Weight-loss jabs helped us when all else failed | Letters
Regarding Dr Helen Salisbury’s article (As an NHS GP, I can now prescribe weight-loss jabs – but a quick fix for obesity is not what we need, 26 June), I had a body mass index of almost 50 before starting on Mounjaro privately, even though I ate well and exercised more frequently than many of my peers.I could also have written several books on nutrition.I’d not got to that size as some bimbling idiot eating continually, but did have a binge-eating disorder linked to episodes of poor mental health that no medical professional was interested in discussing until I’d lost some weight.Healthcare for people suffering with obesity in the UK is abysmal.You cannot approach a GP about anything without it being linked to your weight and told that you just need to eat less and move more, yet we wonder why a significant number of people who are obese have malnutrition.
At one point, I was advised by my GP to cut my daily calorie intake, 1,500, in half, leaving me trying to manage on 750 a day.Weight-loss drugs have changed my life as I feel in control for the first time ever, and I have slowly and appropriately lost three stone using them.Rebecca Nottingham Grimsby, Lincolnshire I have had a private prescription for Mounjaro since March 2023 and have lost 43kg, 30% of my original weight, with my body mass index dropping from 42 to 29.I appreciate that, at a society level, more needs to be done to regulate junk food, but at a personal level, with a history of failed diets, this has been revolutionary for me.I have followed nutrition and exercise advice, and have been very lucky in experiencing no side-effects.
I appreciate Dr Helen Salisbury’s point: it hasn’t changed my underlying approach to food, and to avoid regaining all the weight I will have to manage it very carefully when I reach my target weight and stop medication.However, I don’t think that there was any other feasible way to achieve that weight loss.Rather than avoid medication, as the article suggests, surely the priority must be the behaviour change and support in the next stage?Andy TaylorLondon Far from solving the obesity problem, drugs tend to make it worse, because those receiving them will tend to regard them as a substitute for healthy eating combined with exercise.Sugar was very severely rationed during the second world war and its aftermath, and “fast food” had not been invented.My village state primary school had two asphalted play areas, as well as a large field.
My secondary school was even better equipped, and we were taken to the council’s local swimming baths (now closed) twice a week.These are benefits for life: I celebrated my 80th birthday by swimming 1,000 metres.What is needed is a campaign similar to the anti-smoking campaign coupled with the reinstitution of play and swimming areas.This will take time and money, but will be more than self-funding, as the health benefits will accrue almost straight away and savings for the NHS will grow exponentially.Type 2 diabetes is an avoidable disease, but already has reached epidemic proportions, with heart problems and poor circulation leading to infections and often amputations.
Doubtless there will be the usual outcry from self-styled “freedom” organisations funded by the food lobby.These, like the pro-smoking lobby, should be ignored.Michael E CorbyLondon Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Musk’s AI firm forced to delete posts praising Hitler from Grok chatbot
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI has deleted “inappropriate” posts on X after the company’s chatbot, Grok, began praising Adolf Hitler, referring to itself as MechaHitler and making antisemitic comments in response to user queries.In some now-deleted posts, it referred to a person with a common Jewish surname as someone who was “celebrating the tragic deaths of white kids” in the Texas floods as “future fascists”.“Classic case of hate dressed as activism – and that surname? Every damn time, as they say,” the chatbot commented.In another post it said, “Hitler would have called it out and crushed it.”The Guardian has been unable to confirm if the account that was being referred to belonged to a real person or not and media reports suggest it has now been deleted
Musk’s Grok AI bot generates expletive-laden rants to questions on Polish politics
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has responded to Polish users’ questions about Polish politics with erratic and expletive-laden rants about the country’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, his political career, and personal life.In a series of posts – often picking up language from users or responding to their goading – Grok repeatedly abused Tusk as “a fucking traitor”, “a ginger whore” and said the former European Council president was “an opportunist who sells sovereignty for EU jobs”.It also made references to various parts of Tusk’s personal life.The comments come after US media reported that Grok was updated over the weekend with new instructions to speak more directly and reject media reports as “biased”.In its code, Grok was reportedly told “the response should not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated”, and “assume subjective viewpoints sources from the media are biased”
Tell us your experiences with location sharing apps
Location sharing apps and services have made it easier than ever to keep tabs on our friends and partners. For some, it is a quick and convenient way to keep loved ones updated on changing whereabouts – but others find such technology intrusive and are reluctant to use it.One recent survey found that nearly 1 in 5 young people believe it’s OK to track their partner whenever they want. With this in mind, we want to hear about your experiences of sharing your location with other adults in your life, whether that’s friends or partners – and, of course, how you feel about having your own location tracked in return. Does having someone able to view your location at all times make you feel safer – or does it feel like surveillance? Has it proved useful, or has it caused problems in your relationships? Either way, tell us about it below
Palantir accuses UK doctors of choosing ‘ideology over patient interest’ in NHS data row
Palantir, a US data company that works with Israel’s defence ministry, has accused British doctors of choosing “ideology over patient interest” after they attacked the firm’s contract to process NHS data.Louis Mosley, Palantir’s executive vice-president, hit back at the British Medical Association, which recently said the £330m deal to create a single platform for NHS data – ranging from patient data to bed availability – “threatens to undermine public trust in NHS data systems”.In a formal resolution the doctors said last month this was because it was unclear how the sensitive data would be processed by Palantir, which was founded by the Trump donor Peter Thiel. They cited the firm’s “track record of creating discriminatory policing software in the US” and its “close links to a US government which shows little regard for international law”.But Mosley dismissed the attack when he gave evidence to MPs from the Commons science and technology committee on Tuesday
Does Elon Musk’s new political party need its own Donald Trump?
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. This week in tech news, Elon Musk and Donald Trump are back at it, warring over the passage of the president’s sweeping tax bill and the Tesla CEO’s threat to create a third political party. Whether the richest person in the world is successful in those efforts will largely depend on the recruitment of another star politician. In other news, we want to know if you use generative artificial intelligence to write your personal messages – in what circumstances, and how often? Email tech.editorial@theguardian
Amazon asks corporate workers to ‘volunteer’ help with grocery deliveries as Prime Day frenzy approaches
Corporate employees of Amazon were asked on Monday to volunteer their time to the company’s warehouses to assist with grocery delivery as it heads into its annual discount spree known as Prime Day.In a Slack message reviewed by the Guardian that went to thousands of white-collar workers in the New York City area from engineers to marketers, an Amazon area manager called for corporate “volunteers to help us out with Prime Day to deliver to customers on our biggest days yet”. It is not clear how many took up the offer.The ask came the day before Prime Day kicks off. The manager said volunteers are “needed” to work Tuesday through Friday this week, in two-hour shifts between 10am and 6pm in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, where the company operates a warehouse as part of its grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh
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