There is More Than A Little Flabby Thinking About the Government’s Plan to Tackle Obesity.

The UK has a weight problem to the point where a large proportion of the population could be said to be digging its collective grave with a plastic fork from the local take-away.

Two thirds of UK adults are overweight and a quarter are classed as being obese, nationally in 2018/19 there were 876,000 hospital admissions related to weight problems.

Being dangerously overweight and deprivation are linked with levels of obesity being highest in parts of the Midlands and the North of England that have been battered by decades of economic decline. Just to add a cherry on top of the not so appetizing cake being obese is, as Public Health England pointed out this week, linked to a greater risk of general ill health and a higher likelihood of dying from coronavirus.

Dr Alison Tedstone chief nutritionist at Public Health England told the BBC earlier this week that ‘the case for action on obesity has never been stronger’.

Quite so and the government have helpfully stepped in with a ‘plan’ for reducing the national waistline. Included in this are banning ‘buy one get one free’ offers on unhealthy foods, another ban on advertising junk food before the nine o’clock watershed and plans to make restaurants print the calories contained in dishes on their menus.

The traffic light system used to indicate the fat and salt content of food will be reviewed and GP’s will be able to prescribe exercise to their podgier patients.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph health secretary Matt Hancock says the coronavirus has ‘given us a wake-up call about the need to tackle the stark inequalities in our nation’s health and obesity is an urgent example of this’.

He later helpfully adds that if ‘everyone who is overweight lost five pounds it would save the NHS £100 million over five years’, it would help to turn coronavirus back from our shores too.

Health experts have expressed qualified support for the plan whilst at the same time pointing out that some of the messages being sent out are decidedly mixed. For example the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme applies to fast food outlets and, more pertinently, public health budgets have been cut to the bone.

Making a pun for which I have no intention of begging pardon there is something decidedly flabby about this grand plan to make us all slimmer.

For a start most of the measures announced have been around the policy block so many times it’s a wonder they aren’t dizzy. Food labelling has been ‘reviewed’ almost as many times as the exam system and is in about as much of a mess. Consumers, like parents, are left trying to make sense of competing systems trying to tell them the same thing but in different ways, sowing confusion and frustration in the process.

Public health budgets haven’t just been cut; they’ve been dissected by a decade of austerity; and that’s before the horror show that has been the first half of 2020 gatecrashes local authority balance sheets. GPs can prescribe exercise all they want, in fact in an ideal world or one that just works that would be the first option rather than reaching for the pill cupboard; but if there isn’t funding available the scheme will fall at the first hurdle.

What really rankles though is the breezy attitude of the government towards solving a problem that has built up over decades. They seem to think that all they need to do is publish a ‘plan’, commission some slick TV adverts and; shazam; problem solved.

When Matt Hancock prattles about the ‘stark inequalities’ in our nation’s health I find myself wishing his aides had tied the string of the natty ‘Save the NHS’ mask he has taken to wearing tight enough to keep his jaws still while his brain catches up. He is part of a government that created those inequalities, not to mention egging on cash strapped councils to sell off their playing fields.

Being poor and experiencing worse physical and mental health than more affluent members of the community have been links in a chain of misery for the past forty plus years. Along with environmental and cultural factors they weigh individuals, communities and whole regions down.

Solving the resulting problems is about far more than getting more people to choose salad over burgers. It is about government truly understanding the needs of those parts of our society that have been left behind and working with local communities to find solutions.

That can’t be done over to lifecycle of a single parliament, it will take as long to put things right as it did for them to go wrong. Like losing weight fixing inequalities in health and areas requires patience and commitment, neither of which are the current government’s strong suit.

Parents are Floundering in the Backwash of the Pandemic.

Family has been one of the things that has brought us all closer together during these strange and unsettling times, at least that is the image portrayed in the media.

Behind the by now rather weary tropes about the trials of schooling and the self-consciously cute imagery of the family that bakes together staying together another and less comforting picture can be seen. One of parents who feel lost and confused and children who have been damaged, maybe permanently, by the events of the past few months.

