There has been a gradual growth in the belief that you need “special facilities” to do sports for years.

how many people live in the middle of cities with no green space? walking/running/playing alongside roads? no thanks

Is obesity directly proportional to the screen size of TVs?

Yes…. bigger TV’s, thus bigger adverts, make you subliminally ask to ‘go large’ at Maccy D’s and KFC. If there are any Zinger or Chicken Nuggets based billboards on their waddle down there, then they really are in trouble

So are they going to do the same for thin people who don’t exercise, or people who drink too much, smokers, or people who injure themselves doing extreme sports perhaps?

they are only targeting folk on benefits- obviously they are just too unhelathy to work what with the buoyant labour mrket they have created as the wave of free enterprise sweeps through the nation raising us off our knees and in to the land of plenty…..we need to make sure they are not so unfit they cant keep up …obviously.

Isn’t it just for people who are currently off work due to a persistent obesity related heatlh problem that could be solved through exercise (prescribed by a doctor under controlled conditions) which they are refusing to do?

I saw no mention of that in the report so I assume NO

walking/running/playing alongside roads? no thanks

#firstworldproblems

piedi di formaggio – Member
Is obesity directly proportional to the screen size of TVs?
You also need to factor in the likelihood of wearing “sports” clothing as well.

Nice to see some blatant snobbery come up on this thread.

You also need to factor in the likelihood of wearing “sports” clothing as well.

Are we talking tucked in “Rugger” shirts and cricket jumpers draped over the shoulders?

zilog so how you going to get and keep kids interested in active stuff when there’s no where but the street to do it?

not saying sports centres are going to solve the problem and luckily I live close to parks and even proper countryside but in the cities space for doing stuff does seem to be more of a problem.

There has been a gradual growth in the belief that you need “special facilities” to do sports for years.

Well it’s true for some things:

Swimming (OK you can swim in a river, but it’d need to be safe & clean – ditto for the sea)
Squash courts
Sports halls for Badminton
etc

Yes, but my point was that not having accesss to “special facilties” is no excuse for not exercising. Ok, so there’s a narrower choice, but still it’s no excuse.

The root of obesity is psychological as well as physical – i.e. what’s the main difference between someone like myself who chooses to eat healthily & do a bit of exercise and someone who just doesn’t care about either of these things?

I don’t know the answer. There are probably many reasons. Tackling these root causes are what’s needed.

But this would be very expensive – it’s easier just to treat the symptom and use a big stick like removing benefits to force the issue 🙄

There has been a gradual growth in the belief that you need “special facilities” to do sports for years.

Probably concurrent with less and less green space being available. The woods where I used to ride my bike as a kid have now been turned into the manicured gardens of a ridiculous footballers wives style mansion.

Are we talking tucked in “Rugger” shirts and cricket jumpers draped over the shoulders?

PMSL!

zilog so how you going to get and keep kids interested in active stuff when there’s no where but the street to do it?

How many places genuinely don’t have a recreation ground or something within a 10-15 min bike ride? But the answer is just not to dump kids in front of the telly/playstation/computer. Take them for a walk instead. You can do that on pavement last time I checked.

Some of the feral offspring of benefit scroungers in their sports/leisurewear earlier….

Red trousers – forced on one so young? The horror!!

Call Childline immediately!

Only one of my mates is on benefits and she’s got a baby, and is living in a hostel. Fast food is quick cheap and hot she doesn’t have access to a proper kitchen before you start with the ‘cook your own’ stuff. So as well as looking after a 7 month old, finding a job (lol) and somewhere to live that’s not a one room shit hole, she’llhave to go to the gym as well?

Wow, inspiring

How many places genuinely don’t have a recreation ground or something within a 10-15 min bike ride?

Have you ever been to Salford 6? Having said that, if you went for a run anywhere round there, you’d ****ing shift!!! 😆

how many people live in the middle of cities with no green space? walking/running/playing alongside roads? no thanks

How long have people lived in cities in the UK? A couple of hundred years.

How old is the obesity ‘crisis’? Not very.

That would suggest little correlation between the two.

And marketing/advertising aimed at children is one thing, admittedly and is a little taudry. However, it’s not generally the case that the children actually make the purchases. This is about personal (and parental) responsibility to eat well, but as is so often the case, the cause of obesity is seen as ‘societal’ and people absolve themselves of direct blame.

Anyone wearing Hackett t-shirts and the like should have their legs and heads cut off, never mind their benefits. 🙂

(They do have a rather good range of suits, I should add, but their “Leisurewear” is a clear indicator of bellendery)

How many places genuinely don’t have a recreation ground or something within a 10-15 min bike ride?

so you already need specialist equipment

Walking kids round city isn’t going to get their interests I’d have thought. Yes there’s ways around stuff, I’m an active person if I had no bike to hand and no parks despite what I said I’d still pound out a few miles on the pavement. But getting active people to exercise isn’t the plan, we’re trying to make an environment conducive to healthy living, activity, better diet, being sociable etc at the moment a lot of places seem to be heading in the opposite direction. Cities designed around moorised transport with no green spaces, alright for the rich who bugger off to the country/burbs but a pita for the poor sods who live there.

so you already need specialist equipment

**** sake. A bike is not “specialist equipment”. Every kid should have one. They are not expensive, compared to the massive tellys/sky packages/fags n booze most parents with obese kids seem to afford.

Is there a benefit for fatties? Where can I apply?

