A weighty issue

There is something rather strange about an overweight prime minister taking action against obesity, just as there is something rather incongruous about the initiative going hand in hand with the new ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ policy where the public is being encouraged to eat out at restaurants and fast food places including Burger King and McDonalds in order to get the economy back on track.

The issue of weight is an interesting one – prior to the pandemic the idea that an individual’s weight was anyone’s business but their own was somewhat controversial. But with lockdown came the slogan “protect the NHS”, and the realisation that no aspect of healthcare exists in isolation. As such the use of any resources were subject to scrutiny, and with obesity linked to a number of health conditions, and more serious outcomes from the coronavirus, suddenly an individual’s weight became the legitimate concern of everyone. This is of course in complete contrast to the message of the body positivity movement, which had long preached that judging an individual for their size was wrong. Although in truth this only seemed to apply to plus-sized people – skinny people could still be criticised for their size – particularly if they were formerly overweight. For example, singer Adele was lambasted as some kind of weight traitor for her weight loss – I am not entirely sure which is more ridiculous; body positivists shaming someone for their size, or the specific criticism that her decision to lose weight was wrong because she was a role model for young girls.