Friday 20 March 2009

If People Are Happy To Tell Their Doctor To Mind His Own Business...

...what do you think they are going to tell Bob from next door?
Public health "mentors" will be enlisted by the NHS to offer 'on the spot' advice in their local neighbourhood when they see people smoking, eating or drinking too much.
And I thought we had a prison spaces crisis. Obviously, not as big a crisis as we are going to have, if this ever sees the light of day....
The mentors, who as volunteers are not paid, are expected to work to influence the people around them, offering advice to workmates, family and friends about how they should change their unhealthy habits.

Eating a third fried breakfast of the week in the office canteen, having a drink 'for the road' at your local pub or chain-smoking another cigarette while waiting for the bus could all see the mentors spring into action to offer the Government's advice.
Think, government advisors, think! Where are we going to bury all these bodies?

Is there salivation at the thought of this from a fakecharity, by the way?

Why, yes! Who could have guessed:
Martin Dockerell, from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the anti-smoking charity, said: "If you get the mentoring scheme right and if you manage to turn things around so it seems that healthy behaviour is not abnormal then that can be very powerful."
Stalin would have loved you, Martin. And that's not a compliment....
Volunteers attend training sessions where they are taught how to offer appropriate advice on health issues including how to become more active, have a better diet, stop smoking and reduce stress.

They then spread those messages when it seems appropriate to them during their everyday life and also offer advice on request.
Self-defence classes optional, I presume..?

16 comments:

North Northwester said...

The Junior Anti-Sex League, wasn't it, in 1984?

Anonymous said...

Sadly this country is full of people who would jump at the chance of doing this.

Anonymous said...

Stalin would have loved you, Martin. And that's not a compliment....

Stalin AND Mao.

North Northwester said...

The Junior Anti-Sex League, wasn't it, in 1984?


You do not need to go to Orwell. The Red Guard, and other party cadres throughout the "cultural revolution" did EXACTLY this in China. The "Young Pioneers in the U.S.S.R.

Truth can be stranger than fiction. That is why the study of history is important.

Von Brandenburg-Preußen.

Letters From A Tory said...

Ha, I spotted this one too. What an embarrassing episode for everyone concerned. Walking around the streets telling people to stop smoking really is an amateurish policy at the best of times.

Oldrightie said...

The subject matter is irrelevant. What this Country is crying out for is millions more public safety and quango related jobs. Our borrowing is only nudging 200 billion. Let's notch up a few trillion more. Makes very pretty wallpaper.

Anonymous said...

Oldrightie said...

The subject matter is irrelevant. What this Country is crying out for is millions more public safety and quango related jobs. Our borrowing is only nudging 200 billion. Let's notch up a few trillion more. Makes very pretty wallpaper.


You should read the article;

The mentors, who as volunteers are not paid,

Von Brandenburg-Preußen.

James Higham said...

if you manage to turn things around so it seems that healthy behaviour is not abnormal then that can be very powerful

What sort of gobbledegook is that?

AntiCitizenOne said...

I'll offer practical advice on dealing with fist inflicted injuries...

Anonymous said...

Bleß him Oldrightie, my Grandfather observed that red faced monocled Prussians in spike tipped helmets were only polite once you had your own point across.


Battenberg and Vienna Roll.

JuliaM said...

"Sadly this country is full of people who would jump at the chance of doing this."

Yep, and they are precisely the kind of people we shouldn't be encouraging!

"The mentors, who as volunteers are not paid..."

No, but there's the training contract to award, and run, and the monitoring officers, etc..

"What sort of gobbledegook is that?"

It's the best kind. It's the kind you get from NuLab at their 'finest'...

"I'll offer practical advice on dealing with fist inflicted injuries..."

Yeah, I think that may be needed. Of course, I think the opprobium this has generated means there's no chance of it being put into practice.

In fact, I wonder what it's being used to distract us all from...?

Sue said...

This is awful. Imagine if the nice little old lady next door that you had lived in harmony with for 30 years suddenly takes it upon herself "as a good samaritan" to become a mentor.

You meet in the garden on a warm evening while your family are around having a drink and a smoke and suddenly her head pops up and she starts lecturing you...

I'm beginning to think that Labour want us at each other throats at all costs.

Divide and Conquer!

Sue said...

Or I am being being paranoid?

JuliaM said...

No. I think you're being prescient....

Anonymous said...

Would you like to see someone 'spread those messages when it seems appropriate to them'
It not a great quip but if you want a seriously childish belly laugh check this vid out at Sue's place.
http://muffledvociferation.blogspot.com/2009/03/bored-with-politics-why-wont-gordon.html

I nearly peed my pants laughing.

Sue said...

Mummy likes farting jokes :)

Sue said...

I doubt whether it will be become a reality. There are a few of the righteous left, but in the main, they are not in normal society, not in your council estate for example.

They exist apart, they exist in a perfect thatched cottage village somewhere or in a suburban town in well to do England.

These won't be normal people. Normal people are just trying to survive and are essentially selfish and won't do a job for nothing.

It's not going to happen.