"Too old and too fat" interview with a Theresa Coffey

[itsgettingweird]

Now that's not actually what she said!

She suggested some of the reasons why our death rate may be comparably higher is because we have an aging population and have an obesity problem.

Piers Morgan chose the words too old and too fat because he's the test he is and likes to play mind games.

Dr Hilary actually backed her up and said our average is higher and our obesity is higher than most other European countries.

He also said this could be a contributing factor alongside other factors we know about which of course is boarders, failed T and T and late lockdowns.

PM suggested she was blaming the public. I didn't see it that way. She was pointing out it could be a contributing factor - she certainly wasn't blaming the 90yo for being 90 and catching covid and dying!

Boris himself said his weight was probably a contributing factor to why he suffered badly. He accepted that there was some responsibility on his part to rectify this.

Did anyone else feel it was totally blaming the public or just a way of adding reasonable contributing factors whilst failing to continuously acknowledge the governments own contributing failures?!

I watched that interview. PM was just continually cutting over everything she was saying and ranting. He had no intention of letting her finish any sentences and was incredibly rude, twisting all her words. She had to go as had another interview to do. It was awful to watch.

twitter.com/fleetstreetfox/status/1353745697779154946?s=20

fleetstreetfox
@fleetstreetfox
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4h
Japan has the oldest population in the world, and 13 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

The Cook Islands, with the fattest population, has 9.7.

The UK, which is getting older and fatter all the time, has just 2.5.

It's no wonder the minister ran away

From Private Eye.

Coffey is to tackle the looming unemployment crisis by reviving a privatised welfare to work scheme from 2011 that was marred by poor results corruption , exploitation of the unemployed and the collapse of leading providers. Under Coffeys £2.9 billion Restart scheme contractors will help unemployed people on UC into work using job coaches training and work placements on a paid by results basis

Germany has an older and fatter population with amazing health infrastructure and so their mortality rate isn’t as high.

@GetOffYourHighHorse

'Then she ran away by cutting the interview short when she realised what she had just said which is simply cowardly for a minister...'

She didn't run away, she had another interview, Morgan had kept her waiting for her allotted time so tough.

He needs to learn how to interview people he is an amateurish prat. I cringe whenever I see him trying to 'grill' anyone. Susanne Reid omg where is her pride to be sat next to that arsehole every day.

Agree.

I often sway between being annoyed at her, empathetic towards her and then seeing the side of her I like. But she often gets caught up in believing PM own hype - which is always his interpretation of the rules and not what's actually the truth.

I remember the whole France holiday thing. It was when I really turned on him.

He believes we should have shut boaters and berates government for it. He believed if announcing a closure of gravel corridor it should be immediate and not with 48-72 hours notice.

Yet he travelled and then when they closed the corridor he returned early to avoid quarantine.

If you are going to try and publicly humiliate people for their decisions you should (IMO) practice what you believe. He has no integrity. And for me that's an issue.

Yes you are more likely to die from covid if you are obese and/or old. Shock.

PM is another example of people who shout and dictate about rules but don’t follow them themselves. Flying off to Antigua at Christmas?

I’m totally against the level of restrictions we have...yet follow the fucking things anyway. People like him, Sturgeon, Ferguson can all do one with their dictatorial rants

I'd heard he flew to Antigua for Xmas. Has this actually been confirmed?

Cos I know his son moved from London to their Sussex (?) home because of tier 4.

Yes, he flew to Antigua for Christmas

He tried to cover it up too.

So

France

Not putting on face mask in taxi

Antigua for xmas

His hypocrite status is just growing.

I always thought he was one over his comments about Trump. He's not that different and I fear this pandemic could push him to the same place of loss of control and have felt it for a while.

The egotistical narcissistic twat has been unravelling for a while.

I actually think ITV have a duty of care and need to remove him from air for his own good.

@itsgettingweird They have no intention of living how they want the rest of us to live.

'I actually think ITV have a duty of care and need to remove him from air for his own good'

I also think he should be held to account for contributing to the panic buying last March. His hysterical 'We're all going to die!!' Comments to his 7m Twitter followers and gmb viewers really added to the stockpiling imo.

He should've used his relatively high profile positively. To be calm and challenge politicians professionally. He had a chip on his shoulder that Johnson had snubbed his grubby breakfast telly show during the election campaign and used the pandemic to get his revenge. He really is awful and extremely damaging as thick people lap up everything he says.

@itsgettingweirditsgettingweird ''You've missed the point.We've already all agreed as I stated in my OP that she deliberately avoided the governments mistakes.But she didn't say we are "too old and too fat". She said we have an aging population and higher levels of obesity.''

Er, no the bloody points that matter is that she made a fool of herself by storming off and she did state that the cause for the high death rate were elderly and obese people...

Morgan simply repeated this back to her in a more straightforward way...defending her is ludicrous.

The fact that we have people who live to an older age is not a bloody issue, it is to be welcome and that it something that also occurs in most developed countries. And the Tories conveniently forger that a lot of people who are obese are the poorest who lack the funds or education to make better choices, a category of people that this government does not usually give a damn about.

Ministers should take responsibility for the crisis not act surprise when suggestions are made that they are supposed to manage it...

@GrumpyHoonMain

Germany has an older and fatter population with amazing health infrastructure and so their mortality rate isn’t as high.

Nope. The UK is 36th on the list of countries by obesity, Germany is 79th. They do have a higher % of over 65s though.

Electra we are discussing what she said. We know what she said. We are discussing the way PM twisted her words and he was the one that out the accusations on the public "too fat".

