A pinch of salt

Salt with your fish and chips? Not apparently if you live in Stockport. Salt shakers are being removed from counters and table-tops at curry houses, fish and chip shops and cafes. According to some newspapers, customers will have to ask for salt. It may not be true of course, but one chip shop manager said: 'We just wanted people to stop and think. Don't just shake it for the sake of it.' In 2009 the same council gave cafes salt cellars with five holes instead of 17.

The move was welcomed by health campaigners who said it would 'nudge' people in the right direction. Although this is a favourite phrase of the health secretary, Stockport's conservative group leader is quoted as saying that the initiative created a 'nanny town'. He claimed that the council's latest move could actually be counterproductive.

'British people don't like being ordered around. If you actually want people to use more salt, then tell them not to,' he said.