"In The Politics of Food he [Geoffrey Cannon] shows that the Officially Secret decisions of a closed circle of little-known but powerful people in Whitehall and Westminster, meeting in committees with representatives of the giant food manufacturers, without reference to us or our MPs in Parliament, has [sic] resulted in a national food policy that could he the death of us all.”
Hyperbole is an essential tool for the “writers” who compose those stirring constellations of words that appear on the dust jackets of popular science books. Witness the above extract from a wondrous bit of effervescence (“astonishing.. apathetic officials... shocking... controversial...") that is being used to plug nutrition journalist Geoffrey Cannon’s latest best-selling tirade against the food industry and government food policy in Britain. Indeed, whenever Cannon, the former Radio Times editor, himself describes something as merely “regrettable,” we feel almost miffed.
In fact, Cannon seldom lets his eager ...
