This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/feb/26/plastic-in-mars-bars-as-a-pen-chewer-it-must-still-be-healthier-than-sugar

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
'Plastic in Mars bars? As a pen chewer, it must still be healthier than sugar' 'Plastic in Mars bars? As a pen chewer, it must still be healthier than sugar'
(35 minutes later)
MondayMonday
I am not particularly keen on waking up to a bloke in denim hot pants and high heels strutting his stuff, but I don’t feel strongly enough about it to make a fuss. I appear to be in a minority as the Moneysupermarket ad topped the Advertising Standards Authority complaints list for 2015. It is the persistence and tenacity of the complainants that amazes me; I find almost every TV advert mildly annoying and offensive but never sufficiently so to do anything about it. Mind you, if the Ray Winstone Bet365 adverts had an interactive element as easy as their in-play betting function, I could be tempted. Press red for angry, blue for very angry, green for ‘I’ve just accidentally bankrupted myself’, and yellow for ‘can I have a Wonga loan at an annual interest rate of 1,509%?’ I am not particularly keen on waking up to a bloke in denim hot pants and high heels strutting his stuff, but I don’t feel strongly enough about it to make a fuss. I appear to be in a minority as the Moneysupermarket ad topped the Advertising Standards Authority complaints list for 2015.
It is the persistence and tenacity of the complainants that amazes me; I find almost every TV ad mildly annoying and offensive but never sufficiently so to do anything about it. Mind you, if the Ray Winstone Bet365 ads had an interactive element as easy as their in-play betting function, I could be tempted.
Press red for angry, blue for very angry, green for “I’ve just accidentally bankrupted myself”, and yellow for “can I have a Wonga loan at an annual interest rate of 1,509%?”
TuesdayTuesday
Down to Slough to observe David Cameron launch his Stay in the EU campaign at O2’s headquarters, a building stuffed with both real and plastic trees, tandems, dogs, cats and all sorts of other bizarre paraphernalia. At least Dave hadn’t chosen the Mars building down the road; we could have found ourselves at the bottom of a giant plastic mountain as lorry after lorry queued up to return contaminated choccy. Having chewed the ends off countless ballpoint pens and never come to any harm, I’d have guessed that a Mars bar full of plastic was a great deal healthier than a Mars bar full of sugar. Mars is clearly rather more conscientious about unexpected additives than some food companies. I once found several bits of plywood in a packet of cereal and sent them off to the manufacturer in the hope of winning £100,000 in compensation. All I got was a standard pro forma letter telling me to bugger off, along with a £3 voucher for their cereals. I tried to spend it but B&Q was out of stock. Down to Slough to observe David Cameron launch his Stay in the EU campaign at O2’s headquarters, a building stuffed with both real and plastic trees, tandems, dogs, cats and all sorts of other bizarre paraphernalia.
Related: Mars recalls chocolate bars in 55 countries after plastic found in product
At least Dave hadn’t chosen the Mars building down the road; we could have found ourselves at the bottom of a giant plastic mountain as lorry after lorry queued up to return contaminated choccy. Having chewed the ends off countless ballpoint pens and never come to any harm, I’d have guessed that a Mars bar full of plastic was a great deal healthier than a Mars bar full of sugar.
Mars is clearly rather more conscientious about unexpected additives than some food companies. I once found several bits of plywood in a packet of cereal and sent them off to the manufacturer in the hope of winning £100,000 in compensation. All I got was a standard pro forma letter telling me to bugger off, along with a £3 voucher for their cereals. I tried to spend it but B&Q was out of stock.
WednesdayWednesday
Picture this, as Sarah Vine told us she had done to take her mind off her husband Michael Gove’s wrestle with his Brexit conscience. Sixty or so of your closest friends just happening to schlepp down to the south of France for your wedding in 2001. Friends who happened to include George Osborne, David and Samantha Cameron, Caitlin Moran, Ed Vaizey and various others too famous to be mentioned. A group of people, as Vine so accurately described in her moving account of the harrowing week she and her husband have just endured, who came from all walks of life. It was only after reading her cri de cœur that I realised how sheltered my own life had been. How different her wedding had been from my own, attended as it was by nobody of any interest to anyone except my wife and I. Obviously I didn’t invite the future prime minister and his spouse, the chancellor, the culture secretary and the internationally successful columnist and author to my wedding to save them from discomfort, as our intimes just weren’t used to mixing with people from all walks of life. Picture this, as Sarah Vine told us she had done to take her mind off her husband Michael Gove’s wrestle with his Brexit conscience. Sixty or so of your closest friends just happening to schlepp down to the south of France for your wedding in 2001.
