The Tories, bless their cotton socks, did do rather well in issuing their rebuttal. Ann Widdecombe, who only decided to do something about her largesse after ITV came calling, inferred that 'while people will often object if you smoke near them, nobody says, "Don't get fat near me". Whisper it quietly, but if she sits down on the Picadilly Line next to me this afternoon I'll be writing to TfL. Andrew Lansley described the Government's track record on obesity as 'just woeful'. Lansley spoke at Exeter University just before the last General Election; let me tell you, just woeful doesn't even begin to cover it.

But the thing that annoyed me the most was the Indy's editorial. Sadly, it's not online because they've gone down that old socialist route of charging you for reading. Here is the excerpt that really bothered me:

The response of the Government to this rising tide of obesity must be holistic. All departments should be acting with public health considerations in mind. The Department for Transport should be creating more cycle lanes. The Department for Education and Skills should be investing considerably more in school sports. It should not require a dedicated fitness minister for things like this to be happening. The creation of such a position is intended to demonstrate that the Government is taking the problem of obesity terribly seriously. In fact what it shows is that the question of the nation's health is being cynically ghettoised.

Sounds reasonable enough doesn't it? Until you discover that there are in fact more cycle lanes in England than in 1997 and that school sport has undergone a massive revamp. Whilst playing fields haven't been returned to their former owners, which is a bit difficult when there's a giant Tesco's sitting on it, the government have invested £1bn into sport in schools since 1997 and incorporated professional sports clubs and Community Sports Trusts into the system. Aside from all of that, the government established both the Football Foundation and Supporters' Direct way back in 1997 and required all the football academies they promoted to teach youth term scholars all the way through to their A-Levels.

Young people get their civic instruction not from their teachers but from celebrities. It would, of course, be nice if we could have more Becky Lynn's and Jo Pavey's than Britney barbie dolls, but it's tough convincing a primary school student that they should stop playing Grand Theft Auto and go and jog round the block instead. It was equally interesting that in none of the sporting obitaruries of David Beckham published the other week was his instrumental role in winning the Olympics highlighted.

The moral of this long-winded story: keep going, Caroline.