Majority referred to childhood obesity services ‘refuse to attend’

Why am I not surprised?

Some poor kid who may be slightly on the chubby side is told he is obese and is to attend bootcamp.  It may not even occurred to him that he was a tad overweight but suddenly the system stigmatises him and effectively calls him a gross porker and a disgusting blight on the landscape.

I don't know what goes on in these bootcamps but I very much doubt if it's anything less than forcing the poor kids to run around a field and do strenuous exercises.  If a kid doesn't want to lose weight then he won't.  And the only way to force him to do so is by shaming him into it by labeling him as a fatty. 

Ms Kelleher said that to counteract the stigma that led to non-participation and drop-out, childhood obesity programme marketing materials should be “bright and fun, highlighting the positive benefits to the children as well as the opportunity to learn new skills and take part in interesting activities”.

So colour everything in primary colours and that will do the trick?  How fucking patronising!  I would also point out to Ms Kelleher that it is herself and her ilk who are doing the stigmatising.

The only thing they get right is that kids don't exercise so much these days.  In my days the only home entertainment was the radio or a book.  If ever I was caught around the house I would immediately be roped into doing some tedious housework or other and therefore I got the fuck out of the house as early as possible and didn't return until as late as possible.  I used to spend my days cycling or running around the neighbourhood and generally getting into mischief.  Nowadays of course, all the kids have their own televisions and smart phones giving them 24 hours a day of sedentary crap.  That's progress [so called] and there is sweet fuck all the Nannies can do about it.

Of course [according to them] modern obesity is caused by proximity to a fast food takeaway.  Is this something in the air that immediately balloons kids as soon as they are within sniffing distance?  Do these establishments emit some kind of fatness radiation?  Is this physical evidence of second hand obesity?  While I have no love for these establishments, I have seen many kids wandering out of them and amazingly those kids seem to be slim and fit, but maybe it's their school uniforms that cleverly disguise the massive mounds of blubber underneath?

All of this is typical of the Nanny State.  First they "educate" and then they nag.  Having nagged they then force and ultimately bring in stigmatising and punitive laws that try to force people down the path of righteousness.

The last time I checked my BMI I think I was classed as "overweight bordering on obesity".  I see Doc from time to time and he has never commented on my weight.  Once I mentioned it as a joke and he did indeed laugh.  His response was that he didn't ever need to weigh me as he could see I was absolutely fine.

Or maybe he knew that if he suggested Blubber Bootcamp he knew what my reaction would be?

Did you ever see a doctor try to remove a stethoscope from up his rectum?