Childhood obesity ceived a three month suspended sen- resigned earlier this week. tence and a stark warning from a judge Before his sentence, Mr Robinson Big little ones for pulling a similar stunt last year. But enjoyed a peculiar place in the British reporting restrictions, designed to pre- establishment. He appeared on News. night, a highbrow BBC programme, bare- vent the collapse of the trial on which Mr ly three months ago. In 2014 he spoke at Robinson was commenting, meant that the Oxford Union, which delights in these circumstances were not made sometimes hosting disagreeable sorts. The gap in obesity rates between rich public until four days later. Such invitations may now dry up. But an and poor children is growing By then, hysteria over the "censor army of Facebook followers, and a grow- ship" of Mr Robinson had broken out. TTIS mid afternoon in Camberwell Green ing profile abroad, mean that Mr Rob- The conservative Drudge Report, one of inson will not disappear. A global-and I and the fast-food joints are filling up with the world's largest news aggregators, had schoolchildren. Some are in groups of disturbingly large-alternative estab- the arrest as one of its lead items, Geert lishment has already welcomed him. friends, others are picking up dinner with Wilders, a far-right Dutch MP, weighed their family. It is hard to escape unhealthy in. "The lights of freedom are going out!" food in this south London neighbourhood. he declared in a video shared 10,000 Posters in supermarkets and on bus stops times online. Elsewhere, half a million display deals for fizzy drinks and burgers. people signed an online petition to free Newsagents' doorways glitter with packets Mr Robinson. Even Donald Trump's son, of sweets and crisps. Even a church, con- Donald Jr, decided to join in. "Reason verted from a bingo hall, has a snack dis- #1776 for the original #brexit," he tweeted. pensing vending machine in its lobby. Mr Robinson's arrest fed into a wider The children of Camberwell Green are narrative about Britain put forward by a among the fattest in England. Half of ten nexus of far right websites and poli- and n-year olds there are overweight or ticians in America and Europe. Britain is obese (meaning that a boy of average portrayed as a police state that is overrun height would weigh over 40kg, as opposed with Muslims and home to a sinister, to a healthy 35kg or so). By contrast, in Dul- "socialised" health service that delights wich Village, a few miles south, where in letting children die. Last year President household incomes are twice as high, only Trump retweeted videos from Britain a fifth of children are in that category, one First, a far right anti-Islam group whose of the lowest levels in the country. leaders were jailed earlier this year for Poor children have been fatter than rich religiously aggravated harassment. (Like ones since around the 1980s. But over the Mr Robinson, they too have been arrest- It's jail for you, Mr Robinson past decade the rich have started to slim down, as the poor have got bigger. This is true in poor Camberwell and posh Dul- more likely than poor folk to live near there are 8.2 fast-food outlets per 10,000 wich, where rates of childhood obesity green spaces or join sports clubs. people, and 11.6 in the poorest parts of the have respectively risen by ten percentage (3) At the same time there has been an un- country, according to Public Health Eng points and fallen by two in the past six even growth of fast food joints, explains land, a government agency. years. And it is true of the country at large Thomas Burgoine of the Centre for Diet The temptation to indulge is furthered (see chart on next page). and Activity Research (CEDAR) at Cam- by the marketing of fatty foods. Cancer Re Since the 1990s the public has become bridge University. He and colleagues search UK, a charity, suggests that poor more aware of the risks of obesity. The rich looked at the density of fast food outlets in children are more likely than rich ones to(4) and well educated are best placed to act on Norfolk between 1990 and 2008, In the be exposed to junk food ads. this knowledge, says Ronny Cheung, a pae- poorest areas it increased by two restau- People have a limited amount of men- diatrician in London. They have more time rants per 10,000 residents, whereas in the tal capacity to think about their problems, to cook healthy meals at home and are richest it grew by just 0.5. Across England, argues Hugo Harper of the Behavioural In- > 30 Britain The sights Team, a part-publicly owned think- port and the lo tank which co-authored a recent report on Getting wider in the ensuing the subject with Guy's and St Thomas' England, ten- and 11-year-olds who are overweight British-born Ch Charity. Parents concerned about paying % of total greener pastur rent and keeping the electricity on are thus 40 don, whose less likely to think about cooking a healthy Poorest decile eclipsed Liver dinner. One experiment found that sub- 35 the launderet jects who were asked to memorise a long Average firms that had string of numbers were more likely than 30 mon Wong, a others to pick a chocolate cake over a fruit Richest decile that more Chi salad. Stress has a similar effect. larly in the cal And it may be getting costlier to eat 25 to close down well. CEDAR found that in 2002-12 the most 2006 08 10 12 14 Two rem 16 nutritious foods, like vegetables and un- The first is to Source: Public Health England processed meats, were pricier than un- Chinese stud healthy meals such as pizzas and burgers- clave. Thatm and that the price gap grew each year by from television before 9pm and that car- chester's mu about1op ($0.13) per1,ooo calories. toon characters not be permitted to adver- short ride av Politicians have taken note. In April the tise snacks, among other measures. (10) pool's Chin government introduced a tax on sugary But the underlying causes of childhood Jinzhu, who Liverpool. N soft drinks. It is expected to announce a obesity are fiendishly tricky to fix. As Sir new anti-obesity strategy within weeks; Michael Marmot, head of University Col- Chinatown (reflecting th Scotland will set out its own plan in the lege London's Institute of Health Equity, summer. On May 30th a report by the puts it: "If you want to solve the obesity it has strugg problem, you have to solve the inequality ing student health select committee of MPS recom- whose pala mended that junk food ads be banned problem first." 2 A more 2015 by a lo ported by t Liverpool's Chinatown ($265m) "N