Funny how after yesterday's temper tantrum they actually covered the fact today about obesity being a contributing factor.

He does it all the time. Has a temper tantrum because he wants to make people look silly so he can then lead the discussion and it's all about him.

He's such an egotistical twat he's proud of the fact they've created a Mr Man book about him called Mr Shouty. He thinks his shouty personality is good journalism.

And I once use to think he was. I've always love his life stories and serial killer interviews.

But he's made this pandemic all about him.

And he doesn't give a shit about the public. If he did he'd stick to the rules himself.

'He's such an egotistical twat he's proud of the fact they've created a Mr Man book about him called Mr Shouty. He thinks his shouty personality is good journalism.'

Yes the narrative needs to change, he is indeed proud of his shouty 'bullying' reputation, when really he is whiny and unintelligent. I do wish politicians would man up a bit and wipe the floor with him. They need to follow coffey's lead, answer his question roll their eyes then switch the link off when time is up.

What @ElectraBlue said. Piers Morgan is a known quantity, anyone who consents to be interviewed by him knows exactly what they will get.

He did what he does and she flounced off. They are both as immature as each other and together they made yet more dross coverage about Covid.

I'm no Piers Morgan fan but facts are facts. People who are fat are going to suffer more, as are the elderly.

That's not news.

I think the role of obesity in all of this has been avoided for too long. That is not to necessarily blame the overweight, as the reasons for overeating are complex for many and not easy to resolve. However I'd be facinated to know what position we'd be in now if everyone had got their weight to a healthy range since last March.

I would have liked the governement to have done something creative like a temporary 2 year 20% fat tax on all processed unhealthy food and drink. Not only to discourage the consumption (I have eaten loads more junk this year) but also to raise money to support the spending on the pandemic. It would have been a good opportunity to see if it worked in helping people make better choices.

Yes, saw this and she handled it badly, but in essence it seems to be correct. I agree that the current 'trend?' for fat acceptance is worrying, and while it's great that modelling, advertising etc are now showing those who are not 'model thin', those who are older etc, it's taking it to another level to celebrate the morbidly obese. There is nothing healthy about it.

@ginghamstarfish

Yes, saw this and she handled it badly, but in essence it seems to be correct. I agree that the current 'trend?' for fat acceptance is worrying, and while it's great that modelling, advertising etc are now showing those who are not 'model thin', those who are older etc, it's taking it to another level to celebrate the morbidly obese. There is nothing healthy about it.

Agree she also handled it badly.

That's what PM wants imo. He seems to have created a narrative about him "holding politicians to account"

I wish he would. I actually think he could and could do it well.

But he's doing it badly by shouting. By not allowing them to answer. From what I've watched his "I want them to answer a direct question with a direct answer" is actually "ill only listen if they give the answer I want"

This morning he went on a 6 minute monologue (attack) over someone who critiqued his current MO.

We do need answers and we do need honesty. We don't need someone who won't follow the rules themselves constantly shouting over his co host, refusing to allow people to talk and thinking Mr Shouty is some major compliment and person to aspire to be.

I remember the care homes. He was great at getting the truth. But his interview with Minister for social care where he totally bullied her and got let off after complaints gave him some kind of pass to think this was what people wanted.

Then after berating government for their handling (and they should have said they got it wrong as they did release people but we now know how and why they got it wrong and it was lack of science) he then turned to berating them for having care homes shut and no visitors.

He doesn't appear to have a stance. He just chooses a topic and shouts over it.

Piers is a disrespectful twat after his own headlines. He is meant to be reporting the news not making the news. No wonder the government decided no ministers went on to GMB for a while. They are headed for the same again. It is just embarrassing to watch some journalists sometimes. Even Andrew Marr on Sunday kept asking Matt Hancock when schools were going back. He kept saying ‘I don’t know’. We will wait for the correct conditions in the data. But that doesn’t make a headline. So he kept being asked. I had to almost scream at the tv. Andrew he DOESN’T KNOW YET. It’s awful because you know these journalists aren’t stupid so they must only be doing it for their own ego and headlines.

@Blessex

Piers is a disrespectful twat after his own headlines. He is meant to be reporting the news not making the news. No wonder the government decided no ministers went on to GMB for a while. They are headed for the same again. It is just embarrassing to watch some journalists sometimes. Even Andrew Marr on Sunday kept asking Matt Hancock when schools were going back. He kept saying ‘I don’t know’. We will wait for the correct conditions in the data. But that doesn’t make a headline. So he kept being asked. I had to almost scream at the tv. Andrew he DOESN’T KNOW YET. It’s awful because you know these journalists aren’t stupid so they must only be doing it for their own ego and headlines.

Exactly what I think.

They are intelligent people with what you would how was excellent communication and literacy skills to be in journalism.

Yet they ask the same questions consistently (also at the pressers).

They won't make any decisions about reducing lockdown until they have the data. They've been clear about this. I don't know why they keep asking "when will you do x y and z"

We all want out of lockdown. I've certainly had enough now and am finding this one much harder. But I also want it to be right so we don't have another one in a few months

@itsgettingweird you are right. I mean who would want that job at the moment. It is difficult enough as it is without some ego-maniac screaming at you and shouting you down on national tv.

Now that doesn’t let them off the hook. They need to be asked stretching and deep questions but this starts to turn into a ‘let me catch you out’ and ‘let me create a headline’. The way he said - oh so you mean old fat people. Oh grow up piers. We all know the data shows that those with higher BMI and age are more vulnerable to this horrible illness. That was headline bait.