The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) would, in effect, appear to be paying people to lose weight.

Now call us old fashioned, call us pernickety, but isn’t that the same as ‘paying’ yobs to leave estates in peace? ‘Paying’ drunks to cut back on the booze? ‘Paying’ noisy neighbours to turn down the volume?

The list could go on, but we know that there is an alternative.

It’s called ‘self-discipline’...