Would you like a big stick with your carrots Sir?

Just got into work somewhat late and looking like a drowned rat minus the tail. And before stepping into the building a nice bus driver managed to splash me just to really put the icing on the cake of one heck of a morning. What a pavlova!

I guess long gone are the rainy days when I and other misguided youngsters would stand by large puddles and wait apprehensively for a car to come and give us a good soaking. I tell you, it's a good thing they got rid of Typhoid when they did or we could have been in big trouble.

Anyway, it seems today's illness of choice is obesity. And choice is, of course, the operative word there.

That same bus that threatened to give me Typhoid earlier (or a cold chill below the knee at least) had emblazoned on the side of it a Scottish Government advert about Healthy Eating and how food is now colour coded to ensure you know what's best for you.

I have to admit to sighing a little bit at yet another expensive advertising campaign that probably won't do very much but I could at least see this one making a slight dent in the ever expanding problems (not to mention waistlines) relating to food in this country.

I can't imagine the hot dog and chips generation are going to be too swayed by a couple of red, orange and green dots. I had the pleasure of working with a large industrial company in deepest, darkest Glasgow. There was colour coding everywhere but the salad bar and 'healthy option' of meat and two veg were equally eschewed for the pizzas, pies and chips counter.


There's a long way to go to get Scotland slimmer and fitter and if we are going to go down the nanny state option (which I would be happy with), then it'll be sticks and not carrots that get results.