This is something highlighted by a YouGov survey of 2000 parents carried out for the charity Action for Children. The survey found that a third of parents said they felt 'out of their depth' when it came to helping their children cope with the aftermath of the pandemic.

A third of the parents who responded said their children had talked about feeling isolated and anxious, this had impacted on their own mental health with 43% reporting that they too felt anxious.

Nikki Willis (32), a mother of four who took part in the survey talked about how the  'uncertainty of everything ' has had a negative impact on her own mental health and  that when her children asked her questions 'I just don't know any of the answers and can't reassure them about anything '.

The effect of lockdown and the uncertainty that has followed on her children had, she said, been equally damaging. Macey (8) had gone from being 'a quite spirited, happy child' to bring 'a little girl who isn't interested in anything'. Even her eldest daughter Katelynn (10), who 'usually takes everything in her stride' has ' started to struggle'.

During lockdown Action for Children saw a 415% surge in the number of contacts made to its online support services. In response the charity has launched a new Parent Talk website to offer advice to parents who are struggling.

Lynne Giles, who manages the Parent Talk service said ' the pandemic has triggered a crisis for Mums, Dads and children on an unprecedented scale', adding that 'huge numbers of children will need extra support over the coming months and parents are telling us they don't know where to turn'. This, she said, meant a service like Parent Talk was 'needed now more than ever'.

Even as restrictions, for the moment, are starting to be relaxed many parents are fearful about the long-term impact on their children's mental health. The YouGov survey found that 37% of respondents were worried their children would struggle to socialize and were fearful of encountering people outside their immediate family. They also reported a higher incidence of bed wetting and behavioural problems.

Action for Children warn that the situation is likely to get worse as the long-term impact of the pandemic on the mental health of the nation as a whole becomes clear.

There lies the run of a problem that could be with us long after COVID-19_has been relegated to the history books. The children who have had their young lives mauled by this crisis will grow up to be the generation that truly shapes the new normal, because they will have known little else.

A society created by people who have grown up feeling that anxiety and uncertainty are the norm is at risk of being a stiflingly conservative one. When our collective confidence has taken a serious knock, it is human nature to retreat into the comforting bubble of convention.

Economically that is dangerous because it discourages the innovation necessary for success and prosperity. On a social and political level of could be downright dangerous, opening the door to  darkness.

Dictatorship thrives when people are afraid because it purports to offer them comforting answers and easily identified scapegoats. It fears and does all of can to stamp out democracy because it empowers people to ask tough questions of themselves and the society in which they live.

Childhood is when we learn to recognize the things we fear and how to walk with our fear in order to live meaningful lives. That is why the government must put protecting the mental health of children, and adults too, at the heart of its recovery plans.

Despite the best efforts of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to do his Tigger routine to cheer us all up, the pandemic will not be over by Christmas; more to the point its shadow will be on us for decades.

Government Wires Still Crossed Over Mask Use- For Now Anyway.

To wear or not to wear, now that is the question, well it is when it comes to face coverings anyway. To date the government’s attempts to answer it have made Hamlet look like a model of decisiveness. 

 On Friday prime minister Boris Johnson dropped a pretty heavy hint that wearing a mask or face covering was soon to be compulsory in shops in England. Then on Sunday morning cabinet secretary Michael Gove said on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that wearing one was ‘basic good manners’, but that people shouldn’t be made to do so by law.

 Confused? To adapt the tag line from seventies American sit-com Soap, you will be listening to this lot.

 If you’re feeling generous it is possible to see how the government has got into such a mess over this issue. 

 The advice from experts hasn’t always been clear, at the start of the pandemic mask wearing was discouraged because it was feared doing so would give people a false sense of security. Over time though the consensus has moved to a position where masks are seen as a useful way of controlling the spread of the virus. 

 Then there is the near limitless capacity for the wing of the Tory core vote once described by David Cameron as the ‘turnip Taliban’ to misconstrue pretty much anything as an assault on their civil liberties. Somewhere in the vaults of the Daily Mail and its sister in woe the Daily Express there will be a stack of editorials blaming the edict to wear a mask on either Europe or the permissive society or the 1960’s; or both.

