Tubby or not tubby, fat is the question
OH Anna Soubry, Conservative MP for Broxtowe, we wait ages for one of your morsels of wisdom and then suddenly, you treat us to second helpings.
Why, Minister, you are truly spoiling us!
Fork up this nugget for starters: Ms Soubry says obesity in deprived areas is a "heartbreaking fact". Or, to serve it up in short rations: poor folk are fat.
I don't actually think she could have made a more sweeping statement, or been more insulting if she tried. No well-upholstered sorts in Westminster, are there, eh Anna?
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In the world of Soubry, the under-privileged are overweight because of the "abundance of bad food" available. Tut, tut, you naughty food, how dare you be all that some can afford?
While you're chewing that choice titbit over, do leave room for further relish.
Now, for your main, may I tempt you with a Soubry special? Eating lunch at your work desk is "disgusting".
Soubry, the Minister for Health says we should "take time out to have a meal... enjoy what you're eating."
I'm afraid the party's over, no more troughing a butty and a jumbo bag of Monster Munch at your workstation.
Well done, Anna, you've virtually completed the smooth transition of this nanny state into a spoon-fed one too.
No matter if your workload is colossal or you've got things to do on your lunch break. You silly thing, you should be sitting down and savouring something gourmet. No eating on the hoof allowed (and I don't mean horse-burgers).
Meanwhile, Ms Soubry's endearingly Enid Blytonesque concept of lashings of spiffing stuff for lunch has gone off the boil.
Time is money and lunch ain't cheap. Which brings us back to the first point: Anna and her propensity of obese, socially deprived people. To anyone who scoffs, saying it's inexpensive to eat healthily – that's food fighting talk.
Constantly chasing reduced items and rigorous meal-planning is a skill not everyone has. The only thing being consumed is time, making healthy eating the antithesis of convenience meals.
And Soubry's half-baked concept has all the common sense of a Pot Noodle.
In my day, I've been spectacularly poor and I know when you're down to your last few coins that health goes out the window. Food for a fortnight? Or just the one healthy meal? Which would you and your family rather have?
I suggest Ms Soubry gnaws on a big, dollop of realism. Yes, obesity needs tackling, but it can't be categorised by class alone. Poverty is the issue here. And Soubry's attitude is altogether unappetising.
Her theory looses weight with this observance: Mid-week, I was out and about in one of Nottingham's most affluent areas when who did I spot? A great, big rotund fellow, revelling in his corpulent girth right there in one of the poshest homes and gardens I've seen for a long time.
Here was a great big fatty, yet, confusingly, he had a healthy carrot on the go. Admittedly, it was for his nose, and yes, he was a snowman, however, you've got to admire his cheek in getting one over on the MP – revenge is after all, a dish best served cold.
8 Comments
by SuperGerrard
Monday, January 28 2013, 11:55AM
“Poor artcile I'm afraid.
The comments were taken out of context from a speech for a start. Secondly I don't see what she has written that is wrong. People don't eat rubbish food because they are poor but rather because they are lazy and can't be bothered to acctually cook something. The end.”
by dcrane
Saturday, January 26 2013, 6:23PM
“Good healthy food is cheaper than fast-food and sugary drinks, so maybe that's why the fat are poor (rather than the other way around)?”
by BLawrenson
Saturday, January 26 2013, 4:29PM
“Katherine, I hadn't realised that the NP were now doing a comic section. I have just looked back through my cuttings and re read some of the past material from the old EP and it really does highlight the change. I suppose it was a bit much to suggest you checked me out as it would be a lot before your time, even as far back as when the EP changed to Webb-offset and all it's teething problems. By the way I was more a Biggles fan.”
by SteveBasford
Saturday, January 26 2013, 3:17PM
“trash journalism........I've rather read that stupid CV column you occasionally get from the non-job.”
by KatherineTayl
Saturday, January 26 2013, 3:10PM
“Always nice to meet a fellow Enid Blyton fan, BL.
Generally, I would not take it upon myself to research individual posters on a thread, what an odd thing to suggest.
But seriously... I am sorry to hear you are experiencing a sense of humour bypass.”
by BLawrenson
Saturday, January 26 2013, 2:56PM
“I get it now, you use your imagination as a substitute for reporting. That is obviously where the Enid Blyton bit comes in. I just feel sad to see a local paper which was once highly respected, influential and forward thinking degenerating to that level. I do not hold any brief for Anna Soubry but I do for fair and unbiased accurate reporting rather than comic features on serious matters.
If you had done a little research before replying to my posting you would have established that I did not live in " one of the poshest homes and gardens I've seen for a long time". The good reporters / journalists I knew didn't presume, they actually spent some time collating their facts before going into print. If they didn't their stories were "spiked". A salutary lesson.”
by KatherineTayl
Saturday, January 26 2013, 1:00PM
“You're right, BL. I ignored the fact the snowman also had sticks for arms and two lumps of coal for its peepers, thank you for pointing this out, I can only presume the big fella was lodged in your garden. May I therefore take this opportunity to commend you on your snowman building prowess - it's first rate, it really is.”
by BLawrenson
Saturday, January 26 2013, 11:03AM
“Yet again a writer misusing quotes and ignoring facts to make up an article. I do wish the NP would return to having good correspondents like David Lowe who used to write in depth about subjects that he researched and was conversant with. On second thoughts perhaps just real reporters.”