January 2013 - MyChoice Australia

Rare Good News: Victorian school defies trend to ban kids from being kids

14 Jan, 2013 admin_ata

Some rare good news from a Victorian primary school: ONE Victorian school is defying the national trend to ban activities like cartwheels in the schoolyard saying concerns over safety are “overkill”. Belmont Primary School in the Victorian town of Geelong has declared itself a cartwheel and handstand friendly zone, The Geelong Advertiser reports. Principal Mark Arkinstall described the recent ban on cartwheels at one Sydney primary school, which can only be performed under the direct supervision of a trained gymnastics teacher, as “ridiculous”. He said concerns about the safety of children was…

The Global War On ALL ‘Unhealthy’ Packaging

14 Jan, 2013 admin_ata

A guest post from UK blogger and good friend of freedom Dick Puddlecote: In October, I wrote about a move by the Icelandic government to ban certain types of alcohol packaging, and how a UK civil service mouthpiece was despatched in an effort to persuade a European court to back them. The upshot is that, not only was the Cabinet Office agent (I like that terminology, seeing as no-one but a select few would have known he was going there) objecting to the slapping down of laws against pretty packaging, he…

Thrills and spills a rite of passage for children

03 Jan, 2013 admin_ata

A must-read article at the Daily Telegraph: FALLING off bicycles and monkey bars used to be part of childhood, but a modern culture of wrapping children in cotton wool is leaving children at risk of developing serious anxiety disorders, child psychologists have warned. fThey claim youngsters sheltered from the harsh realities of life were left paranoid and unable to deal with challenges. Sydney Counselling Centre child psychologist Dr Gary Banks said he was seeing an increasing number of children experiencing anxiety and warned of a “weaker future generation”. “We are developing…

Do-gooder laws nothing but a drag

03 Jan, 2013 admin_ata

Nick Carter has a great pice in The Australian that is well worth a read in full (paywall protected). Here are some extracts: Staff at the Department of Health and Ageing (known, somewhat fashionably, as DOHA, incidentally) should be thanking smokers for helping to pay for the $67 million fit-out five-green-star-rated building, for as every public-service mandarin knows, smokers are net contributors to the economy. No wonder Sir Humphrey Appleby advised Jim Hacker against banning cigarettes in the first series of Yes, Prime Minister: “We are saving many more lives than…

Is Fat Good?

03 Jan, 2013 admin_ata

Fat is bad for you, right? That’s what doctors tell us. But a review of nearly 100 studies, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, confirms previous indications that the story is more complex. Being overweight or even mildly obese, as measured by body mass index, doesn’t make you more likely to die than a person of normal weight. It makes you slightly less likely to die. via If fat is unhealthy, why are overweight people less likely to die? – Slate Magazine.