Michael Buerk - Wtf is he thinking?

[Sparklfairy]

He never struck me as the type to come out with antagonistic Katie Hopkins-esque crap...

news.sky.com/story/michael-buerk-let-obese-people-die-early-to-save-nhs-money-11778620

Well im sure the haters phoning in will be happy to refuse emergency treatment if they themselves are in pain if the person treating them happens to be overweight

As they hate overweight ppl so much im damn sure they wouldnt be hypocrites about it

I believe in 50 years there will have been much more research and knowledge about obesity and the opinions that are spouted now about people being greedy and lazy will look even more appalling and uneducated as they do today.

I think in the next few decades, is that a BMI of 30 will be seen as normal, rather than 25.

The morbid obesity that we are talking about here should never be seen as normal.

Do you think these Parkrunners should perhaps stay home and not bother themselves in trying to get fitter and lose weight?

Erm, no, which is why in my post I said it's "absolutely brilliant" that people of all sizes, shapes, ages, fitness levels etc Parkrun. I used to parkrun when I was 2st overweight, so I've been there. And it's running that helped me get to where I am now. But when I was overweight I never tried to delude myself that I wouldnt be fitter and healthier if I was thinner.

I couldn't even finish reading this. It made me feel sick. It makes me feel genuinely sad that their are people this vile in the world. I can't even begin to explain how this makes me feel as someone who has gained weight from medication and health issues. I know this isn't a good enough explanation for people who loom for some way to blame fat people. But I all I can say is if you agree with him I'm glad I'm not you with your disgusting views on others. I also hope none of your loved ones ever need treatment for so called preventable diseases because who knows where it will stop?

Once the link between smoking and and cancer was proven, the government (eventually) stepped in to making smoking as expensive as possible, to discourage people, and implemented the smoking ban so that people didn’t have to work or socialise in smoky environments, thus reducing their exposure to second hand smoke.

Obesity increases your risk of getting cancer, and decreases your ability to survive it. Obese parents are more likely to have obese children. I see no reason why the government shouldn’t step in to change behaviour, in the same way it did for smoking, to help people live longer.

It is no longer socially acceptable to smoke around adults, let alone children, so why is it acceptable to put up with bad diets, which will lead to obesity? And why should children not expect the adults in their lives to provide them with healthy diets?

To add: there’s a difference between denying treatment for preventable diseases (eg not treating lung cancer in a 40 a day smoker) versus the discouragement of making smoking as difficult as possible (restrictions on sale, tax, smoke free environments etc)

Most people who are overweight are so because they eat too much of the wrong things. It’s ridiculously easy to eat too much these days, our culture is hideously obesogenic. This is where the government should, and probably, will act - sugar tax, restrictions on advertising etc, not refusing treatments for preventable diseases.

You cannot moralise and stigmatise body types.

By all means campaign for cheaper, accessible nutritionally dense foods. But you cannot use fat bodies to be your reasoning. My body is not your scare story.

I see no reason why the government shouldn’t step in to change behaviour, in the same way it did for smoking, to help people live longer.

They can always start by stopping the benefit sanctions.

Food banks are hardly known for their healthy options No fresh food for a start.

@BuildBuildings
? Are you sure you are not misreading?
He is saying leave obese people alone. He is NOT saying let them die with no NHS. He is saying what is difference between spending on diabetes at age 40 vs dementia at age 80 if obesity means shorter lifespan? Basically that ALL people have potential to be very very expensive to NHS slim or fat and who cares that it comes 10yrs earlier with fat people on average compared to slim. Why does longevity matter? Some people don’t care about an extra ten years, why try and force people to aim to be 109 if it makes them unhappy.
When he says “weak” I took that to refer to longevity (dying earlier) rather than will power or anything. Like I have COPD so I am weak and will die sooner than people with healthy lungs.

@namechangerreloaded87 I agree. This is a piece of research on sleep and obesity which I found fascinating. There is still a modern lifestyle element to it, but nevertheless, it shows that it is more than just calories in and calories out. preventcrookedteeth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Sleep-related-breathing-problems-lack-of-sleep-may-increase-risk-of-childhood-obesity.pdf. So much more to understand.

I've read the article in the Radio Times and there is nothing controversial in it in my view. As others have said, he is is absolutely not saying that overweight people should be denied treatment.

He does say that overweight people eat too much, and eat the wrong things. That's a generalisation and of course there are some people who have medical reasons for their obesity, but for most of us it is too many calories and not enough exercise.

What over privileged people tend to forget is that life in the UK has got really shitty and really hard for a lot of people.

Its hardly surprising that some may think ...............wtf is the point of living longer for more of the same.