Free bicycles and food vouchers are no answer
The NHS never stops whingeing about how underfunded it is. What on earth is it thinking of then, suggesting that it gives free bicycles and supermarket vouchers to families who exercise to tackle Britain’s obesity crisis? Under the new proposals families who walk a certain amount each week will get free cinema tickets or food vouchers – have they lost their minds?
The NHS is there to provide medical care, not lifestyle support. And while prevention may be better than the cure for the ailments all these morbidly obese fatties risk incurring, the taxpayer should not be expected to cough up for bicycles for people who don’t have the self-control to turn down the fifth doughnut. Rather than rewarding them for taking a walk down the street, how about threatening to withhold medical care unless they lose the weight? Something similar happened to smokers. What about the same approach to people the size of a house? IT IS increasingly clear that student fees allied to hugely boosted numbers attending university has turned into a racket designed to work for those at the top. What can possibly justify a salary of £451,000 for Dame Glynis Breakwell, vice-chancellor of Bath University? About 30 years ago, people working in academia and the BBC accepted a lower salary than they would have achieved in the commercial world because their roles were considered to be very prestigious. Now their salaries are far higher than the norm and the reputation both of academia and the Beeb has plummeted. Time for a reversal, no?