The poorest in society don't have the luxury of choosing the best healthy ingredients and invariably have to buy cheap processed foodstuffs which are packed full of sugar, salt and preservatives. Smoking still remains legal as does alcohol and the TAX that is levied on these products more than pays for the health related side effects. The real problem here is that the population is ageing and the cost of long term healthcare for the elderly is at present unsustainable! There aren't enough workers in the system paying Taxes to sustain the elderly. Healthcare should not become means tested on any criteria in a civilised society and I'm surprised that you are even advocating such a grotesque Nazi style policy!
Yeah JWM is right. It is too simplistic to put obesity down to gluttony and over-indulgence. The most obese areas in the country are also the most poor and I don't think that's a coincidence.
I notice Man City are giving a leg up to that prize ****er Osborne. Tossers.I'm supporting the Eyeties.
There is nothing expensive about fruit and vegetables, pasta, rice all cheap As for the ***s, if people want to smoke them then thats fine, I don't believe your statement the money spent covers the costs for the side effects. They do take funds away from those more deserving. If we deny those who do not want to take responsibility for themselves the treatment. We can afford to look after those who have and are old of age. These people still have the freedom of choice to do as they please, they would just have to face the consequences of it.
No, its not a coincidence. However, they still know its bad for them and the poor were certainly not overweight years ago.
Have to agree with carrabuh on the food thing. You can easily make cheap nutritious meals for very little money. How much does it cost to make soup or a jacket potato? I do however think there is a massive lack of education on how to make good healthy food. Also it doesn't help that the governments for years has been giving essentially false information on what a balanced diet is. The best way to tackle the issues of obesity and smoking is to take action on the cause meaning less on the outcomes. Increased education and awareness, maybe tax some foods?, regulate what is put in processed foods?, limits on advertising etc. But it is undoubtedly true that obesity is a massive problem (sorry for that) and costs the NHS huge money that arguably could be directed elsewhere. There are genetic issues etc, but the majority is due to bad habits. Another issue overlooked is the role of psychology and how mental illness can be linked with these habits.
Carabuh's stance on fatties is extremely dangerous ,If we saved enough from letting them die maybe he would turn his attention to blind people or the disabled as those labradors aren't cheap . As it's getting hotter ginger people are more at risk of getting skin cancer maybe sterilizing people that have expensive genetic illnesses next?. Personally I think if you are quite rich or you work for a big company they or you should be expected to pay for premium health cover but still be entitled to basic NHS standard care. Similar to Sky tv and Freeview . The dead should be harvested for organs as standard on a first come first served basis for all doners.
The long term unemployed (2 years+) should be given food vouchers which can only be spent on staple/healthy foods plus fruit and vegetables, I wonder how many kids go hungry or eat crap because Mum and Dad need their fix of ciggies and alcohol. Yes the more Liberal minded may argue that perhaps a stigma would be attached to spending these vouchers, but I think that not only would it encourage healthier eating habits it just might make those who've never attempted to get off their backsides to find work to try and do so.
I don'y know about you guys but I got a letter about my income tax the other day, it breaks down where your tax money is spent. There were a lot of categories ranging from Welfare, EU membership, MOD, etc........ The welfare part of my income tax was by far the largest it was around £8k a year, the next lowest which I can't remember was about £4k. There are people out there that deserve it and if I ever fell on hard times I wouldn't feel bad about drawing benefits as I have paid plenty in so far. However when I think that just the first 2 things on that tax list would be enough to employ an apprentice I do question things in my mind.
Two words -Lynton Crosby. The Tories have hired this election guru from Australia and he has cynically decided to target the poorest in society in an attempt to win in May .Then The Bullingdon Boys and their Eton mates can continue to milk the working and middle classes for their pals. One of the biggest rip offs are defence contractors.A guy I know does work for the RAF.He gets paid quite well,on nearly a grand a week.His bosses charge the MoD a grand a day for his services!
This thread is like looking through a crack in the floor to hell I'm glad I'm not living in the Brave new Orwellian nightmare of a World that you lot crave.
