Anne Milton: You're not obese, you're fat. You chunker.

Oh for the love of Zeus:

Anne Milton told the BBC the term fat was more likely to motivate (overweight NHS patients) into losing weight.

...

Ms Milton, who stressed she was speaking in a personal capacity, said: "If I look in the mirror and think I am obese I think I am less worried [than] if I think I am fat."

In case anyone is wondering, the genius that is Anne Milton is the public health minister.

I don't know what to say, really. Part of me wants to point out that fat people often suffer from low self-esteem, and therefore calling them fat probably won't help. The other part of me wants to point out that if shocking people with the word fat is meant to make people lose weight, then why not step it up a gear and make the insults more insulting? Perhaps when a fat patient visits their GP the doctor could great them with "Oh look, it's Wabba the Hut". Or maybe a quick rendition of "who ate all the pies." Perhaps "Jesus Christ! You must fucking well sweat lard, you chunky cunt!"

Instead I'll just sigh and note that this is the supposed "new politics" - where the problems of the NHS are not going to be solved by radical reform, but rather an semantic shift in the vocabulary of doctors in order to make the visit to their GP of anyone packing a few extra pounds even more miserable than it already is.

Too Fat to be a Foster Father

A gent has been told he cannot adopt because, frankly, he’s just too fat. The council said:

"I am writing to confirm that we are unable to progress an application from you at this time. This is due to the concerns that the medical advisers have expressed regarding Mr Hall's weight. I have discussed this with our medical adviser... who considers that it is important to alter lifestyle, diet and exercise in a sustainable way so that any weight reduction can be maintained in the long term.”

It may seem a tad arbitrary that the same state that left Baby P with his mother and let Fred and Rose West be foster parents to several children would also dismiss a man from being a foster parent for being fat. That said, both Central and Local government are not well known for the thoughtful implementation of policy, and their decisions do tend to be arbitrary choices made around draconian yet flawed procedures.

Plus, this guy isn’t just fat. He is huge. I believe the official term is morbidly obese. Now, I’m not doctor, as regular readers of this blog will know. However, terms such as morbid and obese are never good. And this fella isn’t just carrying round a couple of extra pounds – he literally ate all the pies. And pasties. And pizzas.

Now, I’m not going to turn this post into a stream of fat jokes. So I’m not going to say this guy should be known as Fatty Mc Fat Fat Fat Fat, or call him Chunks O’Lard. Likewise, I’m not going to ask “whatever happened to his chin?” Nor am I going to say that, given how fat he is, he could intimidate whales and probably eat the Isle of Wight in one sitting. No, such comments just aren’t helpful.

What I would say is that, from a Libertarian perspective, it is tempting to rally behind this Fatmeister General – sorry, sorry, man – because it could be a case of a one man being browbeaten by the insensitive, bureaucratic state. Then again, we also need to take into account another central tenet of Libertarianism – the potent doctrine of personal responsibility. So I’d say this guy that if he really, really wants to adopt a child and give that child a loving home, he should take some responsibility for himself and shed some of his weight. Because it won’t just be to for his benefit, but also for the child he wants to adopt. And for his wife, who could be left a widow because of his size. We could shout about the state over this issue; equally, we could tell this guy to get off his huge arse and do something about the situation he finds himself in.

The Fat Of The Land

As well as the appointment of a surprisingly fit Minister for Fitness, the government is waking up to what is becoming known as the obesity time bomb (like the pensions time bomb, but with more pie-eating).

Ho-hum, just another load of Nu-Labour guff designed to distract the media from Blair's desperate clinging to power. The numbers are terrifying, as is the potential impact on the NHS. But Blair and the Minister for Fitness won't actually do anything about it. Because ultimately there is nothing they can do.

The wonderfully illogical Dr Susan Jebb:

"People don't choose to be obese. Everyone knows what to do, but when they get into a supermarket, they don't put that into action."

Sorry love, but they do. People do choose to be obese. Jebb actually states that - when the people are in the supermarkets they don't put what they know about healthy eating into action. In other words, they choose not to do what, healthwise, they should.

What Jebb is trying to say is that people do not want to be obese. However, they choose not to do anything about it. It may be a passive, rather than active, choice - but it is their choice after all. It may be incredibly difficult to do, and diets may be terrible to stick to, but people still choose to lose weight. Or not.

So let's not piss time and money away on this Minister for Fitness pile of toss. If you want to tackle obesity, then start at an early age. Educate kids at school how to eat healthily, how to exercise, and why they should eat healthily and exercise. Make it a habit from a young age, so when the kids grow up they chose to be healthy and eat properly. It is called education - educating children so they make the correct choices when they grow up.

And as for those who are obese - fuck 'em. They need to make the choice to change their lives. If they make it, fair play to them. If they don't, well, they are not going to be around for long enough to increase the pension time bomb. It is about personal choice, and no Nu Labour Minister for Fitness is going to make a blind bit of fucking difference.

Do Some Exercise!

Tony Blair abdicates responsibility for spiralling NHS costs with the simple request of lose some weight and stop smoking/drinking. He is probably one step away from saying "look, moving forward it would be great if you could help the NHS by never getting ill or injured."

Makes me wonder, though, whether he is going to make the likes of Charles Clarke and John Prescott lead by example in the dieting? Although, Blair probably isn't on speaking terms with the former.