Leader: We love our takeaways… and for good reason

Anti-obesity campaigners should shed their tears now. A survey reveals that Scotland has the highest percentage of independent takeaways in Britain. We are bursting with takeaway pizza parlours, burger bars and kebab shops and our very own vernacular fish and chip dispensaries.

Health campaigners have railed for years at this. But with the economic downturn and the pressure on household incomes, there is a greater reliance on them than ever. Six per cent of Scotland's high street outlets are now accounted for by takeaways against a UK average of 5 per cent.

It may seem a minuscule difference in statistics. But it's around the waist where the all-too-visible pounds are added. A spokesman for the National Obesity Forum, the aptly-named Tam Fry, claims the aroma of cooking lures people into these establishments and that we find the smell of fish and chips hard to resist. He says the credit crunch is adding fuel to the fire. That's one way of putting it.

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It may also be of course that we are just hungry, and are a people of limited means. And we have always liked pies and fish and chips. No 1 at the Balmoral is all very well, but you have to book. And even then you have to ask specially for the vinegar.