Exercising our right to be kind
AS HAPPENS every January, you can’t pick up a paper or magazine right now without being bombarded with headlines about health and fitness. Running, cycling, workouts, yoga and above all, losing weight.
It’s the annual season of self-improvement and in a typical year we grumpily acquiesce; we need to get rid of the Christmas bulge and re-sculpt ourselves to face the challenges of spring.
Some of us succeed, most of us don’t.And that’s in a year in which we’re longing to be beach-body ready (!) in time for a glorious summer holiday somewhere hot.At the moment, that’s a distant delusion.
Let’s be positive though and assume that we could all do with a bit of exercise. Let’s ignore police telling you that going for a socially-distanced walk with a friend clutching takeaway coffees means you’re breaking the spirit of lockdown and heading for an illicit picnic, as happened to Jessica Allen and Eliza Moore, below, in Derbyshire last week.
RLet’s assume you won’t be handcuffed and arrested if you dare to rest on a park bench, as happened in Brighton.
And yes, after 10 months of intermittent lockdown misery, comforting yourself with whatever floats your pleasure boat, whether it’s chocolate, ice cream or wine, of course you’d like to lose some weight.
But dark, dank January is always the worst time to diet and this year you’d need to be a fully paid up member of the Cromwell Puritan Society to deny yourself an extra biscuit with your tea.
So let’s be kind to ourselves and to others. I’ve been astonished at the howls of fury and insults hurled at the plus-size real women (not models, as commentators called them) featured in Cosmopolitan magazine’s health issue. Cosmo claims they’re healthy, medics disagree.They may be right but body image is complex and the thousands of girls struggling with anorexia certainly aren’t healthy.
Women put themselves under enormous pressure to be perfect and that’s not healthy either.
It’s never pleasant to watch women tearing other women apart. Men call it catty: surely, in these apocalyptic times, we’re better than that?
So in a year when we’re all threatened by a genuine, horrific health threat, let’s cut each other some slack.We’re all human.
We’re doing the best we can. And we could all do with a hug, not an insult.
RTV chefs make it look easy, but it ain’t. It’s like spinning plates. They have to prepare the food, talk to camera, juggle with interruptions and questions from the show’s host, and keep to time. Many a would-be telly chef auditioned for This Morning when Judy and I were there; most simply couldn’t hack it. This week, deputising for Steph McGovern on C4’s live lunchtime talk show, I worked with Ruby Bhogal, 2018’s runner-up on The Great British Bake Off. She was a natural; a star is born. I predict Ruby will cook up a TV storm.