 In the wider and saner world mask wearing may be less of a problem than the government has keyed itself up into thinking. Face coverings have been required on public transport for six weeks, if there were protests in the streets as a result, I failed to notice them. 

 Today Boris Johnson dropped another and heavier hint today that the issue was going to be discussed again with an announcement later in the week. For which it is best to read that masks will be mandatory in shops in the near future.

 To this he added the hope that the ‘instruments of enforcement’ wouldn’t have to be used to get us to do so. For once I am in agreement with the uncombed one, I hope they won’t either, partly because they sound like something the Spanish Inquisition might have used, but mostly because if wearing a mask lets a little more normality return to our lives; then it’s a compromise worth making.

Cuts to Funding for Walking and Cycling Show the Post-Lockdown Vision for Transport is Flawed.

Councils in Staffordshire are set to lose out on £200,000 in funding from central government to make it easier for people to walk and cycle in the county.

Staffordshire County Council were to receive £366,000 and Stoke-on-Trent City Council £183,000 from the first tranche of funding under the government’s £250million active travel fund. This money was to be used to introduce temporary measures such as bike lanes as the country emerges from lockdown with councils submitting plans to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

This week the Sentinel reported that the county council will see its allocation of funding reduced by half to £183,000 and that Stoke-on-Trent will lose a quarter of its allocation, getting £126,000 from the fund.

Under a second tranche of funding the two authorities have been provisionally allocated £1.47million and £673,000 respectively. This money is to be used for longer term projects, with the city council planning to use its allocation to establish a cycling and public transport route from Stoke station and the city centre and to improve cycle lanes across the city.

Dan Jellyman, cabinet member for regeneration at the city council told the Sentinel ‘as far as government grants go this is more than we usually get, so we are quite pleased to get seventy-five percent’.

He went on to say that those councils that received larger allocations were probably in wealthier areas and had plans for active travel that could be taken down from the shelf and implemented easily.

Stoke-on-Trent, he said is not in such a fortunate position, Mr. Jellyman advised that ‘keen cyclists’ and anyone else with an interest in public transport will ‘need to temper their expectations, the funding was never going to be that much when it had to be divided among so many councils’.

One of the few benefits of lockdown was that it saw the number of people walking and cycling increase exponentially. However, as we enter the ‘new normal’ traffic levels are on the rise again and there is a real risk that a historic opportunity to create a greener and more sustainable transport system will slip away.

In their Covid-19: Renewing the Transport System report published this week the Campaign for Better Transport set out a vision for taking the UK’s transport system out of the doldrums and into the future.

They envision a transport system that is 100% zero emission, supports local manufacturing and has improved facilities for walking and cycling embedded in every aspect.

To bring this about they call on the government to take actions including, requiring local authorities to produce plans to permanently reshape transport in their area and to ensure that all stakeholders work together on delivery. They also call for better infrastructure for walking and cycling and for all busses to be powered by electricity.

In Stoke-on-Trent keeping the city moving has been a problem for decades, one we have tried to solve by carving up whole communities to build new roads. This has proved utterly ineffective, causing massively negative social and economic impacts and failing to reduce the congestion throttling the city.

Building an integrated public transport system isn’t a utopian dream to be dusted down every few years then put back in the ‘too difficult’ box; it is a necessity if we are to prosper.

When prime minster Boris Johnson said last week that the UK was going to ‘build its way out’ of the impending economic crisis with a ‘new deal’ based on infrastructure spending things seemed hopeful. There was never going to be a Hoover Dam built anywhere in our green and pleasant land, but maybe there would be some progress after years of inaction.

Sadly, the cut to funding for active travel proves any hopes raised to have been premature. After showing us that he can’t address the nation with the inspiring eloquence of Churchill Mr. Johnson has now proved he can’t act with the boldness and vision of Roosevelt.

His podium rhetoric may be about building for the future, but in the counting houses of the Treasury the cheese paring continues. The word ‘austerity’ might have vanished from the lexicon of Tory politics; the idea itself, not so much.

