Nothing sweet about banning roly-polies
Widdecombe
THE latest proposal to combat childhood obesity is to ban puddings at school lunches. It joins banning sweet sales at checkouts, halving the sugar content in some foods and taxing fast food in the endless procession of ideas to battle the growing crisis.
When I was growing up in the 1950s we always had pudding for school lunch. Five days a week we tucked into semolina, spotted dick and custard, rice-pudding and jam rolypoly to name but a few.
What is more, rationing had been lifted from sweets and most of us ate them at break. We had afternoon tea with bread and butter, jam and cake. Schools ran tuck shops. Diets? For our parents the war had been one long diet.
Yet only one girl in the class was even overweight, never mind obese. Why?
We were always running about, playing tag in the playground, swinging on tree branches, climbing anything that looked scalable and a few things that didn’t.
After school we played on bicycles, roller skates and scooters. Significantly the fat girl mentioned above always came to school pushed along on her adoring mother’s bike.
Then, despite the puddings, main meals were balanced with meat and two veg the norm. There were no takeaways or fast foods other than fish and chips which were regarded as a treat.
Wine was less affordable as was alcohol in general on a modest wage.
In short moderation plus activity explain why we survived the sweets and puddings.
In that lies a lesson for today. It is no good blaming the sweet treats WHAT a shambles the Mother of Parliaments is becoming. Neither Mrs May nor Crackers Corbyn seem able to exert the slightest discipline over their own troops, with ministers and their shadows regularly attacking their leaders or others on their own side. A divided army does not march convincingly. No wonder Europe laughs at us. For that matter no wonder Trump does. IT IS understandable that the unfortunate member of staff at Exeter University did not recognise the name of Erwin Rommel when selecting inspiring quotes for students. The Second World War ended in the first half of the last century and he or she probably wouldn’t have heard of Montgomery, let alone his famous adversary. What is less when what we should be blaming is self-indulgence or lack of parental control.
Banning custard tart for school lunch is fine until the child calls at McDonald’s on the way home. Yes, understandable is the fuss generated by this innocent mistake. The quote was: “One cannot afford to let major opportunities slip by for the sake of trifles.” Its context was the North African campaign when Rommel refused an order to halt his troops and as a consequence secured a major victory and replied in those words when we do have an obesity crisis. Yes, it does affect the NHS. Yes, this generation may buck the historical trend of living longer than its parents and die earlier. But there are limits as to how far any government can
THE LONGEST DAY FOR THE IGNORANT AT EXETER UNIVERSITY...
he was upbraided for insubordination. It causes most historians a wry smile.
After all, nobody thought twice about making a box-office success from another of his famous quotes referring to D-Day: “The Longest Day.” Perhaps the director was just not prepared to let a major opportunity slip by for the sake of trifles. ON MONDAY this paper was among those which published pictures of a young woman performing yoga poses on the edge of a crumbling cliff. The pictures are pretty clear so somebody must know who she is.
I admire courage but this was mere bravado with potential deadly consequences, so before anybody else is inspired by her lunacy to take similar risks, she should be named and shamed.
Utter recklessness on a real cliff edge
police individual restraint and the only answer is for being too fat to become as socially unacceptable as smoking and drink-driving.
So leave the jam roly-polies alone, you miserable lunch-police.