Dilemma for do-gooders

In the 60s and 70s the abiding angst was over skinny, anaemic kids who got hustled off to health camps. Skinny = bad.

By the 80s we were witnessing the beginnings of massive paranoia over the anorexia nervosa 'epidemic'. Then we had the PC backlash calling for non-judgementalism about body shape lest we create an unhealthy, even fatal, obsession.

Now that's all out of the window. Apparently "self esteem" is no longer the flavour of the day, as we unrelentingly highlight obese kids in an attempt to legislate them into 'healthy' conventionality. Fat = bad.

In the UK, "From next year, however, parents of any obese 4- or 10-year-olds can expect a letter telling them their child faces long-term health damage unless they lose weight. The about-turn came after MPs dismissed as 'drivel' claims that telling parents the results could lead to children being bullied."

Obesity campaigners say the danger to obese children's future health is so great it outweighs any fears of bullying.

What a dilemma for those who would stick their beaks into other people's lives. Which is more important. Physical or emotional health?