Is this the right way to win the war on Britain’s obesity problem?
GOVERNMENT intervention on obesity is a waste of time and is just politicians trying to be seen to be doing something. The Scottish Government’s ban on two-for-one pizzas is a joke and seems to be the idea of Jamie Oliver who’s never stood for election. Very few people buy two pizzas and eat them back to back. All bans like this do is put more pressure on the less well-off. Jo Bell, Glasgow. LACK of exercise has far more to do with obesity than food. It’s easy for the Government to ban this, that and the other on fast-food but much tougher to keep leisure facilities open at times that suit customers, and to subsidise gyms and pools for the less well-off, especially pensioners.
Colin Draper, edinburgh. AS THE Government is in the process of banning two-forone deals on junk food, taxpayers should stop subsidising Parliament’s bars and restaurants. I would hate my taxes to help pay for MPs and their minions to stuff
their faces with Spotted Richard and plum duff while quaffing sugar-laden beers and wines.
Judy goodwin, altofts, West yorkshire. Your article about plus-size clothing resonated with me, particularly concerning women. If clothing for the overweight and obese wasn’t available, it would be a huge incentive to lose weight. Born during the war, I grew up knowing there was only one shop that catered for large women, and that was evans Outsize. But during those years you would see only the occasional ‘fatty’. These days, many larger women are young, and they flaunt their fat by wearing trendy unsuitable clothing because it is available. We should stop the manufacturing of sizes above 18 being the norm, forcing the overweight to take charge of what they put in their mouths. I can remember my husband and I laughing at an enormous pair of jeans we saw for sale in the US back in the early Seventies, thinking there couldn’t possibly be anyone that huge back home. now we have them here in the UK. JosePHene Crisp, leatherhead, surrey. PART of the problem with our food is all of the mixed messages we get. One minute smoothies are good for us – the next we’re told they’re sugar bombs! alison drysdale, dalgety Bay, Fife When is Parliament going to practise what it preaches? The nation’s politicians keep going on about obesity in children and adults, yet whenever I watch Prime Minister’s Questions on the television I see so many fat and obese MPs on all sides of the floor. The House of Lords is no better. Perhaps there should be a new rule in Parliament that anyone with a body mass index of over 25 should not be allowed into either the commons or the Lords. either that or just stop going on about public obesity all the time.
David Stevens, leeds.