"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?!

The government has known that old age and obesity are factors that increase mortality for several months.
They should have put measures in place to avoid these excess deaths regardless.
At this time, using age and obesity to explain away the death rate is victim blaming.

@Lweji she wasn’t victim blaming. She was giving suggestions as to why our death rates may be higher than other countries. What can the government do about that? Put people on forced diets and get Michael J Fox in with his time machine?

Maybe this pandemic has made people actually review their overall health status. I have reviewed the level of my alcohol intake and exercise. Others will have wondered if they should give up smoking. Yet others will think losing a bit of weight may be wise. It is not victim blaming to point out that these things increase disease and with Covid the link is even clearer.

Funnily enough i havent found looking and feeling like a scruffbag conducive to healthy eating.

@Lweji

The government has known that old age and obesity are factors that increase mortality for several months. They should have put measures in place to avoid these excess deaths regardless. At this time, using age and obesity to explain away the death rate is victim blaming.

Things is she wasn't victim blaming.

"Why do you think we have such a high death rate"

"Could be we have an aging population and we do have high obesity rates"

She didn't say "well it's the public's fault for being too old and too fat"

But she also didn't recognise other factors that are governmental doing such as late lockdowns.

I've said before (maybe here or elsewhere) that I'd be interested to know the different stats within BAME populations within Europe. For example the population percentage of people from BAME communities and the death rate within BAME communities per 100k population. Is our death rate worse for this community and if so there's no doubt we've failed them as it was highlighted as a contributory factor for death early on. Or do we have an equal death rate, but higher BAME population so therefore higher deaths?

This isn't about blaming people or who is right or wrong about decisions.

This is about statistics and risk.

[quote Blessex]@Lweji she wasn’t victim blaming. She was giving suggestions as to why our death rates may be higher than other countries. What can the government do about that? Put people on forced diets and get Michael J Fox in with his time machine?[/quote]
Lol, exactly.

@MercyBooth

Funnily enough i havent found looking and feeling like a scruffbag conducive to healthy eating.

Yeah - sadly leggings, lounge pants and fleeces stretch far to much 🙈

Agree with the other posters saying ITV need to hold him to account. Dr Hilary too.

Funnily enough i havent found looking and feeling like a scruffbag conducive to healthy eating. When i started going back to the hairdressers regularly in September the pounds started coming off again. Last appointment was meant to be two weeks ago. Now i feel scruffy again

"Things is she wasn't victim blaming.

"Why do you think we have such a high death rate"

"Could be we have an aging population and we do have high obesity rates"

She didn't say "well it's the public's fault for being too old and too fat"

But she also didn't recognise other factors that are governmental doing such as late lockdowns."

You're contradicting yourself.

My point is that the government knows the population is vulnerable to the virus, but has allowed it to spread more than it should.
They should be blaming themselves or people's behaviour, if anything, but not intrinsic factors that can't be changed easily.

Yes, the UK population is old. So is most of Western Europe's.

Include it in your plan to avoid deaths, don't use it as an excuse disguised as an explanation.

[quote Blessex]@Lweji she wasn’t victim blaming. She was giving suggestions as to why our death rates may be higher than other countries. What can the government do about that? Put people on forced diets and get Michael J Fox in with his time machine?[/quote]
That is my point.
Not much can be done about that.
But the government can put measures in place to prevent the spread of infection.

There is also another more likely explanation for higher death rates.
And that is lack of testing. That's on the government.

Lweji we are discussing PM reaction and twisting of her words to meet his "holding government to account" mantra rather than if being obese is a factor.

We know it is. We also know we are an obese country. I don't think we can hold government totally to account for that - there has to be some personal responsibility (and I'm overweight!)

It's the fact she suggested something and then PM accused her of blaming the population for being too old and fat. She didn't.

And what do you think government should have done be doing about our obesity issue? They've had funded gym membership for obese people and post op, post cancer patients for years. Maybe people aren't taking it up?

I'm not sure you understood what I'm saying, and I'm not sure I can explain it more clearly than I have.

I AM saying that nothing can be done about obesity in the short term, which is one reason she shouldn't have brought it up.
I really don't like PM (or the PM for that matter), but by not giving other reasons she pulled the obesity/age excuse, and she was rightly called out on that.

