ARE the cooking programmes on television a contributory factor in our growing obesity problems?
I'm old enough to remember when there were very few of these programmes being broadcast on television at the levels that they are. There were fewer obese people in the past when there were fewer cooking programmes.
Just now we're in serious troub
le with the problems of obesity. It's something we must get a grip of before the ticking time bomb goes off.
We are being bombarded with cooking programmes every day now. But how many people really have the time to go out and buy the ingredients for cooking the way these chefs do it? Very few I doubt. People tend to watch these programmes, get hungry and go out and buy pies and fast food which is a lot easier then cooking the food that they do from scratch.
I believe these programmes only encourage people to eat more, but not the food that they are being shown. This is cheap television, which has a big influence on the way people behave and eat.
Obesity is a problem that we are all going to have to face up to seriously, and we have to look at the causes. And one of the questions that should be asked is, are television cook programmes brainwashing people in to eating more food? It might be time to get this cheap television off our screens if it is damaging the health of the nation.
We need to find out the truth of the problems and then take the action needed to change this behaviour. Because just now, it is damaging our nation's health.
Andrew Murphy, Bailie Fyfe's Close, High Street, Royal Mile, EdinburghLabour going down because of BrownAFTER Labour suffered another by-election thrashing in Glasgow, Gordon Brown has the audacity to tell us the polls don't worry him because he wants to concentrate on his job and he also thinks he is the only person who can dig us out of the depression we are under.
The reason Labour are on their way out is because Mr Brown isn't doing his job, and as far as being the ideal person to dig us out of the gloom we are in, Mr Brown is the whole reason we are in a mess.
Alan Lough, Boroughdales, DunbarNo offence, but the garden is oursI WAS bemused to read your article "Sorry, your back garden belongs to us" (August 16).
The land referred to in the article is indeed our land and not owned by Mr Muir and there has never been an agreement with Mr Muir for him to use the land. To therefore refer to it as 'your back garden' is more than a little bizarre.
Within the article Mr Muir claims he did not know he did not own the land when he bought the property 19 years ago. A rather peculiar state of affairs to not know what land you own when the title deeds at the time of purchase would have made this quite clear!
Mr Muir goes on to admit that he has known for at least ten years that he does not own it, and this is reinforced by the fact he made an offer to buy the land from St Margaret's School (previous owners of the land) and also inquired about buying the land from us.
Before we bought the property two years ago, we made clear to Mr Muir that this would be used for development purposes and this was again clarified in our planning application lodged in December 2007, and also in the application again lodged last month. Both applications show a new stone wall being erected.
Mr Muir was given ample notice before our temporary fence was erected. Our solicitors have also confirmed Mr Muir has no legal rights whatsoever in respect of our land.
Andrew Smith, director – development & investment, Ashford Property Group, Melville Street, EdinburghSplash the cash for our lifeboat heroesTHE Royal National Lifeboat Institution do a wonderful job (News, 19 August). They risk their lives to help others who are stranded at sea in absolutely horrendous weather conditions.
As there will be a special celebration in Dunbar this weekend to mark the 200th anniversary of the lifeboat station, I hope members of the public will give generously to this charity to raise funds and acclaim crew, as they wholeheartedly deserve.
Mrs June Fleming, Hercus Loan, MusselburghMP's post office acts not first classI WAS amazed to read the story in your paper headlined "MP puts his stamp on campaign to block post office closures".
In March the Conservatives narrowly lost a vote to suspend the closure of 2500 post offices across the country, with the support of 19 Labour MPs.
Mark Lazarowicz was not one of the 19 Labour rebels.
Mark's commitment to retaining sub post offices which are important for the local community is made clear in his voting record.
The public meetings on September 18 and 29 will be interesting, and I would urge people to attend and to let Mark Lazarowicz's Labour Party and the Post Office know what they think of their closures.
Iain McGill, West Annandale Street, Edinburgh