The revelation in yesterday's national press that almost 2,000 people who are too fat to work have been paid £4.4m in benefits was shocking.
But while digesting (pardon the pun) the figures, it reminded me of a classic episode of The Simpsons in which Homer dreams up a plan so he can work at home.
Homer gets fed up of his company's exercise programme and decides to gain weight so that he can be classed as morbidly obese, therefore disabled and work from home.
The episode, called King-Size Homer, sees our hero being given a workstation in his front room and being tasked with pressing the 'Y' key on his PC as part of his safety inspector duties.
But Homer gets fed up, puts a nodding bird toy in charge and goes to the movies to watch the brilliantly-titled Honk If You're Horny. When he gets back, the bird has tipped over, the button remains unpressed and the nuclear plant is threatening to explode.
So what can work and pensions secretary Peter Hain learn from this tragic tale? Don't put the fat people in charge seems an obvious answer, but I'm sure there is an underlying message that's more serious.
By introducing a new health test from October next year that will assess capability, rather than incapacity, the government wants to know what work individuals are able to do. The official press release even stated that the new test "would look at things like a person's ability to use a computer keyboard or a mouse".
So it looks like we might soon see an army of obese workers dragging their huge carcasses out of bed or off the sofa and sat (on a reinforced chair) in front of a computer.
Surely sitting on their bums all day is one of the main reasons why these people have ended up like they have? The government should be encouraging them to get outside and get some exercise - making them fit for purpose - rather than telling them they are only suited for sedentary, mundane work.
Just as well Homer lives in Springfield and not Sunderland. Alternatively, the government could just take a course of action like Homer's boss Mr Burns does to get him back to work - pay for the liposuction.
Comments (3)
This is a huge problem - fnar.
However, I think the fat agenda is preventing a more serious debate. There are 8 million people in the UK claiming these allowances. This means that a huge proportion of the working population is disabled which is clearly tosh.
There are some towns in the UK where 30% of working age adults claim! This makes the UK sound like it is lost in the dark days of pre Victorian time and is frankly ridiculous, scandelous and deeply sad!
Various governments have tried to sort this out and have failed. The current lot are at least trying and should have our support.
I don't know how these people can sleep at night - knowing that they are taking money from those people who really need help. I guess they don't care. I bet this lot are also the first to moan about the influx of hard working Polish workers!
Doh!
Posted by Scott McArthur | November 20, 2007 10:56 AM
Posted on November 20, 2007 10:56
I don't wish to be pedantic (oh, hang on, yes, I do. Always) but I seem to recall that Homer begins by typing Y-E-S into the keyboard and only later discovers that he only needs to type the "Y" to achieve the same result: "Hey, I just tripled my productivity!".
Is this also the episode where he is reading the computer manual and it tells him to "Press any key to start".
"Hey! Where's the "Any" key?"
Posted by Andrew | November 20, 2007 11:57 AM
Posted on November 20, 2007 11:57
I am now overweight. Sadly it's not because I am lazy, although a lot of newspapers editors love the fact they can make jokes, I am fat because my legs do not work, because in 1990 while at work I fell 96ft and lived, the hospital which was a Tory nightmare did not have a spare doctor to see me so two nurses shoved me in a taxi and sent me home, with a broken back and a lesion of the spinal cord. I have fought tooth and nail to get my life back sadly this ended up with me in a wheelchair.
Seems newspapers enjoy having jokes on the part of society people should protect, then again how many disabled people do we seen on TV reading news or in newspapers or reporting.
I've spent five years with the Shaw Trust and Remploy looking for work both have given up, sadly I cannot because next year I will need to keep my family more then likely working at jobs which nobody else wants on the min wage working if lucky 15 or 16 hours a week.
Come down and try my life before joking about Homer Simpson.
Posted by Robert | December 20, 2007 5:53 PM
Posted on December 20, 2007 17:53