So Britain has decided to tax soft drinks from 2018 - and now there's talk of doing the same here.

The problem is you can't just tax fizzy drinks - it would be a waste of time.

If you're going to start a crusade to wean people - predominantly those in poorer socioeconomic areas - off sugar you have to treat all food and drink containing a certain amount of sugar the same.

You only have to drive past each primary school and college at 3pm to see hoards of the kids attacking the dairy opposite to gorge in as much sugar-filled delights they can afford.

And what do we expect? Sticking a dairy opposite nearly every school in the country is like placing a tin of golden syrup next to a line of ants and expecting them not to climb on in.

So let's just go one step further. Put a tax on all the sugary delights that are bad for us and contain a certain quota of sugar - say lollies, fizzy etc - but also close down every dairy opposite a school. Or enforce a law to enable dairies to only sell healthy food.

That way we'd probably see less fats kids wandering around. But a sugar tax on fizzy alone will not stop the gorging.

K Morland, Katikati.