Enough nudges—time for a shove

Recently, Denmark introduced the world’s first “fat tax”—a tax on the purchase of foods high in saturated fats. So will the UK, Europe’s fattest country, be introducing a similar tax? Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, claims we will not follow suit because “nudges are very important” and “tax is not a nudge, tax is a shove.” Yet when we look at the obesity statistics, we can conclude that the time for nudges has passed. The percentage of men classified as clinically obese in the UK has risen from 13.2% in 1993 to 22% in 2009, and from 16.4% to 24% for women over the same time.1 This rise requires decisive action. The government is keen on nudges—using positive influence to alter …