Locally we also have grounds for being severely disappointed with our local Tory politicians, both Dan Jellyman and council leader Abi Brown from whom he takes his orders have been found wanting. Yet again they have fallen back on the line that Stoke-on-Trent should be thankful for anything it gets when they should be demanding we be given what we so desperately need.

These unprecedented times have provided a window for new ideas to enter the dusty world of British politics. The failed dogma that big government is bad and everything must be left to the whims of the markets is tottering on its pedestal.

Now is the time to push it off once and for all and move towards a world where government invests in the infrastructure of the country because it is a social good, not just an economic one.

Community Saddened by Loss of Hundred-Year-Old Tree.

Residents of Kidsgrove, a town in North Staffordshire, have expressed sadness at the felling of a weeping willow to make way for the development of a Lidl supermarket.

The tree had stood on the site of the town’s former working men’s club near to the A50 for a hundred years and was described by locals as being a ‘focal point’ of the area.

Supermarket company Lidl, who are developing the site had initially suggested the tree would be retained and incorporated into the new store. They have now reneged on this promise despite a protest campaign by local residents.

Speaking to the Sentinel Margaret Astle, a patron of the working men’s club which is to be rebuilt on a new site, said she was ‘saddened’ to see a tree that had been ‘synonymous’ with the area for years cut down.

A spokesperson for Lidl, also speaking to the Sentinel, said the company had ‘consulted widely with the local community and worked with the council to examine all options’, adding that in this instance ‘it was not possible to keep the willow tree’.

The spokesperson went on the say that as part of their ‘comprehensive landscaping plans’ for the site Lidl would be planting new trees nearby.

There are currently 3.21million hectares of woodland in the UK, 13% of the country’s total landmass. Woods play an important role in combating pollution; over an average lifetime of 100 years an area of woodland is predicted to sequester 4.7million tons of carbon dioxide (source: Forest Research).

Trees provide other benefits including providing complex microhabitats for birds, insects, lichen and fungi. A mature oak can be home to 500 species, there are also more than twenty British trees that have medicinal properties.

Having access to woodland can have a positive impact on the health of individuals and communities. Research has shown that spending time in woodland can reduce blood pressure, heart rate and levels of stress.

As in Kidsgrove trees can be focal points, bringing people together and encouraging them to take pride in their community. They also help to drive regeneration; people are attracted to live and work in green surroundings (source: Royal Parks).

The loss of woodland can have a devastating impact on the environment. A report presented to the United Nations in September 2019 by twenty-five campaign groups including Climate Focus found that 26million hectares of woodland are being lost worldwide every year.

The rate of decline has increased by 43% despite a declaration by the United Nations in 2014 calling on countries to halve deforestation by 2020.

Speaking to the Guardian Dr Jo House, reader in environmental science at the University of Bristol said ‘deforestation, mostly for agriculture, contributes a third of anthropogenic CO2 emissions.

Research has shown that the loss of forests exacerbates the impact of climate change, leading to the devastating fires and floods seen across the globe.

Dr House told the Guardian that the ‘natural sink provided forests is at risk from the dual threats of further deforestation and climate change’.

Charlotte Streck, co-founder of Climate Focus told the Guardian ‘we need to keep our trees and we need to restore our forests, deforestation has accelerated despite pledges that have been made’.

Adam Colclough, campaigns coordinator for North Staffs Green Party said it was ‘very disappointing to see a much-loved local landmark being felled to create a supermarket carpark’.

He added that ‘in the context of escalating harms from climate change the loss of even a single tree is something to be avoided’.

The party has written to Trevor Johnson, portfolio holder for the environment at Newcastle Borough Council to express concern over the loss of the willow tree in Kidsgrove. They have also called on the council to consider seeking Tree City status.

Adam Colclough said ‘recent events have shown us the fragility of our modern world and how important access to nature is to our physical and mental wellbeing. If we are going to rebuild a better and more resilient world, then protecting the environment must be at the hearty of the process’.

At time of writing no reply had been received from Newcastle Borough Council.