Boston, Massachusetts? No, this post is about Boston, Lincolnshire. Yesterday's Sunday Times ran an article reporting that this town has the highest obesity rates in England, 31% against a national average of 21%. The 'mass' in my title refers to the combined weight of its inhabitants.

According to the paper, the cause is that an influx of migrant workers are now doing the heavy agricultural work which was the mainstay of employment in the area. The local population are now employed in more sedentary jobs, but are still eating as much as in the days when their work was more physically demanding. It seems a local delicacy is "chine", a shoulder cut of pork, partly boned, filled with parsely, sold cooked and eaten cold. Good grief, that must be using the word 'delicacy' in some manner that I'm not familiar with.

So, in the tones of the old Harry Enfield character I say:
"OI!, ... BOSTON!, ... NO!!!!"

Really, Boston, this is nothing to be proud of. However, help is at hand. By my reckoning if just 1200 of its populace could get themselves down from obese to just overweight then that would be enough to get this town off the top spot. It could then resume being famous for the Boston Stump, the biggest parish church in England rather than being infamous for having the fattest bods in England. So, come on residents of Boston, sign up for Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle today.

I note that this is reported as the most obese population in England, not the UK. I'd guess that there's somewhere in Scotland, home of the deep-fried confectionary, that's even worse than this. When I find out who you are then I'm going to be on your case too!