The Government is not being a ‘bossy-boots’ in acting against obesity
sir – I have possibly never read such balderdash as David Hockney’s letter (July 28) in response to the Government’s strategy to tackle the nation’s obesity problem, accusing it of being a “bossy-boots”.
Covid-19 has a more severe effect on people who carry excess weight, and Britain’s obesity problem is now out of control, so a government-led strategy can only be a good thing.
In life we have to take responsibility for our actions – in this case, that if you eat and drink too much and don’t exercise you become overweight and unhealthy. This puts an additional burden on the NHS.
Marilyn Wathes
Witney, Oxfordshire
sir – I’m sure many endorse David Hockney’s words. There is a difference between living and existing. I know which I prefer.
John Dunmall
Warboys, Huntingdonshire
sir – David Hockney bemoans the prospect of life without smoking (and presumably drinking as well).
If the smokers and drinkers in the country stopped tomorrow, the loss of revenue would make the continuation of the NHS impossible to afford.
Dr Michael Blackmore
Midhurst, West Sussex
sir – I think that David Hockney is too kind to our leaders. In March they dictated we should enter lockdown. They have since dictated that we can leave lockdown, dictated that we can travel abroad and now dictated that if we do we have to go back into lockdown.
Without the proper scrutiny of Parliament we are now being ruled by a dictatorship. When will this stop? Tom Percival
Pennant, Cardiganshire
sir – Has our Government lost all sense of realism? I am waiting for a knee op, a hernia op and a cataracts op – all delayed because of NHS crass management.
For the NHS now to fund bicycles while many of us are simply cast aside is the greatest insult that could be delivered. Could that money not have been better spent funding the backlog in the NHS for rudimentary operations that would benefit so many.
Philip Congdon
Poyntington, Dorset
sir – They can try to take our freedoms, but they cannot take our fat.
Stefan Badham
Portsmouth, Hampshire