How about the taxpayers? After all, we are the ones footing their bills when the inevitable poor health and the diseases that go with it kick in. To illustrate; never listen to an overweight person banging on about illegal immigration (or legal ones for that matter either), in 2007 obesity cost the NHS £4.2 BILLION - this is set to rise to £6.2 billion per year by the end of 2013.

Do your bit for the economy and country, lose weight!

AAMOI - what qualifies one to be an oldie ?

i'm 57 - am I an 'oldie' ?

also,I gave up cows milk about five years ago on the recommendation of a mate who also suffered from severe hay fever and went on to Soya milk - it tastes terrible but the hay fever symptoms almost disappeared and are just a minor inconvenience ever since

You may be right.
But are cookery programmes a response to a demand by people wanting to cook? Or are they a response to the apathy that already exists in an attempt to elicit change?
Whatever the reason cookery programmes are easy on the eye and cheap to make which is more to the point, just like 'flog it' type programmes.
They probably do encourage people to have a dabble at cooking different things and go and buy a cookbook.
Using the cookbooks more than a couple of times however is a different thing.
I doubt that there is a real increase amongst young people doing their own baking and cooking.
I am prepared to be convinced otherwise.

Seemingly, knowing how to cook

Do you have a source for those rather fanciful numbers? An insight into the methodology of gathering such data would also be interesting.

I am probably overweight, certainly not clinically obese and I couldn't give a flying fook what your OPINION is to be honest. Weight should not deter anyone from engaging in any argument on any subject. I've been a taxpayer for 45 years, so what you have to say means absolutely buggerall to me.

Too fat to run for the bus? Don't worry there'll be another one along soon

Too fat to climb the stairs? That's why they invented lifts and escalators.

Clothes don't fit anymore? Buy some bigger ones then

I haven't looked into this, but someone was telling me recently that skimmed and semi-skimmed milk are far harder to digest than whole. She knows because she apparently has a number of intolerances (and grows as much of her own food as possible as a result).

Of course, is using Google really that hard? rlhttp://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2008/10/17/48030/obesity-set-to-cost-nhs-up-to-6.3bn-a-year-by-2015.htmlrl

The 2015 date has since been brought forward due to the ever-increasing numbers of overweight citizens. You can have paid your tax for 45 years or more but you still haven't offset the cost to the NHS for your self-inflicted poor health, this is when it crosses over into being everyone else's problem as well. A fat tax would certainly help, much as smokers pay extra for the privilege of freedom, a similar tax on alcohol wouldn't go amiss either as its also costing the NHS a great deal in this day and age.

Sorry to burst your bubble but being overweight is certainly a serious problem that is costing everyone dearly, why should others have to fund your fat addiction?

There's most certainly an element of cookery programmes selling cookery books. But equally, there's obviously a market - or publishers wouldn't bother.

Obviously, I have no idea how many are used frequently, but I think even if they are hardly used, they do suggest a desire to cook or cook better.

My niece (23) grew up in a household where her mother (a single parent) would barely cook and, by what I hear, had a pretty dismal approach to providing food for her daughter. And I haven't had that much influence over her. But she likes to cook and will try things like homemade pizza - and did comment that, at university, she was one of the few who would actually cook things. I don't know what triggered her to do this, but she hasn't been made to and she takes a real pleasure in good food. I doubt she's unique in this, so there are at least some young people out there making an effort.

Setting aside the question of tax for the purpose of changing behaviour, a fat tax would be daft since fat, per se, is not the problem. Obesity has risen in exactly the same period that fats in general have been demonised and natural fats in particular.

Obesity has risen along with the number of public sector employees. Maybe we'll start to see it reduce now?

Of course, fat people are the problem. Perhaps I should have said, "Fatty Tax" instead of "Fat Tax"!

As an aside, I can't say I'm really convinced about your argument in favour of saturated fats - there are many, many links between saturated fats and various illnesses and health problems ranging from cancer to bone mineral density. I will agree that replacing fats with carbohydrates isn't good though.

so by that theory then the same rules must apply to smokers & drinkers,not to mention junkies with all the diseases that they may contract which must be costing the NHS (as well as every health service in the world) billions each year ?


you're not a drinker or smoker Rinkadink by any chance ?