Delivering subject content through nine life themes
The comment that a week is a long time in politics is commonly attributed to former prime minister Harold Wilson. Yet even the worst crises of the 60s and 70s moved at a glacial pace compared to the events of the last few days… Continue Reading “Putting children’s health needs first”
A recent comment piece in the Times newspaper by the journalist Matthew Parris, arguing that fat shaming is the only way to tackle the obesity crisis, has – unsurprisingly – caused controversy. It comes in the same week that Diabetes UK warned about an… Continue Reading “Fat shaming is no answer”
The England men’s football team fell short of cementing their place in history by lifting the World Cup, but millions of us came together to watch their progress, and the consensus seems to be that they gave a good account of themselves, with the… Continue Reading “Children’s activity levels”
Congratulations to the Daily Mile, which recently turned ten years old! According to the Daily Mile Foundation, four million children in 90 countries worldwide – including two million children in England alone – are now involved, twice as many as in 2019. Scotland was… Continue Reading “Benefits of the Daily Mile”
Two food-related news items caught the eye this week. The first involved the Beano comic, which was criticised for apparently promoting junk food to children on its website. The second was linked to the use of weight-loss drugs by the NHS. Some health experts… Continue Reading “Junking our junk-food culture”
One of the 2020 National Food Strategy’s four objectives was to escape the junk-food cycle. Henry Dimbleby’s report described the country’s eating habits as a “slow-motion disaster” and warned of a toxic connection between child poverty, poor diet and hunger. As we wrote last… Continue Reading “Free school meals”
The UK government has announced measures that aim to create equal school sport opportunities for girls, including playing football, and ensure a minimum of two hours of physical education per week. The intention is to build on the success of England’s women’s football team… Continue Reading “Girls’ football”
It is fair to say that former world champion rower and Olympic medallist Cath Bishop is unimpressed by the recent government promises regarding school sport. She questions how much of what was announced is actually new and bemoans another missed opportunity “to connect PE… Continue Reading “A real vision for school sport”
New figures released by Diabetes UK show that the number of people in the UK living with diabetes has topped five million for the first time. The charity’s chief executive says that the UK is in the grip of a rapidly escalating diabetes crisis.… Continue Reading “Dealing with diabetes”
References to ‘the nanny state’ and ‘nanny statism’ have been much in the UK news since last Friday (21 April) following the resignation of Dominic Raab from the government. The justice secretary and deputy prime minister resigned after a bullying inquiry found that he… Continue Reading “A strategic approach to tackling obesity”