Wednesday 18 May 2016

Trimming The Fat In The Budget…

Funding for obesity in Essex is being cut …
Well, it’s OK, we’ve got quite a huge reserve of landwhales and lardbuckets, so we’ll be …

Wait, that wasn’t what you meant, was it?
… despite a countywide epidemic. By 2020 experts estimate more than a third of adults will be clinically obese. Despite the problem Essex County Council, the organisation responsible for public health, is cutting funding. Last year £1,482,762 was spent on weight management.
This year it will be £1,342,800 - a reduction of about £140,000 - and the money will also have to cover a new National Diabetes Prevention Programme.
That’s all we are talking about – a mere £140k? You’ve still got over a million pounds left!
A weight management campaign was launched by the authority this year, in stark contrast to the funding cut, called Essex Weighs. The website www.essexweighsin.com allows people, according to the council, to create "a personalised profile, where they can log their weight and pledge to act upon different healthy lifestyle changes, such as eating more fruit and exercising".
A spokesman said: "As well as free resources such as recipes and exercise advice, the website also has a community focus, with the inclusion of blogs, which allow residents to share their own experience, in their own words, of their healthy living and weight management journey. "
So you set up a website – that didn’t cost £140k, did it? But then, knowing the way councils spend money…

8 comments:

PJH said...

" By 2020 experts estimate more than a third of adults will be clinically obese."

That's a bit of forward planning - how much are they changing the BMI limits by? "Obese if your BMI is > 26" perhaps?

After all it's working (LOL) for the puritanical anti-alcohol lot with their '14 units is binge drinking now, not 21. Oh - btw, there's no safe limit either - go teetotal now. Or else.' bollocks...

stengle said...

So, the weight programme is being slimmed down... Seems about the healthiest option to me.

Sobers said...

The entire thing is a job creation scheme for middle class do-gooders with nothing degrees from crap universities who couldn't make anything other than minimum wage working in the private sector. Absolutely nothing of use to actual fat people will be achieved, just nice salaries and pension rights for Guardian reading types. The entire State and 3rd sectors are stuffed with this crap.

Ted Treen said...

@Sobers:- Curses; you've stolen my thunder. All I can do is congratulate you on summing it up so succinctly. Well done that man or woman.

Anonymous said...

Yep, what Sobers said. The depressing part is that when you read the comments on articles about the supposed obesity epidemic, a significant proportion of comments are from people who believe that it actually exists. According to the obesity charlatans I'm overweight, I have a 32" waist FFS. Also lots of comments about fast food outlets, as if people are being physically dragged into them and being force fed pizza, chips and burgers.

Stonyground

Anonymous said...

BMI - Bodies Measured by Idiots.
Penseivat

Anonymous said...

I doubt that the rise in obesity is unrelated to the unacceptability of fat shaming. We should stopped spending on trying persuade the horribly lardy to not eat, and start a cheap campaign to tease the blubbery. Bingo: problem solved.

JuliaM said...

"That's a bit of forward planning - how much are they changing the BMI limits by?"

It's challenging, but I have every confidence in them!

"The entire thing is a job creation scheme for middle class do-gooders with nothing degrees from crap universities who couldn't make anything other than minimum wage working in the private sector. "

Spot on!

"The depressing part is that when you read the comments on articles about the supposed obesity epidemic, a significant proportion of comments are from people who believe that it actually exists."

'Education, education, education..' anyone? ;)

"BMI - Bodies Measured by Idiots."

/applause