Non-fat ballot

He seems to presume that only people eating cheap “unhealthy” foods are obese, yet he cites Alex Salmond as an example. It is a denial of democracy for governments to control people’s diets by taxation.

Obesity is caused not by the type of food but by the amount consumed, allied to lack of exercise.

Many of my generation grew up on a diet high in both sugar and fat without ever becoming even slightly overweight.

This is just another attempt to limit freedom of choice, while the proposed “fat tax”, like the minimum alcohol price, will hit the majority who indulge their tastes sensibly.

Similarly, the proposed 50p per alcohol unit and the 20 per cent tax on fat are far too low to have any major effect.

Education and encouragement are the best means of adjusting public behaviour, but if legislation is the chosen weapon, then example is of the utmost importance.

No overweight MP or MSP should be allowed to vote on imposing such a tax, indeed Michael Kelly’s “no mercy” approach might suggest that only those of appropriate body mass index should be allowed as electoral candidates.

Robert Dow

Ormiston Road

Tranent, East Lothian

Michael Kelly says that “there is nothing tyrannical in the present proposals [about healthy eating]. They simply represent new battlegrounds in this fight against big business.”

In fact, these proposals are indeed tyrannical and the whole premise behind Mr Kelly’s article is that the individual is powerless and weak-minded, requiring the nanny state to protect him or her from rapacious big business as evidenced by his claim that “it is surely time to make a direct assault on the food industries that are stuffing this fat down children’s throats”.

Using the same terminology, I submit that it is time to make a direct fight against the only agent that has the power to legally expropriate the unearned with impunity: the state.

Bruce Crichton

Victoria Road

Falkirk