In his latest column, the Radstock Mayor Rupert Bevan writes about being tolerant.

He writes for Nub News:

In its usual finger-pointing manner, the national media are focussing on obesity, claiming that anyone whose weight lies outside the '18% norm' is in danger of suffering death from Corona virus and should expect little help from the NHS since that would be to waste resources.

From this we conclude that comfortably sized people are to be treated as a subspecies and unless they get their act together - cycling vigorously up incline planes - they will not qualify for the treatment they have paid for through the over-consumption of Mars Bars, Camembert cheese or whatever.

What the computer doesn't tell you is that many people become fat as a result of giving up smoking or indulging in the pleasures of the table to get through what might otherwise prove to be a worrying time. One could take issue with the 18% norm. Yet again we receive from the computer a statistic that is at best questionable and at worst downright divisive. How can 18% be the norm? What about the other 82%?

In my experience fat people are industrious, generous and wholesome. They contribute far more to society than the finger-pointing 'thinnies' who often fail to support local business by buying anything and whose consuming self-interest makes them undesirable neighbours. Without wishing to expand on this theme, it is sufficient to point out that a civilised society accommodates all types of physique. Tolerance is a much better goal than blame seeking.