Britain is overweight. In recent decades, obesity has reached epidemic proportions, and it is growing into a silent but deadly health crisis. In 30 years, the level has doubled. It is costing people and the nation dear, and the time has come for war to be declared, with all means at the disposal of the NHS deployed to fight it. This means that “weight-loss jabs” such as Ozempic, which can have such a remarkable effect in a relatively short time, need to be made much more widely available. The case is overwhelming.
More than one in four Britons is obese, according to figures derived from data released by NHS Digital, with the prevalence of the issue generally climbing above 70 per cent in the cohort aged 55 to 74 years. Even among four-and five-year-old children, one in 10 has a body mass index sufficiently high to be classified as obese. Plainly, something is very badly wrong with what might be termed the British body politic.
