'Good ideas from the Government appear thin on the ground'

Some of our MPs appear to hand their brains in at reception when they come to power. (Image created by AI)

How can we get the unemployed back into work? ‘I dunno, we could we inject them with slimming drugs I suppose!’

As bonkers government ideas go, this one at least appears to have its heart in the right place, if perhaps not the finances.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is pushing the government’s Cuckoo Ideas envelope with his proposal to make the slimming drug Mounjaro available to obese patients looking to get back to work. It’s an idea that sounds a bit Looney Tunes but it’s not without merit.

As Mr Streeting points out: “Our widening waistbands are also placing significant burden on our health service, costing the NHS £11bn a year – even more than smoking. And it’s holding back our economy.

“Illness caused by obesity causes people to take an extra four sick days a year on average, while many others are forced out of work altogether.”

The problem, however, is surely the cost. A quick gander on Google reveals the average slimming injection is around £150 a pop and you have to inject every week for it to be effective. A successful 12 week course of the drug will see the user lose 5% of their body weight.

Not bad, but hardly a deal breaker. A 20 stone man is three months later a 19 stone man. ‘That ballet dream will still have to stay on hold a bit longer John.’

And the cost would be £1,800. It would be cheaper to hire everyone a personal coach to put them through their paces once a week. Failing that, if they’re struggling to get to interviews a mobility scooter would be cheaper.

Perhaps the money would be better spent on finding out why, when politicians get into power, they are suddenly overcome with crackpot, vote-losing brainwaves.

In recent years we’ve had all sorts of wacky initiatives, many have thankfully never seen the light of day, but others were actually adopted.

Rishi Sunak’s desperate return of National Service taking the most recent biscuit, but who remembers the idea floated for English Channel wave machines to beat the migrant boats?

While Rishi’s National Service-lite failed to be adopted, his ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ plan to get diners back to restaurants did happen… erm, unfortunately it was during Covid.

Liz Truss of course trumped them all with her mindboggling mini budget a couple of years ago which tanked the economy and cost her job.

If neurologists want to inspect our politicians’ brains, they are surprisingly easy to find… most appear to hand them in at reception.