Star comment: Spotlight on blame for obesity

It is, of course, the fault of the schools. They should be providing more education on what is good to eat. Stand in the dock too the National Health Service. What service to health can it be providing when there is such a high proportion of the nation's young overweight?

The food manufacturers are guilty with all the rubbish they are turning out which is attractive to young eyes and bellies but is ultimately bad for them.

The councils are cutting this and that and hitting youth services, giving the young less to do, and so more prone to sedentary lifestyles.

And then, of course, there are the parents. What are they thinking of letting their boys and girls get in this bloated state?

You may be able to wheel out other culprits and make the case for more or less everybody to be blamed. That is handy, because if everybody is to blame, then nobody can be responsible.

As for the children, well, have there been children of any generation who have not loved chocolate, sweets, and a whole lot of other tasty snacks which add to their waistlines?

A meeting this week in Oswestry heard that more than 20 per cent of the 10 and 11 year olds in that town are overweight. In an issue in which, as we have said, the finger can be waved in many different directions, it was provision for today's youth which came under the spotlight.

A generation or so ago it was inadequate diet for children which vexed the nation. There was poverty and malnourishment. Free school milk was one way of addressing the concerns.

On the other hand, children had a carefree existence. Ask your grandparents for tales of their childhood and it is as if they ran wild.

Compare their active, tree-climbing lifestyles to the X-Box generation who sit for hours moving only fingers and thumbs.

Coming back to the issue of blame and responsibility, if children do not get out much and lock themselves in their bedrooms, they are at home and the four walls of the home is undoubtedly the area of operations for parents.

So as we sit in judgment, the initial verdict goes against the parents, who are sentenced to get off their own rear quarters and help their children lead healthier lives.