Perils and pluses of a pledge to look after our own health | Letters

Historian Rebecca Earle and Big Issue founder John Bird on the idea of prescribing a dose of ‘self-health’

So the Big Issue’s John Bird wants us to sign a pledge to eat better, drink less and exercise more. We mustn’t be “an unnecessary drain” on the NHS, after all. Dawn Foster is absolutely right to question the merits of this approach (Bossy diet advice won’t fix the NHS, 23 January).

Not a day goes by when I am not reminded of the tense atmosphere in Britain in the revolutionary years of the 1790s. As people up and down the country protested against the rising price of food and falling standard of living, members of the great and good signed pledges promising the 18th-century version of Dry January: they would ensure that their households ate wholemeal bread for the next two months.

Continue reading... January 24, 2018 at 11:53PM