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?

you cn buy a pizza in Tesco for £1.75 and feed four people if you bulk it out with some chips. Or you could buy a five pack of oranges and have one each.

I whcih would be healthier but I know which is more likely when feeding a family if I was a rubbish cook.

Umm both Claricebean - why? Do you think they are mutually exclusive?

Laurie, so true.

Near to where I live there a couple of chicken and chip shops which the local secondary school children go to for their lunch - it's cheaper than school dinners.

But pasta with some veg and cheese is way cheaper than pizza and chips?I don't think there is a whole section of society that doesn't 'know' this

In the context of this thread the first comment seems to me as though you are saying that MN have judged you, that'a all, and the implication being that the judgement is wrong.

Sorry if I have misunderstood.

i dont think pasta veg and cheese is cheaper than pizza a nd chips

cheese is really expensive

Oh I think MN judges obesity all the time and very harshly compared to many other failings. Far better to be a heavy drinker on MN, people are generally much more supportive. Doesn't mean I don't accept responsibility for my weight, as I said the two aren't mutually exclusive.

interestingly midle class initiatives like jamie olivcer and school dinners just dont work

kids donbt go and have school dinner they get take aways

because they are cheaper

the local take aways make £1 dinners available
and kids will never choose t eat veg over chips

I'm certainly not saying that individual poor people are "helpless".

But it is a fact that poverty is part of the structure of our society. We as a society have decided that some kinds of work are a lot more "worthwhile" (in strict monetary terms) than others.

So if I find myself in circumstances where the only work available to me is short-term, insecure and badly paid, then yes it is true I can at least in theory spend some of my meagre wages on healthier food - but I'm still poor.

And I completely agree with zippi's posts.

Christ, give kew a break.
So it's her fault, you want to make that clear.
Throw her to the lions! String her up!
Is the world a better place?
Do you feel good now?
Poor people-it's their fault- yeah!! we can live in luxury without thinking of poor people in our own country-because it's all their choice!!

kewcumber..i hope i haven't come across as "judgey" i just think people have to take responsibilty for their life style choices, whatever they may be.

I had misunderstood Kews posts - I asked for clarification - Kew gave it - I apologies for the misunderstanding...

Obviously because I hold a different point of view to you and challenge people's posts I am some pariah. I am having a discussion about a fascinating topic. Sorry if you don't like it.

if you have to feed the fasmily then you buy food they will eat not food they might eat if you kept on offering it enoguhg times

so it is very hard to change

and cooking from scratch tends to assume a stock of stuff in the cupboard

have you ever been to the supremarket spent a load of money and then thought well weve still got nothing to eat

that is becaus e cooking from scrtch tends to in volve investment in the future with lots of staple stuff

poor people dont have money to looke beyond a couple of days so get a complete meal

Yes I can see that zippi

Also I accept that I had the advantage of growing up in a family where everything was cooked from scratch pretty much so I learned that this was what one did.

As MNers have pointed out many times before, our society will grind to a halt if there aren't people out there who are willing to do jobs like cleaning in hospitals, supporting teachers in schools, emptying our bins, looking after other people's children etc.

People doing these jobs are usually paid very little. It all seems a little too convenient for people to say that these workers are poor because they should've chosen to do something else, while at the same time they are quite happy to make use of those services themselves.

No one said poor people were victims tho'. Many people have the desire and ability to imporove their lot.
It's just that the people that don't-for myriad reasons-are told theyr are to blame

I wonder what David Cameron is doing about obesity within his own ranks? Or is this just about poor people and their potential drain on the NHS. And what about unhealthy thin people? Not so easily visible perhaps, but surely there are as many uhealthy thin people as fat people really? I cannot help thinking that DC is talking about "fat poor" people and not "fat rich"people.

Fairy Mum

There is a marked social class difference in levels of obesity, with a strong prevalence of obesity in classes 4 and 5 as opposed to social class 1. This link is stronger in women, for reasons not fully understood. In 2001, 30% of women in routine occupations were classified as obese compared with 16% in higher managerial and professional occupations. (Social trends 34: Health Survey for England). The mechanisms are probably related to established habits of poor diet and exercise.

Factors, which are considered important, are maternal obesity and poor diet in pregnancy, lack of breastfeeding, poor weaning and topping up feeds to match with ?bottle fed? percentile charts.

Source: DWP

well obviously as ploticians you dont have to do anything about people who arent poor except get them to vote for you so if they are fat it is irrelevant

This link is stronger in women - I strongly suspect that it is the relative judgement of women in higher socioeconomic classes. I live in an affluent SW London enclave and am one of the relatively few obese women around here - I know to my costs that there is a general perception of fat women as "low class" around here. Not so much men. Therfore much more pressure to be thin when you are an affluent middelclass SW London woman than when I was living in a working calss area of Wales. Fat is a feministic issue, eh?

haven't read the whole post as I'm working but at DC, but also a big sigh of relief, in a sense, yep he is a true Tory idiot, for a moment (ie the last year or so) I was beginning to think there were times when he spoke sense. but it's like the telegraph says - he now feels oncifdent enough to come out.

I beleive the majority of answers lie in a complete reform in the education of chidlren (I hesitate to use the phrase...) back to basics - teaching cookery not some kind of "science", PE every day, basic nutrition basic maths and English. I don't think childrne should be allowed to move onto more popluar but peripheral subjects until they can prove they have mastered those. Primary school teahcers need proper training about nutrition in chidlren not just fat = bad and parents need to stop whinging that their child can;t take choclate or crisps into school.

My generation is a lost cause (not that we shouldn;t try but the damange from a social policy perspective) is already done.

Should I run for Prime Minister?

I have met you kewcumber
You don't look very obese to me!

KC maybe you should start by running for local MP? keep out the goat fancier?