Tuesday 24 June 2014

Rule, Britannia?



It was once said that the sun never set on the British empire.  The point was the vastness of the territories controlled by the United Kingdom, which were so far-flung (colonies on every inhabited continent), that no matter the time of day, somewhere on earth, the sun was shining on British subjects.

Well, according to a recent article article in the local Direct Matin, a recent study conducted among Her Majesty's armed forces entitled "Too Fat to Fight," perhaps it might be enough to say that the sun never sets on the girth of a British soldier.

In the article, the appalling statistics of the level of fitness of recent recruits are laid out.  Over the past three years, approximately one of every nine (32,000) soldiers -note, not recruits- failed to pass physical conditioning tests.  This included being able to do 50 situps in two minutes and running 2.4 km - about a mile and a half - in less than 10 minutes for a male soldier; 50 situps and running the 2.4 km in 13 minutes for females.

An anonynous officer interviewed in the story blamed the diet of the soldiers during their missions, where the soldiers, he (she?) sniffed  cheerfully consumed fries, pizzas, and bacon.

Does this mean that the Burger King might not be so secure as he thinks in his kingdom?


No comments: