Weighty issues

On behalf of all “overweight” people, Gordon Kennedy claims the right to “eat what they want and wear what they want without being penalised” (Letters, 14 May). That is inconsistent and economically simplistic. He is presumably quite prepared to pay extra for the additional food and drink he consumes, but not for the extra costs of his outsized clothes, which reflect not merely the extra material consumed but design, stockholding, reduced demand etc.

That demand will increase as obesity increases, so when a 50” chest-size becomes the norm, jackets under 40” may well bear the premium price, alleviating his “extreme frustration”!

John Birkett

Horseleys Park

St Andrews