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BY ANGELA KELLY

Supermarkets and parents should join together to fight childhood obesity

A CROSS-PARTY report by MPs says that supermarkets will continue to be the “pantomime villains” in today’s childhood obesity crisis unless they combat youngsters’ pester-power.

They want supermarkets to place sweets out of children’s reach and stop promotions and discounts on foods with high levels of sugar, salt and fat.

The politicians demand that supermarkets place discounts on fruit, vegetables and other healthy produce and promote these heavily instead. They also want new laws to ban multi-buy promotions of unhealthy food.

It is time that supermarkets took a genuine stand on this subject and forcing them to offer healthier alternatives more obviously is definitely a way to go.

However, the ultimate decision on food lies with parents who need to stand up to their children’s demands and consider their health instead.

Yes, it is particularly tough being a parent today but the buck still stops with them.

Why should children pay the real price of what is perceived as easier junk food and snacks when healthy alternatives are available?

It’s not a matter of wealth, either. You can eat well cheaply – if parents can be bothered to take the healthier options.

Don’t bother being offended by trivia – there are more important things in life

WE live in very sensitive times. In fact, I do wonder sometimes if people are just waiting to be offended by something or other.

I’m all for caring about people’s feelings and being as kind as we can be but it has got to the stage where free speech is now far from it. We also have to carefully examine more or less everything we utter, in public or private, for fear that it may upset even one person.

Personally, I always thought there was room for all shades of opinion on most topics and that everyone had the right to express this as long as it wasn’t cruel, aggressive, unfair or untrue.

Now, if you feel strongly about something you can be absolutely sure that you will grossly offend someone with your view.

What brought this home to me recently was not, surprisingly, all the instances of people complaining about some often completely innocuous statement, situation or action but the highly inspirational Manchester Arena bomb blast survivor Freya Lewis.

Freya was just 14 when she and best friend Nell Jones attended the Ariana Grande concert in May, 2017. With arms linked and chatting excitedly after enjoying the event, they were just 30 feet away from terrorist Salman Abedi when he detonated his bomb.

This killed 23 people, including the attacker, and wounded 139 others. Nell died as a result of the blast and Freya suffered 29 terrible injuries.

On the operating table, doctors spent “10 hours intricately bolting, drilling, sewing and bandaging me back together again,” recalled Freya. She was in a coma for five days and confined to a wheelchair for three months.

This was the first of five sessions of surgery lasting 23 hours.

Her recovery was agonising and she also suffered ongoing terror and hallucinations. But now, at 17. having written a heartrending book entitled What Makes Us Stronger, she insists that the experience of the bomb and its aftermath, however harrowing, has made her a stronger person.

Her stoic attitude to life and all that has happened to her is so far away from today’s over-sensitive individuals usually whinging over trivia as to be from a different species. Freya has put life into perspective, for herself and everyone, and let’s hope we can learn from her.

Putting names to faces isn’t always easy

ARE you good at remembering names and faces? Apparently, only one per cent of the UK population are actually what are now called super recognisers.

These are people who can pick out a face in a crowd and immediately know who they are. They simply never forget a face.

The Metropolitan Police actually has an elite squad of these super recogniser officers at Scotland Yard who possess this unlikely super power. It comes in very handy for tracking down criminals in a crowd or on CCTV and it’s an amazing feat of memory.

The rest of us may just do what Piers Morgan did while at a Hollywood party for the Oscars this year. Seeing someone he was convinced was Friends’ star David Schwimmer, he went up to him and congratulated him on his most recent acting success.

Relating this to others, he was roundly informed that this was not, in fact, David Schwimmer but another actor called Dylan McDermott who did look a bit like Mr S.

Embarrassment for Piers ensued - although, to his credit, he did publicise the gaffe himself in a national newspaper he writes for and on TV’s Good Morning Britain.

You can feel sympathy for the usually abrasive Piers as this is just so easily done. I am regularly calling people by their wrong name, convinced that Susan is Sylvia and Derek is David.

People are often too polite to correct you but when you realise your mistake, it’s red faces all round. I like it when you go to an event and everyone is wearing nametags. At least there’s no room for identity opinion or any margin for error.

Dina is just the right Barbie for 2020

BARBIE has always fascinated children with her pneumatic figure, endless legs and enviable wardrobe.

But, quite rightly, this extreme doll look can be unhealthily influential on burgeoning minds coming to terms with the more realistic gifts of Nature. It may even help give them unrealistic role models.

So, well done Mattel for creating a Barbie doll which is a modern icon and who has created her success from hard work. The latest addition is a Barbie doll of world champion British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith.

The 24 year-old is the fastest woman in British history and just the right example for youngsters to aspire to. Now, let’s look at someone similar for a new Ken.