[arista]

Its getting tough out there
you fat feckers move your ass

[Mystic Mock]

The Tories being lovely as usual.

For these people to be able to get jobs, businesses have to actually employ them.

[kirklancaster]

I have no problem with this, but let's see if they start by first removing the huge benefit cheques (salaries with perks included) of all those overweight MP's whose bulging stomachs overhang their pinstripe trouser waistbands as they tuck into yet another gourmet meal subsidised by the tax-payer.

[Mokka]

Originally Posted by kirklancaster

I have no problem with this, but let's see if they start by first removing the huge benefit cheques (salaries with perks included) of all those overweight MP's whose bulging stomachs overhang their pinstripe trouser waistbands as they tuck into yet another gourmet meal subsidised by the tax-payer.

truly

I have volunteered at many a food bank and what always struck me was how our society thinks donating crap food without nutritional value does to help the poor, obese, and sick. Really its just another way to keep them down.

Get fit and healthy living off nothing or else lose everything... sounds about right

[Jay.]

I'm more intrigued by 'My brother is the father of my son'

[Z]

To be honest, I think they're onto something. I'm not sure it's the right approach, but obesity is a physical manifestation of our lazy lifestyles. Weight loss is as much a mental battle as it is a physical battle; you have to put the work in to lose the pounds but you also have to teach yourself what's good to eat, what's bad to eat, how to avoid binging on terrible food, knowing how to treat yourself and not gorge yourself... I say this as someone who's had struggles with his weight in the past; I'm currently at a really healthy weight and it's because I recognised what was poor in my diet (lots of bread and dairy produce), cut them down drastically and started walking everywhere instead of getting buses, taxis, trains... people moan that it's impossible, and perhaps it is extremely difficult for many people, but it is not impossible. It takes time, patience and commitment. People expect instant results because that's what we've become accustomed to - ready meals, fast food, everything instant and readily available. Losing weight is a process, not an event. I was appalled to read that 25% of adults in the UK are obese. A quarter. That's disgusting. It's an epidemic. We all need better food education, the younger we start teaching kids how to eat right, the better.

[Josy]

Hmm yeah I think they are kinda on the right path with this, I mean have you seen some of these obese people on tv lately being proud of receiving so much benefits and handouts because they are obese? (I know they only show extreme cases on these types of shows but still if even one family of obese people think it's alright or good to receive handouts and not work just because they are overweight then that's certainly not OK IMHO)

So yeah a few of these benefit type shows lately have been showing overweight people telling us how much they receive each month in disability payments, housing benefits etc whilst walking to and around supermarkets filling their trolleys with a ton of unhealthy rubbish or sitting in cafes scoffing down a massive fry up.

I guess my point is they could have some kind of job, even if it's just part time, a few hours per day in a call centre for example it's not being overweight that's stopping them it's laziness and the ease of having no financial worry because it's so easy for them to receive benefits.

[Kazanne]

Imo , it's a good thing and tbf they did say TREATABLE obesity , I guess people who are like that will hate this ,as it will mean they have to get off their arses and do a days work , so many excuses are made for lazy people these days plus the NHS is struggling enough without the added burden of greedy lazy people.

[Livia]

Presumably they're also going to cut the benefits of people who drink, smoke or take drugs and refuse to change their lifestyle.

[sassysocks]

Originally Posted by Kazanne

Imo , it's a good thing and tbf they did say TREATABLE obesity , I guess people who are like that will hate this ,as it will mean they have to get off their arses and do a days work , so many excuses are made for lazy people these days plus the NHS is struggling enough without the added burden of greedy lazy people.

Agreed. This is action taken because these people will cost the NHS a fortune. We can't afford it. And as far as the NHS is concerned it may be what breaks the camel's back and destroys an NHS which is already hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

These people are not only lazy but stupid as they clearly lack understanding of just what dire straits the NHS is in and will likely not be there to help them when their appauling life style choices hits back at their bodies.

[Josy]

Originally Posted by Livia

Presumably they're also going to cut the benefits of people who drink, smoke or take drugs and refuse to change their lifestyle.

