Fat chance Alex

If Calton were Alex Salmond he would not be quite so quick to rubbish the idea that an independent Scotland would not be able to afford current levels of welfare without raising taxes. On a recent visit to a hospital, Calton was shocked at the number of obese people he saw as he sat in the reception area, and that was just the staff. Add to that Scotland's drink problem, our failed methadone program, the number of people who still smoke plus an aging population and high unemployment and you don't need a maths degree to work out that a dwindling healthy workforce is paying for an increasing number of welfare claimants. The cost of caring for the elderly is soaring and the NHS is quite literally buckling under the weight of fat patients. If the SNP wants to keep its flagship policy of free personal care it will have to raise taxes sooner or later unless it can persuade the people of Scotland to adopt a more healthy lifestyle (fat chance). The First Minister's comments today may well come back to haunt him.

Where angels fear to tread...

Given that one of Scotland's main health problems, after alcohol, is obesity, Calton wonders if it was really a good idea for Johann Lamont to appoint the obviously overweight Jackie Baillie to the position of Health, Wellbeing and Cities Strategy spokeswoman. Jackie is known for her campaign for a public enquiry on the CDiff outbreak at the Vale of Leven, and has also successfully campaigned for greater protection of disabled parking spaces, however Calton fears that she will struggle to convince the masses of the necessity to lose weight unless she does so herself. Calton knows that he risks making himself deeply unpopular with this post, and Lord knows, there are probably other MSPs with less obvious but more damaging habits health-wise than Mrs Baillie, however is it too much to expect our leaders to lead by example?