Diary

I was walking down the aisles of a supermarket and I had a dream.

I dreamt that everything that was on sale in the shop that was bad for our health  just disappeared.

Of course in a second the shelves were mostly empty...

And as I stood in the queue for the checkout, ignoring all the checkout machines and waiting, in my obstinate way, for a brief encounter with a human being, I wondered what would happen if supermarkets had to pay for all the damage they cause us.

Pay for the healthcare for all the alcoholism caused by the profits they make selling cheap alcohol. Or pay for the diabetes caused by sugary drinks or over-sugared food.

Just like I wonder sometimes what would happen if car manufacturers had to pay for all the time we lose in traffic jams or somehow compensate for the suffering caused by road traffic accidents. Or the appalling lung diseases caused by air pollution.

We can't make any of this happen, of course. But we can imagine it...