The rise in the number of patients weighing 25 stones or more - the official term is bariatric patients - will put more strain on our already stretched health authorities.

It is an indication of the nation's growing waistline and forces NHS trusts to invest in specialist reinforced equipment to cope with these overweights, to train staff and even make revisions to buildings to provide the necessity space.

But beyond throwing time and money at simply coping with the access and comfort issues of larger men and women who need treatment, more resources need to be ploughed into education and activities to tackle the root cause of obesity.

The powers that be could save huge amounts of public cash by spending relatively little to encourage, and provide opportunities from an early age for,people to live healthy lives with minor medical intervention, rather than finding ever-growing resources to control (not even necessarily cure) ills associated with an unhealthy Body Mass Index, such as diabetes, or breathing or heart problems.

Bariatric patients and the NHS scramble to accommodate them is just a manifestation of a wider public health predicament.

Let's make it a 'Snow Day'

HUNDREDS were kept off work by the heavy snow this week - but was this really a bad thing?

Snow is possibly the only interactive fun weather, and if it only settles in London once in 25 years why shouldn't we enjoy it?

Families got the chance to spend the day together sledging, building snowmen and in snowball fights.

Why should people struggle to a cold office, missing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to indulge in a bit of snow play?

The simplest solution to Monday's transport nightmare seems obvious - have the Government declare a 'snow day' and give everyone not involved in an essential service a guilt-free day of leisure.