Boris bikes and half price junk food

[BackInTime]

So Boris wants to tackle obesity and is funding cycle lanes and £50 vouchers to get everyone on a bike. This assumes that everyone has an old bike they can get repaired and also that cycling is the only form of exercise that people can or want to do. Where is the help for other sports? Meanwhile local leisure centres, swimming pools and gyms are going bust leaving children and local people without access to swimming lessons or sports clubs. Schools have already said that PE and sport in schools could be reduced due to social distancing and to facilitate catch up for missed work.

Then we have the Eat Out to Help Out scheme next week with 50% off at restaurants like Burger King and MacDonalds. What a fantastic incentive for people to eat healthier.

AIBU to think that while the intention to tackle obesity is a good thing that once again we have another muddled up Boris policy doomed to fail?

A few half-priced burgers in August are not going to cause a massive spike in obesity levels!

The bike is not about exercise, it's about transport.

I agree that including fast food and big chain coffee shops in the scheme is madness. I took DS (11) to McDonalds last night as we gd to travel to his BMX session around tea time and it cost us £8 something for our 2 extra value meals. If I do the same next week it’ll cost us £4 something! I couldn’t cook a meal for less than that. Even if DH came it’d cost less than a tenner.

This assumes that everyone has an old bike they can get repaired and also that cycling is the only form of exercise that people can or want to do.

It doesn't 'assume' that at all. Walking is free, can be done by the majority of the population, and has been actively encouraged from the start of the Covid crisis.

When did people stop taking any responsibility for their own health? No one is forced sit on their arse eating MacDonalds/Burger King just because they haven't got a bike. I haven't got a bike. I still manage to take plenty of exercise, and I manage not to eat fast food as a matter of course.

There are myriad ways to lose weight and live a healthier life without waiting for the prime minister to dictate specific food choices or forms of exercise.

No win situation. People are getting bigger and it's not good for us or for the NHS. No matter what they do people would still moan about it, at least it's a start.

As for cheap food deals, this is a short term program to try and kick start the sector which has been massively hit by the lockdown and is likely to remain so for a long time. My only worry is that once the deal ends, sales will plummet and restaurants etc will be forced to lower prices to retain custom and even more corners will need to be cut.

@LadyCatStark

I agree that including fast food and big chain coffee shops in the scheme is madness. I took DS (11) to McDonalds last night as we gd to travel to his BMX session around tea time and it cost us £8 something for our 2 extra value meals. If I do the same next week it’ll cost us £4 something! I couldn’t cook a meal for less than that. Even if DH came it’d cost less than a tenner.

There are plenty of cheap home-cooked meals for two you could make for less than £4. Pasta and sauce is the main one that comes to mind, or soup and bread, or veggie stew, jacket potato and beans, omelette, frittata...

Let's not go down the road of pretending Boris is forcing everyone to go and shove McDonald's down their throats. You can use your offer at loads of other, healthier places or just not to at all.

Besides, one McDonald's a week throughout August is not the reason we have an obesity crisis.

No win situation. People are getting bigger and it's not good for us or for the NHS. No matter what they do people would still moan about it, at least it's a start.

Whatever the government advice is (and that's any government, not specifically this government), people complain:

"How dare they tell me what to eat or what exercise to take! Bloody nanny state! I'll show them - by sitting down and eating cheap burgers every day!"

"How dare they tell me to lose weight for health purposes amidst a pandemic caused by a virus that has significantly worse implications with obesity. I want a free bike and a free salad because I cannot possibly be responsible for my own diet or exercise!"

Everybody should stop all this whinging, moaning and complaining.

I am not and have never been a Tory supporter but they are trying here. It's a start.

Everybody needs to start taking some fucking responsibility for themselves.

Three half price quarter pounders in August is not going to do very much to an already obese person other than possibly it being one last hurrah.

It is entirely possible to enjoy a burger now and again and lose weight.

Crazy I know.