Weight is costing us

It is quite a twist that Boris Johnson, the most libertarian prime minister for some time, has ended up spearheading a war on obesity. Last year, he promised a review of “sin taxes” on sugary, salty and fatty foods. Now he wants a war on weight, expected to include new rules on the advertising of unhealthy foods and a push to warn people about the calories in alcohol. What changed his mind? Covid-19. One likely explanation for Britain’s tragically high death toll is that our country, like America, is unusually fat.

Most conservatives instinctively support the freedom to make one’s own choices – but the freedom to say when those choices are wrong, too. And they would also like the freedom not to have to pay for the consequences. The causes of obesity are, of course, multifaceted and telling someone straight “you need to lose weight” can be hurtful and counterproductive. Yet British society needs an honest conversation about the effects of obesity and the fact that the cost, in lost productivity or reliance on the NHS, is borne by the wider community. Even before the pandemic, the most up-to-date figures put the annual pricetag at £6.1 billion, with around 10,600 hospital admissions directly attributed to weight in 2017/18.

Obesity is not entirely driven by what we eat, let alone how it is advertised, but also by a lack of exercise and the societal shift from blue-collar to office jobs. Perhaps these trends will be affected by Covid-19; some of us, stuck at home, are exercising more. And it has been speculated that the Prime Minister’s views have been influenced by his own brush with death, a reminder that governments do not by themselves drive social change. A health crisis can radically alter popular attitudes.