We have an obesity epidemic — stigma is a useful tool in the fight against it
THERE’S a woman called Sue who is appearing in a Channel 4 documentary soon. She’s a mum. And the story is really about her 15-year-old son, Harry.
Harry is what you might call morbidly obese, poor lad. Sue, pictured with Harry, says she didn’t realise he was overweight until his hip collapsed. And he had to be taken to hospital for horrible, complex, surgery.
Didn’t realise? Gordon Bennett, talk about the elephant in the room. I mean, literally. The kid was half the size of their house. She didn’t notice the lack of exercise and the food Harry was putting away? And the fact that he took up the entire sofa and then some?
Whose fault is it that Harry needed an op?
We have an obesity epidemic. It is almost certainly this which has caused a drop in life expectancy in our poorest areas. The first such drop for a century.
But now the obesity lobby and the health professionals have decided that obesity shouldn’t be “stigmatised”. As if it were an illness just like any other.
Something which happens, without the victim knowing it is happening. This is b******s, and it’s dangerous.
And stigma is a useful tool in the fight against obesity.
It was only when my own son, during an argument a few years back, told me I was a fat, lardy t***er that I decided to sort my weight out. I’ve put most of it back on now so I need another bout of name-calling to provoke me to more action.
My point is that fat-shaming can be very useful.
Because being fat isn’t good for us and nor is it good for society. It costs the NHS millions each year. It makes people’s lives a misery. It is right that it should carry a stigma. Remove the stigma and you make being fat the natural state of being, no blame attached.
Oh, you’re fat. How did that happen? What terrible bad luck, but never mind. But that is very far from the truth. With the exception of that tiny minority of people who are fat as a consequence of their genes, obesity is eminently and quite easily avoidable.
Its main cause, these days, is a lack of exercise. If you’re a mum or dad and your kid is looking a bit porky, get them out for a walk every day, or do some sport with them. And keep an eye on what they are eating.
Maybe ration the amount of time they spend online, tapping and swiping away on their fat a***s, pausing only to swallow a bowl of Doritos.
This is surely basic parenting. Looking after your kids. Because if you don’t do that, they will die very young indeed.
And it isn’t the Government that’s to blame. Or blind chance, or bad luck. It is because of lifestyle choices. That’s the important word — choices.
If you take exercise and keep an eye on what you eat, you won’t get fat and your hip won’t suddenly give up the ghost and collapse.
The more we insist, out of kindness, that being fat is no fault of the individual, the bigger the problem will grow.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to take the dog for a walk. Four miles.
That will lose me about 500 calories, tops. So still some way to go.
You mask be joking
INCIDENTALLY, on the subject of these face masks. Me and the family are going away for a few days in April. This will require going to an AIRPORT.
Awful places, airports. Full of whacko foreigners who’ve just eaten a stewed bat and wonder why they are feeling a bit under the weather.
So I had the following discussion with the missus about whether we should invest in face masks . . .
Her: “Trouble is, they don’t work.”
Me: “The really expensive ones do, the ones with filters. So they say.”
Her: “Oh, right. But we’d look like twats, wouldn’t we?”
Me: “Yes, we’d look like twats. No face masks.”
That’s the British way. Rather die of pneumonia than look a bit of a twat.
See sense on risk
ONE final word on Mr Corona.
We’ve been told that in a worst-case scenario, 500,000 British people will die. Almost all of these, according to the experts, are elderly people with serious underlying medical conditions.
Just to get this risk thing into perspective – how many of those people would have died anyway, as a consequence of those medical conditions, over the next six months?
Tyranny of trans activists
THE “You Can’t Say That!” brigade are at it again.
This time they have banned a woman called Selina Todd, pictured, from speaking at the Oxford University International Women’s Festival.
Ironically, it was a festive which SHE helped to organise.
Todd is an academic and a feminist. She has been barred from speaking because transgender activists don’t like her.
They accuse her of being “transphobic”, which she denies. She probably just thinks – like a lot of the population and scientific community – that men who transition to being women are still basically men.
We have to fight back against this hysterical tyranny imposed on us all by a tiny, minuscule, rump of deranged activists.
It is time institutions such as Oxford University stood up for the principles of freedom of speech.
That they fail to do so is a national disgrace.
Danny Baker
DANNY Baker’s been talking about how the BBC “threw him under a bus.”
Baker was sacked for having tweeted a joke about Harry and Meghan and their son, Archie. He was accused of racism. But I doubt there’s a less racist bloke in the country.
The BBC should admit it made a big mistake.
Not only was it unjust, but I really miss listening to Danny on the radio – he’s a brilliant broadcaster.
So here’s a suggestion. Give him Rylan Clark-Neal’s slot on Radio 2. I can’t be the only person in the country who turns off as soon as I hear him speak.
Baker would bring a bit of wit to a network currently lacking it.
Stacey is a loos woman
GOT to admit I hadn’t known a huge amount about Stacey Solomon. Until I was faced with the picture of her taking a selfie while having a crap.
So whether I like it or not she is now part of my world. Very grateful, thank you. My life is enriched.
It seems that Stace is getting tired of “trolls” telling her she’s not bringing up her kids right. Not dressing them in appropriate clothing and stuff.
Can’t say I give a monkey’s one way or the other. But I’m not absolutely certain that the best way to convince people you’re an elegant and well-mannered young lady is to take a selfie while you’re laying a cable, you know?
And then there’s this. She’s annoyed with the trolls right now. But what about when they’ve all gone and started to annoy someone else?
Who will be left to look at those selfies? Apart from Stacey?
Hamster shrill
THERE’S outrage in Darlington over the plight of a bunch of hamsters found in a hedge. Locals are more disgusted than at any time since my band, Dangerbird, played there in 1977.
These hamsters were in plastic boxes. And one can only assume they were bred to feed snakes. They have now been liberated. So what are they going to feed the snakes?
Kale and mung bean risotto? I’m telling you, they won’t like that. The likely answer is mice.
So why is that any better than feeding them their cousins, hamsters?
most read in opinion
A spokesmouse for the British Association of Small Rodents (BASR) told me yesterday: “It’s ludicrous. Totally inconsistent.
"Hamsters get away with murder. Because they’ve got chubby little cheeks and are refugees from Syria.
“But nobody cares about us mice. And at least we don’t spend half the bloody night running around on a wheel like a moron. Can’t stand hamsters, me.”
Bob's big bang
MORE good news. A giant asteroid is on its way.
The scientists have given it the name 52768 (1998 OR2). But that seems a bit impersonal to me, so I’m going to call it Bob.
Anyway, Bob’s half the size of Mount Everest and rushing towards us at nearly 20,000mph. The experts reckon it will just miss us. But they can’t be exactly sure. Bob could swing by to say hello. In which case you can wear as many face masks as you like but it won’t help you one bit.
You can even follow the BBC’s excellent advice on “how to wash your hands”. (Apparently you rub them together with some soap for a bit. Sheesh! Who knew?).
Bob won’t care. You’ll be locked away in your self-isolating chamber under the stairs. Hands smothered in Dettol. Poncey face mask bought off Amazon. Stacks of dried food to keep you through the entire spring.
And then – bang! Not even enough time to recite this little ditty: We are doomed, brother doomed – are you ready for the kill? If the virus doesn’t get you then Big Bob will.
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