Lothianlad

This comes as no surprise at all - putting aside for the moment the British National Health Service and its universal coverage largely funded at source by the British taxpayers (and I do not have any issue at all about one penny piece deducted from my monthly salary payment in this regard) - in recent years there has been a marked increase in "healthy eating campaigns" and the UK must surely hold the world record for the number of TV programs featuring cookery, food preparation and an emphasis on the importance of healthy, nutritious foods. Hardly a day passes without some kind of culinary TV program being shown on any of the UK's TV channels.

On Saturday mornings, for example, BBC1 TV is almost entirely taken up by the "Saturday Kitchen" program featuring the presenter chef James Martin* and a couple of first class chefs producing their latest culinary delights with health and nutritional value.

As for the British being more mobile than the Americans in the use of two legs rather than four wheels - that's probably very true, but when you see the current price of petrol at the pumps here in the UK then that comes as no surprise, either.

As for the number of dog walkers you see here in the UK, as compared with many Continental countries, with the possible exception of France (where they need lessons in the art of poop scooping and the provision of poop scoop depository facilities and where you need to be careful where you step even on pavements) then that may well be a contributory factor in this issue as compared with the USA. I would imagine the Americans also walk their dogs, or do they do that from their cars, too, with the mutts trailing along behind?

However, curries and other takeaways are still very popular, especially late on Friday and Saturday nights after more than just a pint or two, and none of those can hardly be described as beneficial health wise.

robin1234

Fortunately, though, there is a health-care system in place - because of the Government.

GeoffM

Indeed there is. Just don't get them to design IT systems, as I was trying to point out. Mind you the suppliers have to take at least a little of the blame for not being able to manage the customer.

Yorkieabroad

Our pediatrician here is going to online access for our kids medical records. Has to be a step in the right direction, but its taking forever. They started implementing it Jan1 2010. I applied for access in June 2010 when my eldest went for a wellcheck, and I still haven't been approved! I queried it in January this year, and they are "working through the backlog"!!

So when I needed a copy of the kids shot records for cub camp, I went into the office. The lady pulled them up on the screen, confirmed they were all up to date and I asked for a copy. I signed the consent to release form, and was told to come back and collect them in 2 days. Err, can't you just hit print now, and save me the return visit? No, it doesn't work like that...

So does that get filed under crap customer service, total waste of time and gas, poor IT system design, or all of the above?

TN-Dave

all of the above !

Britishbees

(Harry The Spider hijacking the wife's session...)

We're particularly enjoying the opportunity to look at every tin and packet of stuff in the stores here as we play a game of "find the food with the lowest levels of sugar and/or salt that won't also give you an instant heart attack"

I'm also wondering if the worse health levels in the US are due in part to eating Hershey's chocolate. I know I'm not alone in feeling it smells like dog poo. I'm wandering if, to smell like dog poo, it has to contain dog poo... they say you are what you eat...

I walk frequently from the office to local diners for lunch with colleagues, most of whom are US. Not sure I'll do that for much longer as the temperature heads inexorably up towards 110'F... though only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun...

N1cky

In LA they just carry them around the mall in their handbags

Jerseygirl

IMO Hershey's choc doesn't smell of dogge do da...it smells like vomit.

Mummy in the foothills

And tastes like eating candles.

Very few people round here even walk their dogs anywhere and then it's not a regular thing, morning and night like I used to see in the UK. Most are kept in outdoor pens, 10'x10' and get let out for a run in the yard, other who are kept in the house get let out for a run and a poop in the yard and then back in the house. One house by us has two dogs in a sort of paddock set up, with a dog house in the middle, the water is on automatic and the feed gets slotted through the fence by a funnel thing into the bowls (dry food) So no one even has to go through the gate and see to them. Why even bother? Dogs are friendly and love company why treat them like a couple of goats. Horrible.