Anyway…. Apparently, being heavier means you might stick around for longer.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/recipe-for-a-long-life-overweight-people-have-lower-death-risk-8434743.html

yes its not an either or

if you made exercise as cheap as chips [ see what i did there] we would get somewhere.

It is also down to the parents

IME you either have folk who are very healthy or ones who do nothing

i only know one person who does moderate exercise [ couple of gentle swims] per week everyone else is either very fit [ relatively] or a couch potato.

we need to target kids as its easier to get them to enjoy activity than to get fat adults of their arses.

I assume we’ll also be taxing obese non-benefit claimants the same proportion of their income?

Under the proposed plan presumably benefit spongers like this will be forced to run for their housing allowance.

How long have people lived in cities in the UK? A couple of hundred years.

How old is the obesity ‘crisis’? Not very.

That would suggest little correlation between the two.

That’s not a great argument really is it. It’s only now for instance that the majority of the UK population live in urban areas.

And marketing/advertising aimed at children is one thing, admittedly and is a little taudry. However, it’s not generally the case that the children actually make the purchases. This is about personal (and parental) responsibility to eat well, but as is so often the case, the cause of obesity is seen as ‘societal’ and people absolve themselves of direct blame.

It’s a lot worse than a little tawdry – it’s criminally irresponsible and anti-social. Also, never heard of ‘pester-power’? The cause of obesity is societal, how can it not be? That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t take personal responsibility at all, but why are you asking individuals to take responsibility while absolving major companies of the same?

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or put a tax on pop, that’ll sort it.

if you made exercise as cheap as chips [ see what i did there] we would get somewhere.

Exercise is free. Go for a walk. Run. Do some sit ups in front of your massive plasma screen. Etc.

The problem isn’t the “cost” of exercising, or the need for specialist equipment, but the underlying attitude.

So as well as looking after a 7 month old, finding a job (lol) and somewhere to live that’s not a one room shit hole, she’llhave to go to the gym as well?

Never has a ‘lol’ seemed so incongruous.

When I was a young child I was taken everywhere on foot, on the bus/train (walking to/from the station), or by bike (except at weekends when my Dad was at home with the car).

Also, my parents didn’t allow much TV-watching, so I never got into the habit of loafing around in front of the telly.

As I got older, I cycled everywhere, walked/cycled to school, walked/bus/train to friends etc.

I wasn’t “doing exercise” with special equipment and facilties, I was just “getting about”, going places … and getting exercise as a side-effect.

These days the majority of children/teenagers seem to be chauffered pretty much everywhere by their parents.

It’s no wonder they grow up overweight and lazy.

The other side of this is that I was rarely given junk food or processed/ready-meal stuff … my parents always cooked ‘proper’ food using unusually-shaped things called vegetables and what-not 😀

if you made exercise as cheap as chips

Grew up in Fazakerley in Liverpool, pretty grim in parts. Managed to run 70 MPW around the streets plus in the winter its an advantage given the street lighting.
Years later as I have lived in more salubrious surroundings training during the evening can be more difficult despite being surrounded by parks and greenery.

i was thinking of taking up Polo cpt as i believe you meet a better class of people= where do i do this for free My captain?

It depends on the sport but most activity you will get folk to do requires a place to do it and some equipment be it football , cricket, cycling. – outdoors badmington for example is a right mare in the winter mud dont you find Cpt?
They all cost though some are very cheap I agree.

Only really actual exercise – sod that even i dont do that i do things I like that keep me healthy- is totally free and you still need a decent set of shoes to run in.

Do you actually know anyone who does exercises without spending any money on it

Also, never heard of ‘pester-power’?

I have. I tried it with my parents when I were a nipper. They said no.

The cause of obesity is societal, how can it not be?

Because society doesn’t open your mouth and stuff food in, or keep you pinned to your sofa.

while absolving major companies of the same?

Why just major companies? Make food labelling clearer, sure. But I think you’ll find that most ‘fast food’ comes from local chippies, kebab shops, pizza shops and takeaways and not from the big bad ‘major’ companies.

If they can get Pickles to lay off the pies and lose at least 4 stone then and only then will I listen to their proposals.

You’ve misunderstood – this is a plan for poor people. HTH.

I have. I tried it with my parents when I were a nipper. They said no.

Do you use the same strategy with your own kids?

i was thinking of taking up Polo

Pointless straw man there, Junky. Well done.

Do you actually know anyone who does exercises without spending any money on it

Yes. Anyone who walks anywhere. Anyone who takes the stairs rather than the lift. Etc.

Exercise is free.

sold off school sports facilities to developers

Didn’t we already expose this as a red herring a few months ago?

As for advertising junk food to kids – most of the junk food I ate wasn’t advertised at all. Sugary treats don’t exactly need it do they? Junkies aren’t the victim of heroin advertising are they?

Some things are just damn tasty, regardless of marketing. Having said that, I do think advertising junk food to kids should be banned but it’s not going to make much difference.

Because society doesn’t open your mouth and stuff food in, or keep you pinned to your sofa

No but it does make it acceptable to do so.

Because society doesn’t open your mouth and stuff food in, or keep you pinned to your sofa.

no but it does remove free sporting facilities and provide you with fast food everywhere

Its a mixed response that is required with action from all sides.
saying it is just one thing is simplistic.
its probably harder to be healthier now than in times gone for “societal” reasons.

A couple of hundred years ago the middle and upper classes were extremely unhealthy, btw.

ha ha isnt eric pickles the community minister in charge of councils

did they have to run this one by him?