01 Nov 2024
Laura Bill questions whether the Government is making unacceptable links between obesity and unemployment…
Is it just me or did you think the nation voted into power the, allegedly, fluffier, warmer, kinder party? Somehow we appear to have ended up with the rightest of the right and I recoil in horror each day as they launch another idea they’re mooting – but the latest really took the biscuit.
I am of course talking about the recent ‘jabs for jobs’ conversations in Parliament whereby Health Secretary Wes Streeting suggested that one way to help people back into employment might be to offer weight loss injections to obese jobless folk.
Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged that more money was needed for the NHS, and said that the government also needs to “think differently” to ease pressure on the health system. And think differently he certainly is. Or is he?
Is there not already a view held among some that people without jobs are ‘paid’ by the taxpayer to sit eating Pringles and watch Bargain Hunt all day?
Does this Government suggestion or initiative or whatever it is not perpetuate awfully misinformed stereotypes about both non-working people and people living in larger bodies?
I am not a dietician or an employment expert but I suspect that there are as many reasons as to why somebody might not be in employment as there are why a person may tick the ‘obesity’ box and I’m pretty sure the two are not hugely linked.
Surely it is in very rare and extreme cases that somebody is immobile due to their weight?
Are most people who are, on paper, obese, not living regular lives whether that be employed or not currently employed?
According to the BBC, there is no correlation between unemployment and obesity. They said that chief executive of unemployment charity Yes Manchester Adam Green maintains that obesity is low on the list of reasons why some people struggle to get a job.
St Albans actor and singer in The Sundaes Anna Franklin agrees that this new proposal by our expensive-suit-and-glasses-wearing so-called leftie PM could be potentially problematic for society
“It’s inherently fatphobic when these harmful stereotypes about us being work shy/a drain on the NHS are perpetuated. I’ve been fat all my life and taken very little time off sick.
“The only things I’ve ever used the NHS for were a C-section and a burst appendix, neither of which were related to my weight. I also got up and went to work as a wedding celebrant when I actively had acute appendicitis (my appendix was removed the next day).”
She said that the majority of larger people have probably endured lifetimes of micro-aggressions and disrespect, leading to complexities around their relationship with food and disordered eating.
She accepts and loves her body in its current incarnation but works really hard at not gaining extra weight: “I’m the first to rail against the demonisation of fat people, the stereotypes, the use of my body type as shorthand for stupid and lazy. But like everything, there is a balance, and if your weight is stopping you from working then it might be worth trying something new.”
Does she think the injections could be a good idea in some cases? “A bit of me doesn’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea. Although I live happily in a fat body and generally practice healthy behaviours, there is a point where if your weight is impacting on your ability to work, you should probably make some lifestyle changes.”
Anna said she could not imagine not being in employment and she works as an actor, singer and cabaret artist. She said: “While I encourage fat acceptance, body diversity and health at every size, I know that when I was six stone fatter than I am now I would have struggled and certainly not be able to sing and dance at the same time so I wouldn’t be able to do the job I love doing.
“For people who are naturally small the answer seems so obviously ‘eat less, move more’ but in reality for the naturally larger bodied, it’s so much more complex than that.”
Psychotherapist Jon Wilson Cooper, founder of The Albany Centre, also agrees there are many reasons why people might be overweight: “There needs to be a multi-faceted approach to the issue, looking at it from sociological, political, economic, emotional points of view.”
He explained that people don’t just eat because they are hungry but often for emotional reasons.
“People can eat because they are bored, sad, lonely, angry, anxious. We can see food as a reward and can associate it with celebration.
“Preparing, serving and eating food is also a way of communicating love and care and in some families is a very important bonding behaviour so there are relational consequences in changing eating patterns.”
Injections for weight loss suppose that the individual is entirely responsible for their weight, he added.
“A compassionate response where individuals feel valued is required rather than given the message that they are a drain on society that needs to be fixed.”
I couldn’t agree more. I worry that we are entering into a more and more dystopian society where the most vulnerable are pushed further and further into the margins.
What else will they come up with? That is a genuinely frightening question.
Once, nobody would ever have imagined the Government would be charging people to drive in certain areas in certain cars, for example.
Soon, it won’t be possible to buy a new car that isn’t electric. That is insane.
Jabs for people who are overweight so they can get a job? Who thought that was a priority for our very broken country?! There is even talk of losing the single person’s council tax allowance.
Whatever happened to the promises made about the rich taking some of the burden? There is no evidence of that is there?
What has that got to do with this, you might ask? It’s all about keeping the poor poor, the marginalised marginalised and trying to shun and shame people who may be able to step up a little bit – with a huge amount of effort and possible trauma – rather than tackling the real elephants in the room.
Point the finger at the overweight, the refugees, the shoplifters, the people who drive an older car because they can’t afford a newer one, the single people, the pensioners, but whatever you do don’t look at the super rich to solve the problem.
