Don’t let them eat cake!

One story sticks out amongst the usual New Year diet of stories about how to be fitter, thinner and frugal. Unfortunately it’s not a re-hash of my favourite piece of non-research which found that regular consumption of red wine is good for you. No. This is a real party pooper. Apparently – according to the top teeth man from the Royal College of Surgeons – 2017 should be the year where workplaces “combat cake culture” (www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38491414) because it contributes to the nation’s obesity crisis and poor oral health. You know the sort of thing: bosses get a pay rise and reward staff (via expenses) with a couple of packets of Mr Kipling’s finest, or colleagues help to alleviate the misery of spending your birthday with them by expecting you to buy them doughnuts. In my experience cake is also an opportunity for the lesser lights of the office to demonstrate that they too possess the motivation gene. You know the type: you hardly notice them or what they do, then – whoosh – they come to life and start organising a Bake Off competition with as much enthusiasm as if they were trying to land a contract…as long as it doesn’t affect their lunch hour and, by the way, I need to leave early today because junior’s still got that cold. Ah. You don’t get to be the head honcho for teeth without knowing a thing or two. Cake is bad. Ban it!