This is one of the many headlines covering the ‘Tainted Blood Scandal’. Our hearts go out to the relatives of the 3,000+ who have died, those still suffering and the abject failure to pay compensation. This is what PM Sunak said:
‘A day of shame for the British State. Sir Brian Longstaff’s report illustrated a decades-long moral failure where the NHS, civil service and politicians failed in the most harrowing and devastating way.’
One day there will be another such report. It will be about the obesity crisis where today, and to mis-quote the PM, “the NHS, Department of Health and Social Care, manufacturers of processed foods and ‘slimming’ drugs and fast- food billionaires” will be held to account for their failure to make a dent in the ghastly statistic that around one third of UK adults are overweight and one third are obese putting their lives in possible danger. This is not the occasion to look at child obesity because it is too much of a horror story.
Why is this happening? It’s because those in charge (the Establishment) – the Monarchy, The House of Lords and 650 Members of Parliament and others – talk the talk but do nothing. They nearly all have private medical facilities. They have little or no idea what it is like trying to get an appointment with a doctor or NHS dentist. ‘The Mail on Sunday’ included the following in an article about MPs taking the drug Ozempic: ‘Most MPs tend to use the same slimming clinic in Harley Street.’ The drug, over and above the consultant’s bill, costs around £200 per month.
Look around you in the High Street, where crowds gather, at the food outlets, in the supermarkets and now on the beaches. Visit an A & E Department. The obesity crisis is manifest and the Establishment’s concern is toothless.
Our intrepid slimmer Scott is in rather an introspective frame of mind this week:
Scott’s Diary. Monday, 20 May 2024
Holidays and why changing your eating habits or, in other words, your diet, can still work.
I base “saying No” on my daily life style, my routine, in effect my paradigm. I plan what to eat the day before, when to eat, how much to eat, what to drink, what not to drink. This routine of “saying No” works for me.
Going on holiday is different: it is a paradigm shift. You can’t simply transfer the rules you apply at home and expect them to work – the operating agenda is different. If you try you will be disappointed and see yourself as a failure. You have to create a new, but temporary, schedule.
Last week we went with a group of friends to Norway, a total shift in the environment. At home you have a plan, on holiday you fit into the group’s plan.
What happened to Scott on his holiday and did he lose weight? All will be revealed next week.