We are 10 years away from making the poor fight ****ing robots to the death whilst Simon Cowell and Ant and Deck whip the audience into a frenzy and plug their premium rate phone line to see which poor sap goes up against Sir Killalot from Robot wars in a Roman style orgy of violence . Only the people with jobs are allowed chocolate bars and beefburgers but if you get too fat or diabetis you will be left to die. Jesus Christ .
I am not sure that I can let you get away with this one JWM. Buying 'decent' quality food such as fresh mince need not be expensive and with a few additonal ingredients and not a lot of cooking time can provide nutritional food for a family on a tight budget. 1lb of quality mince from a proper butcher would cost roughly £4 and this could feed a family of 4 (2 parents and 2 kids) for at least one if not two meals and thereby works out far more economical than one of Ronald's meals and obviously a lot more nutritious. The same with good quality sausages where you can get 2 for £1 so say 6 for the above family, providing he basis of a meal for £3. Most processed purchases woudl be above that figure and contain salt and sugar as you mentioned. Regarding the NHS, I think that the basic services should be free. However, purely cosmetic surgery should be paid for as it is not strictly 'health' related but by definition cosmetic. When the NHS was introduced there were no such cases of frippery, that is something that has only progressed in more recent times and has helped to make the service as a whole less affordable. My other half used to work in a doctor's surgery and at home we have had many discussions about the 'frequent flyers' as they are called, patients who book appointments for no disernable reason other than to pass half an hour because they are lonely or they are too stupid to know what to do in the case of very minor problems - little Tommy scraping his knee for example. Most people would clean the wound and then apply TCP and a plaster not make appointments with medical professionals. One theory I have heard mooted was to make a charge for an initial doctor's appointment (say £10) which would be automatically refunded if the doctor deemed the visit to have been valid (which of course the overwhelming majority would be). I think that these two instances (cosmetics and timewasters) would help in a small way to maintain the service that we all want as the instances outlined border on abuse of the system. Finally, we must charge anyone outside of the UK for use of our service as we have put the cash in to provide it and should be recompensed for anyone who has not contributed. I hope you agree.
I am all for a bit of accountability, but where do we set the rules? No cosmetic surgery? Not even if someone is disfigured by some psyco in an acid attack? An arbitrary BMI figure that if exceeded no care is given? Wasn't Johny wilkinson declared to be classified obese from his BMI score! Why stop there! How about no free care for anyone who plays sport and gets injured? Just like fatty, you knew the risks. A sliding tackle can be more damaging than any donut! What about Tracy from the Chantry? she's never paid any tax, she is having her 6th child and god only knows who the father is? (Where were you around April last year JWM???) Maybe she should be taken to task, go have your baby at home, you've had enough practice! How about we stop treating women for breast cancer, they only went and had breasts when men generally don't and are much less likely too. What about denying everyone free health care, afterall they were born, as soon as you do that you risk any number of; birth defects, diseases, injuries, habits, lifestyles! I do agree with KIO though. Vouchers for the long term unemployed would be a great way of helping them to make some better choices they seem unable or unwilling to make. Whilst I have poked fun at the notion of making treatment dependant on some personal responsibilty. There should also be some element of assessment to it. But the people you're assessing more than anything need help. Take that Barry (think that was his name) from Ipsquit, who was the fattest man in britain. How could we let him get to that point as a society? He sure as hell couldn't feed himself as he became totally immobile. His mum continued to feed his one man crusade to become worlds fatest. Well that to me is abuse! She should have been fined (Oh shoot that comes out of their benefits) then locked up. Care givers could have then prevented the fiasco. Not being funny, but when someone is telling the council that they need a house with much wider doors to accomodate this glutenous doughball, surely someone might have questioned that and said why has it got to this? How about a diet? Who is abusing this dumbass? If he is truely mentally ill then he needed some support, if he is just the greedy gluttenous idiot that he came across as on the local news at the time then he needed a whole heep of abstinence and guidence. Unfortunitely we do live in a world where it's always someone elses fault. (Mostly Delia's I'd imagine!) Bah!
Oh goody, that all sounds much more entertaining than the X-factor and Strictly! Unless Hughton has a robot that would just go side to side with no weapons to go in for the kill! Might turn dull again! Bah!
Surgery required following an acid attack would not be purely cosmetic General, that would be treatable. I wasn't sure if your reply was in answer to my post or JWM's to be honest, hency the clarification if it was to me.
