316697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=316697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=316697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}