Now then...do exercise or have your benefits cut ??

Generali

It's a ludicrous idea although it is clearly the way that welfarism is going.

You can't trust people to be able to find work so you give them money.

Then when you give them money you can't trust them to do the right thing with it so you force them to live in the 'right' way.

No fags, no booze, no eating 'bad' food (whatever that is), no fizzy drinks, no voting for the wrong parties (can't vote for racists or sexists or homophobes), no saying the wrong thing, no thinking the wrong thing.

Welfare simply becomes a way to control people. All your money is taken from you by the Government (Govt spending is now about 50% of GDP) and then given back to you if you behave in the right way.

Welcome to the Road to Serfdom.

MacMickster

Why stop at benefit claimants? Surely this should apply to anyone who uses any kind of taxpayer funded service. In fact, how about introducing a BMI tax?

Not only is the weather out of synch these days but now silly season is starting at the wrong time of year.

Moby

Apparently its his idea:-

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?start=126&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbo=d&biw=1344&bih=705&tbm=isch&tbnid=pjEOki1Fx2ZDgM:&imgrefurl=http://iphidaimos-thenewsinshorts.blogspot.com/2012/05/eric-pickles-another-tory-with-no.html&docid=426I9RTVpkTYCM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uLORqBMqpyU/T6-R32v4W3I/AAAAAAAACm8/G5uT3EfJzUo/s1600/Eric%25252BPickles%25252B1.jpg&w=659&h=960&ei=Xo_mUM2lKPSW0QXgt4C4Dw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=394&vpy=303&dur=3642&hovh=271&hovw=186&tx=126&ty=237&sig=109060064872680363307&page=5&tbnh=155&tbnw=106&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:49,s:100,i:151

Moby

Conrad wrote: »

Thing is this. In my admittedly prosperous rural area the vast vast majority of Women, mainly Mums, are not over weight, and excercise is part and parcel of life. They eat well in the main. It really isn;t rocket science. The left have long excused bad decision making pretending for example eating healthily costs more, which anyone with any common sense knows to be untrue (we were poor, Mum made stews etc and she had to walk miles to the shops).

It's all an attitude thing.

Eating healthily doesn't cost more....and I'm on the left!............. no...its all about class and upbringing and most of all....EDUCATION...about food, diet...positive role models, values etc. There is 'bad decision making'....but have you ever asked why that is?

robpw2

Moby wrote: »

Apparently its his idea:-

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?start=126&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbo=d&biw=1344&bih=705&tbm=isch&tbnid=pjEOki1Fx2ZDgM:&imgrefurl=http://iphidaimos-thenewsinshorts.blogspot.com/2012/05/eric-pickles-another-tory-with-no.html&docid=426I9RTVpkTYCM&imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uLORqBMqpyU/T6-R32v4W3I/AAAAAAAACm8/G5uT3EfJzUo/s1600/Eric%25252BPickles%25252B1.jpg&w=659&h=960&ei=Xo_mUM2lKPSW0QXgt4C4Dw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=394&vpy=303&dur=3642&hovh=271&hovw=186&tx=126&ty=237&sig=109060064872680363307&page=5&tbnh=155&tbnw=106&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:49,s:100,i:151

where did you get info it was his idea

angrypirate

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

It's not the fatties fault if they live in an obesogenic environment.
Poor areas are rife with junk food joints. Lack of cooking skills and lack of taste in selecting cheap but delicious food further compounds it.
What if such measures bring on anorexia or other eating disorders?

Its not fatties fault they live in a obesogenic environment? Thats rubbish. What fat people eat is their choice. If fat people werent fat, then they wouldnt live in a obesogenic environment. If people didnt go to KFC, MacDs, Burger King then these fast food places wouldnt open. Poor areas are rife with junk food joints because that is what they are choosing to eat.

Cheap food such as MacDonalds, FKC and Burger King arent actually that cheap, extremely bad for you and taste bloody awful to someone with a sense of taste. Smokers have a poor sense of smell and taste due to the effects of smoking. Coincidence? Perhaps.

I can knock up a really tasty, healthy home made stir fry for about a fiver that will feed me and my other half and takes 10 minutes from fridge to table. I'll also have left over veg / salad bits to use the next day. A MacD / KFC etc would costs about double that with no left overs

If threatening the loss of benefits is the only way some people will learn to lead a healthly lifestyle, then I have no issue with it.

adouglasmhor

RevolvingDoor wrote: »

Again, as nobody answered this before. What about people who have worked all their lives and are forced to go onto benefits for health reasons and are then told they might have their benefits cut if they don't carry out government-ordered exercise?

I think the doctor issuing the recommendation for exercise would know more than you or the claimant about whether the prescription was appropriate or not. Did you miss the bit about doctors? What did you think GP stood for?

adouglasmhor

chewmylegoff wrote: »

always someone else's fault innit. mcdonalds made me eat their junk food with their brainwashing advertising. kfc came round and forced three zinger tower burgers down my throat.

i'm not sure there are any documented cases of exercise causing eating disorders.

There is the "I have used 400 Calories I can have a Kebab as a reward" mindset, wouldn't call it an eating disorder more a symptom of a sort of "sense of entitlement" to instant gratification.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I'm always reminded of a scene from early Ab Fab, when Edina is planning some sort of trendy fad diet to lose weight, and the daughter suggests she eats less and exercises more; "don't be ridiculous darling, if it were that simple everyone would be doing it."

danothy

michaels wrote: »

Anyone remember the the compulsory exercises in Orwell's 1984?

Compulsory exercise is probably one of the more benevolent aspects of a totalitarian state. It's good for the mind and the body and often people really do need to be told what's good for them.

chewmylegoff wrote: »

whilst it might be fascist to make people do exercise, it does appear to me that everyone who lives north of watford has a BMI of 35 these days and anything that can be done about that is a good thing.

Fascist, as you say, quite possibly. Evil, possibly not.

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver wrote: »

It's not the fatties fault if they live in an obesogenic environment.

Dictatorial intervention regarding exercise would alter that environment then, surely?

One common theme I've seen in books like "We" and "Nineteen Eighty Four" is that while the mechanism of retaining control over dissidents is horrific and solely for the sake of power itself, the initial totalitarian constructs always comes hand in hand with solutions to societal problems pertaining to the way people treat themselves.