Longer life through hobbies

The government has been issuing reports that people who stay in touch with other, avoid loneliness and live for longer. Their suggestion is that we should all stay in work until we die.

That sounds rubbish to me. If you want to encourage people to stay social and live longer, promote access to hobbies. Look at the picture above. That is a Thursday morning at our boat club. 22 people have chosen to come down to the lakeside in February. Some have travelled many miles to do this. All will have to build models to sail and when they get to the club, they chat away and enjoy each others company.

What support does the club get from the government for this useful social service ? Nothing.

Indeed if we shout about our hobby, the media treat us worse than terrorists and yet it's sitting in front of the telly vegetating that is the cause of many early deaths as the viewers switch their brains off. If I were a cynical person, I might suggest that this is exactly what the government wants. They say they want you to live longer but in reality our MPs want you to peg out quickly so they can spend your pension on duck houses or speeding fines.

Look at this way. If the budget doesn't include the removal of VAT from model railway and boat products then George Osboure hates you. Just remember Ossyborne, us modellers are a bad bunch to upset. We're more tooled up than a branch of Halfords. You might want to rethink your plans once you find yourself at the business end of an Olfa Plasticard cutter.