It is not inevitable that the UK should have a high mortality, or a high mortality rate.
Even if the UK population is by some miracle older and fatter than, say, Germany's.

Obesity is similar, in the 20s in adults at about 2015-16:
www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/400516/_EuroHealth_v25n1_WEB_12April.pdf?ua=1

@MercyBooth I know what you mean. My exercise regime has ground to nothing and the wine went up. Now on dry Jan (another thread!). But I do try and get up, wash my hair, shave my legs, squirt on some perfume and do a quick face of makeup. Don’t know for whom. Probably me. It’s hard isn’t it.

It's all over the news today about obesity.

They've released that our poorest towns have 2.5 times more chance of dying of covid than our more affluent ones. They are saying it's poor health and lifestyle and obesity and poor diet are huge factors.

I don't get whey when they were asked if they have any reasons and gave some it's was then wrong for some suggestions.

It's not the sole reason. But it's an influencing factor. Alongside the things the government fucked up.

@Blessex Yes With me its food. I put on weight last year. Am trying to lose it. I fall off the wagon more than i would normally. (i know i can do it. I lost ten stone back in the 2000s) But i got into the habit of rewarding myself with chocolate/baked goods for having to struggle round the supermarket in a fucking mask and being fucking angry about it while slebs/Cummings/Morgan etc etc etc got to go on holiday and do as they wished, And after six and a half years free of it my facial impetigo came back. If you close of everything from everyone including stopping them from seeing family , the most basic of things they will use whatever it takes to get through be that booze food or drugs. To then blame them for what you have inflicted on them is sickening and pushing your luck re further compliance.
I had a bit of a dependence on Zopiclone for a few years. Got myself off it back in 2017.

I dont smoke.
I dont drink (im 48 this year and have never been drunk)

im childfree by choice.

I dont vote Tory.

So Coffey and anyone else with her opinions can fuck off. I was "saving the NHS" before it was fashionable.

Our poorest towns are also likely to be on pre payment meters,

Unless E.on pull their finger out and sort out the security breach thats causing pre pay customers electric to be cut off, a lot of people will have to break lockdown and move in with relatives.

But not many ppl have posted on the thread ive got running about this. Probably because its not something the people who are on them. can be blamed for

@MercyBooth well I have my own issues for sure that I don’t want to go into on here. But I don’t blame the government for them. And I certainly don’t blame Coffey. They are my issues to deal with.

@Blessex Sorry. Should have made it clear that whole post wasnt aimed at you. Most of it was a general post.

This morning he's going on about Matt Hancock lying in 23rd March for statement he made in House of Commons.

His statement was clearly wrong in hindsight but I don't believe he stood up and deliberately deceived everyone. The statement is clear he believes what the scientists have told him.

And then ended his monologue with "if every other journalist did their job" in other words - I'm the only one getting this right.

He also is saying how tired gaunt and haunted Boris looked last night. He needs to look in the mirror. He's looking dreadful himself.

No one denies this is shit beyond shit. But it's really affecting PM in a that worries me. He seems to be taking it personally.

Ok, so obesity and old age are a factor.

The UK has higher rates of both than average, says Coffey. These demographic statistics are of course known to our government, as Therese Coffey demonstrates.

The question then is, why didn't the bloody government take appropriate and timely measures to mitigate these known risks?

Coffey and her colleagues can't have it both ways.

What do you think they could have done about the age of our nationals and about how obese we are?

Do you think the should have addressed the age and BMI or is it related to the fact we had the virus out of control and our nationals were more likely to die due to the demographics?

If the government had been that concerned, why did we have a month of half price KFC and McDonalds in August?

@itsgettingweird

What do you think they could have done about the age of our nationals and about how obese we are?

Do you think the should have addressed the age and BMI or is it related to the fact we had the virus out of control and our nationals were more likely to die due to the demographics?

Are you seriously asking about age, after the government created covid carnage in care homes?

I think people need to take personal responsibility for themselves. Half price food doesn’t mean you need to eat yourself stupid and get fat. It was to help out the flailing hospitality industry. You can’t blame the government for your own personal decisions.