Giving the issue a wide berth

I read this article with some interest and, I’ll admit, dismay. I might have even found myself getting a little angry, possibly because I recognised that to some degree, I don’t like to offend people and I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings – and that can be counterproductive. The BBC are suggesting that obesity might be turning into a taboo subject. I think that’s a disaster. People should call a spade, well, a spade.

In this case, they should call an obese person for the fat Buddha that they are.

Quite frankly, all this talk about protecting the children from being ‘stigmatised’ and ‘labelled for life’ is completely divergent from the message that we need to act to prevent child obesity. Referring to these children as ‘very overweight’ just uses two words to replace one that said it pretty damn well. It perpetuates the myth that it is acceptable to be overweight, and it sounds like the plea of parents who are trying to excuse themselves of responsibility for the wellbeing of their children.

A report due to be presented to ministers today will outline that childhood obesity is set before the age of five. This is an extremely important period in our development as it is, and I suspect the findings of these researchers will come as no surprise to most responsible parents. Until you pack the little buggers off to school, it falls to the parents to shape the future of their child. Stuffing it with crisps, sweets, and foods with high calorie-density is as damaging to their development as showing it video recordings of Hitler at Nuremburg. It also means that all the focus on PE and healthy eating at school is wasted if the parents take their eye off the ball and get lazy with the massive responsibility they have brought into the world.

While Jamie Oliver’s school-dinner frenzy is ultimately changing things for the better (even if it is interminably irritating), this report shows that the real focus ought to be on the parents before the child gets to school. The mandatory measurement of height and weight at school suggested by Professor Terry Wilkin of the University of Bristol is likely to be met by wails from parents determined to deny that they had any part in turning their child into a small blimp that is going to struggle with its size – possibly for the rest of its mortal life. I agree that it is of prime importance that we don’t alienate parents, because it is of vital importance that they are on-side and understand their role in this. I also believe that playing a sop to their ego is unacceptable. If they think they are being made to feel responsible for their child’s health, well, in almost all cases, they are. As a wise man once told me, man up and face it.

The Chief Medical Officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, has gone on the record saying that although we need to get in early “...and build the foundations of healthy living at an early age...” it is also “...never too late. Obesity is one of the few serious medical problems that can be reversed very, very quickly.”

David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum concurs with this view, telling the BBC that: “It is never too late or too early to intervene. The earlier the better in terms of long-term outlook.” In his view, childhood obesity is probably down to environment and learned behaviours.

So that’s three learned figures all telling us that it’s down to the parents. And yet these are the parents who we’re listening to trying to excuse themselves of the guilt for turning their child into ‘the fat kid’. Except there seem to be rather more of them these days.

Obesity should not be a taboo word. If their child gets the shit kicked out of it mentally or physically at school for being the size of a small moon, then that should send a pretty fucking clear message to the parents. You can’t blame the kids (although you can blame their parents for not teaching them tolerance). Stigmatised? Good. Then do something about it.

You want to become fat in later life? That’s your call and your responsibility. Don’t take that choice out of your child’s hands, they’re not responsible enough to make that decision for themselves because they don’t know any better. Give them a fighting chance in life. Show them pretty colours and clever toys. Read to them. Give them a copy of The Hobbit as soon as they’re capable of reading for themselves; tell them about the gay penguins if you like. Do all this, and for their sake, feed them healthy food and take them out to play.

Raising a child shouldn’t be easy. It’s not difficult and it’s not rocket science, but it does take effort. If you’re not prepared to put that effort in and invest in all that potential just waiting to be realised, you don’t deserve that child.

A slight change in tone

This blog, ultimately, is a personal blog. My intention for this was always to be a commentary upon the little events in the world that I found interesting, in the hope that others out there would find something to think about.

Thus far, there appears to be a trend towards the political and economic. It’s not entirely accidental, as these are subjects fairly close to my heart, and the recent events both global and local have caused these to prey upon my mind.

I also prey on other things. I’m sure my friends would have a smart comment to make about that. They’d probably be right.

In the words of Clarkson: And on that bombshell...

When did the world get so prudish?

I stood today in the gym changing rooms, stripping to my nude after a thoroughly enjoyable workout in preparation for a shower. Sharing the changing room with me were a couple of lads who, from the look of them, were no strangers to a little physical exercise. Now, I’m quite good at checking people out on the sly. If I think they’re checking me out, I’ll be a little less subtle about it, but on this occasion, I was landed in a pack of fit straight boys.

Quelle tragedie.

To a man, they stripped down, face to the locker, back to the room, and two even wrapped towels around themselves before they dropped their pants, and scurried off to the shower room so covered. Up to this point, I hadn’t been paying them much attention beyond an initial, very casual glance around the room.

I’ll admit I have a vested interest in asking this, but why do people feel the need to cover themselves up? What is it about the male genitalia that young lads get all shy?

For clarification, I’m talking twentysomething lads here, but it applies to older chaps as well to a degree. As a rule, I have noticed that people seem to be less bothered about that sort of thing with age, so there is no doubt a correlation.

When I was a young boy at Robert Gordon’s College up in Aberdeen, we went to the playing fields every week, and showered naked in the communal showers and thought nothing of it. When I was a little older, on the cusp of puberty, I found myself in a gym changing room at Secondary School down in England, and everybody seemed to be showering in swimming trunks.

What the deuce?

Was it adolescence that brought this awareness and shame to the fore? Were people afraid their manhood might be compared to the boy next to them, and found wanting?

Is that what the lads were worried about in the gym today?

Let’s assume for the moment that they didn’t know I would have liked a sneaky peak. I’m fairly confident of that so we can take it out of consideration. Assuming that I was just another lad getting changed, I find myself wondering why I don’t mind being naked, and they all appear to.

If it’s a size issue, well, I have nothing to be ashamed of, even if I’m not in the Dirk Diggler leagues. I don’t think it’s particularly a straight/gay thing either, as I know plenty gay lads who get all shy. By the same token, I know plenty gay guys who get it out any chance they get. I may even be one of them, in the right environment. The gym changing rooms is probably one such environment.

Short of asking them, I’m unlikely to get an answer. Even if I did, I suspect they might not even know. It’s far more likely to be conditioned, or through a lingering self awareness from puberty – one I admit I never really had.

In the meantime, I’d just like to say this: Get your cock out for the lads!

Because naked is fun, and if you’re fit, you should be used to being looked at. Enjoy it.

UPDATE:
After some of the comments posted I feel I should clarify my position. I'm not just saying fit boys shoudn't be all shy, it applies to everyone. Devil be damned what everyone else thinks.

Public Safety Announcement

This is a public safety announcement.

If you are a pedestrian in the City of Edinburgh, this applies specifically to you. It goes for every other city too.

Please look before you cross the road. Just because you can't hear a car/bus hurtling towards you or you think that the traffic light is going to stay red long enough for you to run across the road does not mean that it is in fact safe to cross. Cyclists use the road too, and are much quieter than cars. They may also be going quite fast, and nipping past the queue of cars, because they a) can, and b) are perfectly entitled to do so. Running out between cars without thinking to check in both directions is patent stupidity at best, tantamount to suicide at worst.

If you have a death wish, please ensure that of you are going to step out gormlessly into the road, you do so in front of a bus or 4x4, and not in front of a fragile, high-speed cyclist. You will likely kill them, rather than yourself.

Pedestrian Crossings are there for a reason. Please use them, and if there is a red man, it is on for a reason.

That will be all.