Tackle obesity through cycling
MOST of the Scottish population is now overweight (“Call for action as four Scots die from obesity each week”, The Herald, June 22). Does Ian Thomson seriously believe that the majority of our population is simply ignorant of how to eat properly (Letters, June 24)? It is facile and cruel to tar so many with such a simplistic assertion.
The primary determinant of healthy behaviour is the quality of the environment in which we live. That quality is currently primarily determined by grossly unbalanced, competing interests with “politicians-in-our-pockets” lobbies such as the food industry, which perpetuate the like of confusing health food labels and checkout sweetie treats for toddlers and a roads lobby that manages to maintain a 30mph urban speed limit when we know that 20mph would halve the number of people killed and seriously injured at a stroke whilst adding only two minutes to the average commute. A 20mph speed limit would release children on to safer streets where they could engage in that wonderful engine of physical and emotional development, wild play. It is, of course, the children who should be the focus of this debate.
The principal recommendation made by the Commons select committee on obesity, some 10 years ago, was that more money should be allocated to the development of cycling. It is interesting to see the current debate in The Herald on the lack of a proper cycling infrastructure. There has been little development in cycling, with less than 1% of transport budget allocation.
It is the continuing lack of healthy opportunities in our environment that makes us unhealthy. We are battery hens in the shed of this malign economic system. I TOOK this picture from the promenade at Largs. I realised there was going to be a nice sunset so I waited until the sun had disappeared to reduce over-exposure and retain more colour. I was keen to get some added interest in the foreground, and this cyclist fitted the bill perfectly. The shot token on a Canon 5D set at F10. We welcome submissions for Picture of the Day. Email photographs to picoftheday@theherald.co.uk