Friends who happened to include George Osborne, David and Samantha Cameron, Caitlin Moran, Ed Vaizey and various others too famous to be mentioned. A group of people, as Vine so accurately described in her moving account of the harrowing week she and her husband have just endured, who came from all walks of life.
It was only after reading her cri de cœur that I realised how sheltered my own life had been. How different her wedding had been from my own, attended as it was by nobody of any interest to anyone except my wife and I.
Obviously I didn’t invite the future prime minister and his spouse, the chancellor, the culture secretary and the internationally successful columnist and author to my wedding to save them from discomfort, as our intimes just weren’t used to mixing with people from all walks of life.
ThursdayThursday
The National Theatre’s revival of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed – a play involving a bloke having his hands and feet removed with an electric saw, another having a curtain rod shoved up his bum, a woman having her brother’s cock attached to her, a man being injected in the eye and a man having his tongue cut out – has, apparently, provoked fainting and walkouts. I say apparently, because on the day a friend went, nobody walked out or fainted. In fact the conversation at the end was all about how long the play dragged on and how dull the repeated attempts to be shocking became. Still, there’s nothing like a bit of speculative sensationalism to guarantee more bums on seats. Much the same thing happened a couple of years ago when it was reported that people were fainting during the Globe’s “graphic” production of Titus Andronicus. They were, but not from the on-stage action. Being asked to stand for hours on a hot day is enough to make anyone keel over. Related: Cleansed review – Katie Mitchell plunges us into Sarah Kane's chamber of horrors
The National Theatre’s revival of Sarah Kane’s Cleansed – a play involving a bloke having his hands and feet removed with an electric saw, another having a curtain rod shoved up his bum, a woman having her brother’s cock attached to her, a man being injected in the eye and a man having his tongue cut out – has, apparently, provoked fainting and walkouts.
I say apparently, because on the day a friend went, nobody walked out or fainted. In fact the conversation at the end was all about how long the play dragged on and how dull the repeated attempts to be shocking became. Still, there’s nothing like a bit of speculative sensationalism to guarantee more bums on seats.
Much the same thing happened a couple of years ago when it was reported that people were fainting during the Globe’s “graphic” production of Titus Andronicus. They were, but not from the onstage action. Being asked to stand for hours on a hot day is enough to make anyone keel over.
FridayFriday
Days like this make me feel all too old. While there was something undeniably beautiful about the sight of the Flying Scotsman chuntering up to York, I’m increasingly uneasy that so much of my life is being repackaged as misty-eyed nostalgia for a younger generation. I don’t feel quite ready to become part of other people’s ancient history. I was seven when the Flying Scotsman was taken out of service and although I never travelled on it, I made plenty of other journeys on steam trains. I was always an enthusiastic traveller – mainly because we so seldom went anywhere. My parents saw them in a less romantic light. “The smoke will make you filthy,” my mother would warn me if I tried to stick my head out the window. She was much more concerned about the dirt than the possibility I might have my head taken off by a train coming in the opposite direction. Days like this make me feel all too old. While there was something undeniably beautiful about the sight of the Flying Scotsman chuntering up to York, I’m increasingly uneasy that so much of my life is being repackaged as misty-eyed nostalgia for a younger generation.
I don’t feel quite ready to become part of other people’s ancient history. I was seven when the Flying Scotsman was taken out of service and although I never travelled on it, I made plenty of other journeys on steam trains. I was always an enthusiastic traveller – mainly because we so seldom went anywhere.
My parents saw them in a less romantic light. “The smoke will make you filthy,” my mother would warn me if I tried to stick my head out of the window. She was much more concerned about the dirt than the possibility I might have my head taken off by a train coming in the opposite direction.
Digested week digested: Is there life in Mars?Digested week digested: Is there life in Mars?