David Cameron: It is your fault if you are fat and poor.

[FairyMum]

Has anyone commented on the David Cameron-speech on moral neutrality? He is a price-dick, isn't he?

slightly impressed

I accept responsibility for my obesity (I can cite mitigating factors but ultimately I do accept responaibility) but I'm not sure how thats helpful to anyone. Surely the point is providing a reasonable amount of support for me to lose wieght and a programme designed to prevent as many childrne becoming obese as possible - cimpulsory aerobic exercise at school etc

I fail to see how poverty can be one individuals responsibility unless they refuse to work when work is available to them at a sensible rate of pay.

Yes, being fat is your own fault, just like:

smoking is your own fault
high blood pressure is your own fault
drinking too much is your own fault
being poor (and, oh yes, spending a higher proportion of your income on food than rich people and perhaps choosing the fatty foods because they're cheaper...) is your own fault
taking drugs is your own fault
living in an area rife with knife crime is your own fault
putting up with domestic violence is your own fault
having rotten teeth is your own fault
getting pregnant at 15 is your own fault

Oh, and I imagine, he would argue the opposite is true:

people are individually responsible for their
health and wealth (wot, he and his wife made all their money themselves...?)

Get an education, Cameron-apologists; have a little teeny tiny bit of a think about why individualist explanations are utterly unworkable in modern societies; and then come back and try and defend the tosser.

I thought sport was virtually free if you are poor (don't you get some kind of exemption thingy in most boroughs)
Going for a walk or a run is free
Or a bike ride if you can afford a bike

lol, Snaf!

CD, google 'food desert' - the move to out of town supermarkets and the loss of local shops makes it quite difficult for some people to get hold of healthy food. If you find it hard to feed your family, chips are cheap and filling.

I must say I was appalled that my dd's primary school has two PE sessions a week in reception

I'm sure we used to do sport every day

I am lucky, I can afford to pay for 3 more (two in after-school club things, one ballet)
What if you can't though?

and celebrations and family get tyogethers and love asre all expressed in food

and people do like the iceland spread

it does look like you have a lot to offer and it is easy to do for a weekend

things you stick in the oven are easy and come as individual portions

no one cooks several different meals using pots and pans and poor fat people tend to either eat a big fsmily spread or all eat different things at different times or even the same time so they open the freezer and stick in what each says they want

And lol at sport being free. Have you noticed how many councils are shutting down their swimming pools, btw? There are some stats showing a frightening rate of decline. Playing fields have been sold off, council leisure centres have been sold off to profit-making concerns who care not about social justice...

some people like the iceland spread
Personally it makes me vomit

It looks like the "before table" in that Gillian McKeith thing

What he actually said was:
"We talk about people being 'at risk of obesity' instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise. We talk about people being at risk of poverty, or social exclusion: it's as if these things - obesity, alcohol abuse, drug addiction - are purely external events like a plague or bad weather.

"Of course, circumstances - where you are born, your neighbourhood, your school, and the choices your parents make - have a huge impact. But social problems are often the consequence of the choices that people make."

Which is rather different from the headline. He didn't ever say 'it's your own fault'.

I didn't really see any new ideas in what he said, let alone any policies, but I think that acting as if everyone is purely a victim of circumstance and absolutely cannot help themselves is not helpful either. And my family have been very poor.

I didn't say free
But a lot of councils only charge you 10% of the normal prices if you are on benefits for eg

Edam in the "feed your family for a fiver" I did point out that it was easy... four bags of chips (and no washing up).

I was in jest (of course) but when money is tight and you are a bit depressed about it - a bag of chips can be a lovely treat.

CD you can also get "exercise on prescription" from some GP surgeries/clinics

my local swimming pools are free for primary aged kids and younger. but then i am in scotland and we are practically independent.

FREEDOM [punched fist emoticon]

it is undoubtedly cameron's own fault that he is priviledged, rich and so far up his own arse his neck is about to snap.

wilfsell

i agree with you, and i have probably done 3 or 4 things on your list. however, i take full responsibility for my actions and would not sit around blaming my fat stomach (not that i have one) on the government.
i'm a labour supporter btw.

MSD - I have to admit that puts a different slant on it.

there are sections of society where he is spot on. There are those where he is way off the mark. Bit like most things, really.

swimming free for everyone by 2012

Victims of circumstance, or victims of the power of the food manufacturing industry and government policies that sold off playing fields and shut down swimming pools?

My mother educated herself out of poverty - got a teaching qualification which was bloody hard work and she worked as well (cleaning work in old people's homes).
Now, it did help that there were full grants in those days, and maintenance etc. That made a huge difference.
It is true that you can make choices that pull you deeper into poverty or help you out.

I think he has a point! I don't believe he is saying that it your "fault" that you are fat or poor - more a case that whilst there are external factors that affect these things, as a nation we seem to believe that it is not our personal responsibility to do anything about helping ourselves - we expect the solutions laid on and blame everyone else for our troubles. An politcal correctness has certainly gone mad. I'm sorry - I am a bit fat, but it certainly has nothing to do with the government! More an addiction to chardonnay and sausage rolls! .

At last someone who is prepared to speak the truth. Why should he be condemned for that?

You see I don't like the word "victim"

You are only a victim if you allow yourself to be in this sort of thing. You do have a CHOICE. You don't have to lie around watching daytime tv and stuffing your face with chips.

The implication of his words is clearly that poverty is your own fault. He is claiming that obesity causes poverty, which is a direct reversal of the truth.