It mentions above that they are also going to target drink and drug users

[waterhog]

i wounder will they tell the large MPs loose weight as your job is at risk or you are putting in jeopardy your career ? or is ok if you are over weight on a very well over paid job ?

[arista]

Originally Posted by waterhog

i wounder will they tell the large MPs loose weight as your job is at risk or you are putting in jeopardy your career ? or is ok if you are over weight on a very well over paid job ?

Yes Eric Pickles
for Example

[sassysocks]

Originally Posted by waterhog

i wounder will they tell the large MPs loose weight as your job is at risk or you are putting in jeopardy your career ? or is ok if you are over weight on a very well over paid job ?

Although I get your point, it isn't the same is it. MPs are working and earning a salary and could afford private health care. They put in!

Those on benefits are not earning any of the money they receive and would be reliant on the taxpayers for a second time in receiving considerable NHS care in the future. By doing nothing, contributing nothing, they cost the rest of us a fortune. They take out - twice.

Something has to be done to help not only make them more employable but save the country a lot of money.

[LeatherTrumpet]

Eat dinner in 20 minutes says some london based 30 something yah yah dawling freelance writer woman

well love I can eat it in 4 if i use the microwave so go and ****** yerself and your dreadful paper

[joeysteele]

Just look at the tone of the media, what a PM who dosen;t wait to get all the info he should have before leading the way with an idea like this.

Of course more could be done to 'genuinely' assist and support people who are greatly overweight in to work, 'if' they can really do work.
As with those with alcohol problems and drug problems too.

However 'threatening' with near financialblackmail is far from the way to go.
Also never mind the suporting of people deemed able to possibly work but where is the support once they maybe have.
I would ask this hopeless PM one question, you have an alcoholic, who has other conditions too.
He/She does get off alcohol,they do this say 'therapy' he mentions,then are found work and that is that.
However,I know of someone who had got off alcohol, they did have some Liver disease becasue of it,however they did get a job and all was fine until some idiot spiked a soft drink they were having.

That careless and stupid act by a so called new workmate,sent him spiralling down into a relapse,so badly in fact he now needs a liver Transplant but will need to be off alcohol for a defined period before any consideration for one will be enacted.
Going back into work caused greater problems for that person and I am 100% sure he would not be the only one.

That is why any idea like this needs the most careful and intense scrutiny that in fact lives are mot put more at risk by blackmailing people into work by threatening to remove their benefits.

Alcoholics, drug addicts often have other conditions that need careful consideration,also needs that would need to be fully,not partly, addressed,as to being an ay work.

Of course if someone can work and wants to,then that should be supported and all efforts done to accommodate them.
Force, threats, and blackmail should not have any part in that process however.

Here we likely go again,a chorus of words from this PM and this govt; fuelling in the media,more demonisation of sections of people claiming benefits.
I hope for their sakes, this PM is out of a job in May and his henchmen with him too.

[smudgie]

Hmmm, save 10 million or whatever.
I would like to know the cost of implementing this, and also, if the claimant has to try and help themselves, if they will also be given all the help they need, therapy etc. could cost more than they could save, and then once these people lose the weight, no saying they will get jobs.

Just an easy target if you ask me.

[Kazanne]

Originally Posted by sassysocks

Although I get your point, it isn't the same is it. MPs are working and earning a salary and could afford private health care. They put in!

Those on benefits are not earning any of the money they receive and would be reliant on the taxpayers for a second time in receiving considerable NHS care in the future. By doing nothing, contributing nothing, they cost the rest of us a fortune. They take out - twice.

Something has to be done to help not only make them more employable but save the country a lot of money.

[Tom4784]

It's just more demonising of the people who need help the most. Yeah sure, SOME people abuse the system but you'd have to swallow a lot of tabloid **** to believe that it's a wide spread problem.

A bigger problem is the corporations and the rich not putting in what they owe. If the major corporations that have business in the UK actually paid their way then you'd never see crap like the bedroom tax or the demonising of people who depend on benefits because taxing the rich and the corporations PROPERLY will yield a lot more money than making the poor suffer ever will.

[Josy]

Adding to what I posted above, I also don't think this should be used as just another excuse for attacking and branding all those who claim benefits that are overweight into the same category, some will genuinely need to claim benefits for health reasons probably related to the obesity but that do need to be treated separately to it, these people shouldn't be forced to work with the threat of no benefits if they can't possibly do it.

