Monday 5 July 2010

Bullying The Bullies

'Overweight' boy NHS letter prompts apology

The parents of a boy branded "overweight" have received a letter of apology from the Department of Health.
I suppose they had to do something after the right of centre press ridiculed them with gleeful ease. Tom Halton is quite obviously not 'fat' and, being 11, any marginal exceeding of the fucking useless arbitrary BMI scale will no doubt be burned off anyway as he grows.

How nice, then, of the BBC to aid the face-saving exercise with the above preamble, suggesting that the DH had seen the error of their ways.

Not the case at all.

The Department of Health said it was sorry to hear Mr Halton was offended and said the letter was not intended to be a judgement on his parenting skills.
They were sorry to hear the Dad was offended. Not, you note, sorry that they sent a letter implying that a fit kid was at risk of a nasty early death.

"If we carry on as we are, nine out of ten children today could grow up with dangerous amounts of fat in their bodies. This can cause diseases like cancer, type two diabetes and heart disease."
They're not sorry for that because it has been the modus operandi of the Department of Health for the past decade. For them, scaring the public witless is a valid 'public health' approach.

The local PCT are entirely in the clear. As they correctly point out, they were merely dancing to the DH's tune by implementing "national policy".

Whether it be adverts warning of imminent death from a glass of wine, to germs with rows of razor sharp teeth, through terrorising kids and parents, the Department of Health, via the NHS, positively enjoy inflicting fear and discomfort.

They weren't sorry that a perfectly normal 11 year old kid was rendered sick with worry, just that they were exposed for doing so. Rather like a burglar apologising to his victim by expressing remorse for getting caught.

Interestingly, elsewhere on the BBC site is a sign that the public are getting rather fed up with this treatment.

More than two-thirds of those polled in the LGA survey said senior NHS officials should be targeted [for cuts], closely followed by quangos - such as industry regulators - and foreign aid.
I couldn't agree more. These certifiable psychopaths have been allowed to bully society for far too long. It's time the scare tactics were reversed.

Threatening to cut the jobs of sadistic shitsticks who consider it acceptable to traumatise primary school kids would be a start.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, I might go even further, as well as losing their jobs,how about the "shitsticks" having forcibly imposed upon them the "lifestyle" they and their fellow shitsticks have been busily trying to impose on everyone else ... for a period of no less than that that they have been serving as a shitstick. Might just put a dent in their "crusading zeal". Of course, both you and I know that there is always a home for "shitsticks" so any that do "lose their jobs" will no doubt slide effortlessly into some "via the back-door" publicly remunerated "consultancy and advice body" operating as a charidee - one of the company limited by guarantee type charidee's that is really a business of course, because it just ain't that easy to unstick a shitstick ! Think how difficult it can be getting it off your shoes, and boy does the smell linger ,,,

Anonymous said...

Threatening to cut the jobs of sadistic shitsticks who consider it acceptable to traumatise primary school kids would be a start.

Threatening their jobs is not enough. Sack them, shame them, tar and feather them and then run them out of town on a rail, ridiculed the whole way by the erstwhile victims of their campaigns.

The Filthy Engineer said...

I have some surplus lamposts and piano wire if anyone is interested.

Anonymous said...

Slightly off topic, but - Train da kidz...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00t0yhl/Newsround_Living_with_Alcohol/

and the mantra if you please -

war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength
warming is cooling
unemployment is work

usw usw ((c) A. Hitler)

And so it goes -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/find_out/guides/tech/healthy_living/newsid_2164000/2164244.stm

Mrs Rigby said...

One of the family has been told that, according to BMI they are 'obese'. At 6ft 4 and with size 12 1/2 feet a lot of their weight is bone - there certainly isn't any flab.

After one of those routine checks Mrs R was ordered to lose weight - she asked where from because she's also quite tall and skinny. The 'practice nurse' acknowledged the fact, but said it was what the chart told her to say. And Mrs R's records now say she's overweight!

We know the BMI is discredited, so why don't the health authorities acknowledge as much?

Is it too hard to look at an individual and acknowledge whether they look fat or obese, or not?

AloneMan said...

Too right.

I see the Propaganda Wing of the Nanny State (otherwise known as the BBC) was at it again this morning with a story about how all our kids are worrying their little heads to death about the amount of alcohol we irresponsible adults are drinking. Give me strength.

SadButMadLad said...

Standard letter with boiler plate text and little or no explanation of the results. Not so much scaring the public as not carring about producing a proper letter nor taking into account a small amount (2lb) of variation. As one person in the article in the DM says, one size does not fit all.

The BMI system is discredited as a guide to obesity, unless you are seriously over or under, as it does not take into account muscle mass. It can only be used as a rough guide and even then with a pinch of salt. It shouldn't control medical treatment.

jredheadgirl said...

"More than two-thirds of those polled in the LGA survey said senior NHS officials should be targeted [for cuts], closely followed by quangos - such as industry regulators - and foreign aid."

I sure hope that this kind of spirit spills over into the U.S.A..

I live in Los Angeles, California. The state (and my fair city) is broke. We are living in a time of furloughs. Teachers are facing cuts, libraries are facing cuts, our local police force is facing cuts......People on the right are angry...unions on the Left are angry. They are letting people out of prisons because there isn't enough money to support the prison system, yet there is state (ie., smoker tax dollars) $$$ to fund 3rd hand smoke studies. In fact, it seems that everyone is angry about how money is (and has) been appropriated. With these things in mind, one has to wonder when the tide will change over here as well.

Here's to hope.

Joe Public said...

Our neighbour religiously avoided all the foods that had been had been publicised as dangerous to health.

He then starved to death.

Prematurely.

Peperbarmi said...

"If we carry on as we are, nine out of ten children today could grow up with dangerous amounts of fat in their bodies"


If everyone obeyed them they would be sending letters declaring the children are too thin.

You cant win with the Righteous maniacs.