Tuesday 8 March 2016

I'm super, thanks for asking

Public Health England launched a health education campaign yesterday at a cost of £3.5 million. In principle, this is okay. In practice, it is very poor indeed.

I wrote a short article about it for the Telegraph...

At our expense, billboards have been erected asking us how we are. "How are you?" But don't answer straight away. Instead, log on to the "How are you?" website and tell the government how you are. Do you feel "down in the dumps", or are you "full of beans"? Are you "really knackered", or "over the moon"?

You will have to get used to this sort of baby talk if you're going to complete PHE's little survey. I have filled it out several times with different answers and the advice is always essentially the same. Don't smoke! Don't drink too much! Eat a healthy, balanced diet! Take some exercise! Never does it go beyond these laudable yet blindingly obvious platitudes. There are no handy tips. No life hacks. Just the same dull messages that have been drilled into us for decades.

Do read the rest.


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