It's the people that are using just the obesity as an excuse to not work that needs to be tackled imo.

Plenty of overweight people do have jobs.

[Z]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

It's just more demonising of the people who need help the most. Yeah sure, SOME people abuse the system but you'd have to swallow a lot of tabloid **** to believe that it's a wide spread problem.

A bigger problem is the corporations and the rich not putting in what they owe. If the major corporations that have business in the UK actually paid their way then you'd never see crap like the bedroom tax or the demonising of people who depend on benefits because taxing the rich and the corporations PROPERLY will yield a lot more money than making the poor suffer ever will.

I think they're separate issues. Obesity is a problem at epidemic levels, a quarter of all adults in this country are obese. That is not acceptable. The unemployment-obesity aspect is the sensationalist part that this thread is focusing on, but I think it is going to take something as harsh as "we will stop giving you money if you don't stop overfeeding yourselves" to try and solve the problem of obesity. Parents who feed their children utter crap should have the kids taken off them, not only are they physically harming them through their diet but they're giving these kids lifelong battles with their weight - if I could go back and dissuade my parents from taking me to McDonald's all the time as a kid I'd do it 100%, how was I to know any better, I was a little kid! Fat is a symptom, not a way of life.

[jennyjuniper]

I am in full agreement with stopping benefits for people with alcohol and drug problems. While people recieve money for drinking and taking drugs, where is the incentive to stop??As for obese people, they too should at least show that they are trying to live a healthier lifestyle instead of just filling their faces with unsuitable food and doing no exercise whatsoever and relying on the rest of society to support their lifestyle.
Before anyone calls me heartless and insensitive, I was/am an alcoholic, who hasn't had a drink for 20 odd years. I'm not particularly strong willed and it's been hard to resist sometimes, but it's doable. If I can do it anyone can.

[sassysocks]

Originally Posted by jennyjuniper

I am in full agreement with stopping benefits for people with alcohol and drug problems. While people recieve money for drinking and taking drugs, where is the incentive to stop??As for obese people, they too should at least show that they are trying to live a healthier lifestyle instead of just filling their faces with unsuitable food and doing no exercise whatsoever and relying on the rest of society to support their lifestyle.
Before anyone calls me heartless and insensitive, I was/am an alcoholic, who hasn't had a drink for 20 odd years. I'm not particularly strong willed and it's been hard to resist sometimes, but it's doable. If I can do it anyone can.

Well said.

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by kirklancaster

I have no problem with this, but let's see if they start by first removing the huge benefit cheques (salaries with perks included) of all those overweight MP's whose bulging stomachs overhang their pinstripe trouser waistbands as they tuck into yet another gourmet meal subsidised by the tax-payer.

too true...

Originally Posted by Mystic Mock

The Tories being lovely as usual.

For these people to be able to get jobs, businesses have to actually employ them.

The elephant in the room when stuff like this comes up indeed. Yeah people can be all 'omgz they are all spending my taxes on their mcdonalds and drugs and 70 inch tvs and alcohol and fags' etc but when the jobs arent there..its impossible to work them

As a side note, people I know have mostly tended to gain weight when they lote their jobs...I assume this is due to how much cheaper it is to buy rubbish than fresh good for you stuff...maybe thats an issue that needs looked at

[Vicky.]

Originally Posted by jennyjuniper

I am in full agreement with stopping benefits for people with alcohol and drug problems. While people recieve money for drinking and taking drugs, where is the incentive to stop??As for obese people, they too should at least show that they are trying to live a healthier lifestyle instead of just filling their faces with unsuitable food and doing no exercise whatsoever and relying on the rest of society to support their lifestyle.
Before anyone calls me heartless and insensitive, I was/am an alcoholic, who hasn't had a drink for 20 odd years. I'm not particularly strong willed and it's been hard to resist sometimes, but it's doable. If I can do it anyone can.

I don't see how that would work in reality...all it would do is force those people to turn to crime to survive Then we would be even worse off. See if people welcome the 0.0001p they save per month in taxes that were going to the druggie down the road when their house is burgled...