As the political parties struggle to explain their budget proposals, perhaps they should use the language of dieting. After all we all understand the consequences of overdoing the mince pies and Christmas pudding. We all experience that New Year determination to get fit and trim. We all want quick results, to drop a dress size in two weeks, but we know that if we want to keep the weight off, get fit and stay healthy then dramatic and long term changes are required.
We can debate how much we can cut/reduce, and how quickly but we know that we have to be realistic, too much too quickly and we will risk ill health, depression and failure.
So what diet is to be? Cut back on everything or cut some things out altogether? What is a realistic target and what do we want to look like by the summer? How can we keep motivated? Will it be the weight watchers approach of regular monitoring, praising success and naming and shaming those who fail to meet their targets? Or will we go for the many celebrity diets, the best practice examples and success stories? If it worked for them why not us?
At the end of the day doesn’t it just come down to eating less? If only it were that simple! A lot of people make a lot of money out of telling other people how to lose weight and get fit. In the same way as a lot of management consultants make a lot of money “helping” organisations slim down and get fitter. Just as individuals find it hard to stick to a strict diet that removes all the things they enjoy so savagely cutting budgets is painful and unpopular. Like dieting we may all aspire to our ideal weight but we know sudden weight loss is not healthy and not sustainable. Success is certainly slimmer and healthier but despite the health warnings and the good intentions we may not look radically different in two or three years time despite what the management Gurus tell us and the politicians promise us.