Before you come face to face—or, rather, face to face—with an insurmountable enemy: the Bo-Po (body positivity) brigade. 5 Taylor, 32, has been accused of fat shaming in her latest video Anti-HeroCredit: Getty Accused of fat-shaming in her latest Anti-Hero video, which showed her standing on a scale with the word ‘Fat’ on it, she has been demonised. Despite previously speaking candidly about her own disordered eating, she was nevertheless chewed up and swallowed whole by people who believe we should be happy at any size. 5 Taylor has come under fire for alleged ‘fat-phobic’ agenda in new music videoCredit: Taylor Swift Productions Even morbidly obese. Even obese people who left the house. Social media critics were quick to chime in. “100 percent deaf. Fat shaming is too normalized and persistent. Celebs don’t need to stack up,’ one ‘fan’ remarked. “Being fat isn’t a bad thing, and in five seconds of your video you reinforced the idea that it is,” argued TikTok influencer Reyna Cohan in a viral post. “Saying that you have a body like mine is one of your biggest fears further dehumanises me and my body,” said another, while another observer noted that the scene is “an example of how insidious and casual it’s lipophobia.” Taylor, who shot and directed the legendary Anti-Hero, moved quickly. He quickly deleted the offending word – “fat”. But by then it was too late. The cancel culture mob had won. Taylor, who has 229 million followers on Instagram and follows absolutely no one, showed that she is, after all, a bit of a sheep. But who can blame her? Over the past eight years, overeating has killed more people than smoking. Almost a quarter of all deaths today are due to obesity and it causes, among other things, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. We certainly shouldn’t celebrate or justify it (obviously, aside from thyroid conditions and/or illness). People are shamed into giving up smoking, but we can’t shame people into giving up food because—unlike cigarettes or alcohol—it’s essential. It is a difficult subject, laden with emotional sensitivities. But, that’s not to knock Body Positivity. It is to deny a young woman her own experience. In an awakened cultural landscape obsessed with one’s “truth”—thanks Meghan—why isn’t Taylor allowed to express hers? “Anti-Hero is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written,” she said during her recent album promo. “I really don’t think I’ve delved into my insecurities in this detail before. This song is a tour of all the things I tend to hate about myself. So yeah, I really like Anti-Hero because I think it’s really honest.” In a world of filters, filters and fakes, Taylor was real. Like PMT, weight anxiety is a tragic but very real part of the female psyche. No, I regularly complain to friends that I feel fat. Objectively, I’m not, but, for whatever reason – social, two bottles of wine and a Magnum salted caramel, or time of the month – I feel that way. But because I’m not a world-famous superstar – as anyone who’s ever heard me sing will testify – I don’t get canceled every time. In admitting her own deep roots in headlines, the immensely talented Taylor, who has battled borderline anorexia, should be lauded, not lambasted. Censoring the existence of pachophobia, or an artist’s lived experience of it, is not a battle we should be fighting. Fighting fat is. RESEARCHERS claim the average Briton lies 34 times a day. In a poll of 2,000 people – all of whom we hope are telling the truth – the top threads include “I forgot”, “I’ll do it tomorrow” (i.e. never) and “I’m listening”. Speaking of pork. . . As a child, after pestering my parents for months and months and months, they finally gave me two pet Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs for Christmas. (Yes, they had a big garden back then.) Cut to university and my excited return home for Christmas. Only my parents told me that the mysteriously missing pigs, Leonardo and Donatello, were no longer in the garden, having gone to a “lovely piggy bank in Hampshire”. Refusing to meet my eye, they told me they were “really happy now, frolicking in orchards and doing belly rubs with their new pig friends.” Oh
Attack on 999 crews
NETFLIX crews working in Paris for the traumatic (and macabre) final hours of Princess Diana’s life have received advice from the streaming giant under fire. The Crown has already denounced the royal family, making billions off their backs. A point of virtue signaling now doesn’t suddenly make everything okay. Moreover, offering therapy for those actors who film, in prosthetics, the simulation of a car accident is an insult to those who have to witness this thing for real. Police, paramedics, members of the Armed Forces: These heroes know the true meaning of trauma and the mental health issues that come with it. Where is their help? WRITING his upcoming Spare volume has been “cathartic” for Prince Harry, royal commentators have claimed. Which is hardly surprising, given that I wouldn’t have thought he knew the meaning of the word.
Close the cruel zoos
5 Young monkey clings to lamp for warmth at ‘Britain’s worst zoo’ in Cumbria PLEASE, someone, stop this. Britain’s “worst zoo”, where almost 500 animals have died in three years, continues to meet “basic standards” of animal welfare, a new investigation has found. A number of health and welfare issues were identified at South Lakes Safari Zoo in Lindal In Furness, Cumbria, following an inspection by international wildlife charity, the Born Free Foundation. This photo, of a young monkey clinging to a lamp for warmth, makes my heart ache. Hopefully, one day, future generations will look back on old zoos as relics of horrors from the past.
Em won her awesome supercar
PRINCIPLES ARE BIG. But a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet is even better. Emma Raducanu has been booked by some miserable blokes for driving the £125,000 supercar. . . just weeks after she said she would never let go of her used Dacia Sandero. 5 Emma Raducanu poses in front of her new Porsche 911 Carrera GTS CabrioletCredit: Instagram 5 Just weeks after Raducanu said she would never give up her used Dacia SanderoCredit: tillendove Give the teenager a break. The tennis ace – who dreamed of owning a Porsche as a youngster – has dedicated two-thirds of her young life to the sport and is a role model for millions. Let her enjoy the fruits of her labor. . . and 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds, not years. THE best thing on network TV is back. Multi-Emmy winner The White Lotus, starring Theo James, above, is back for a second series on Sky Atlantic, give it a go.
Frack ban crazy
OF all the government’s schizophrenic reversals, perhaps the dumbest is its decision to revive the fracking ban. A study by the University of Liverpool shows that the aftershock magnitude limit – 0.5 – is less than the ‘shock’ caused by dropping a melon from waist height. Over a million shale wells have been drilled in America and, to this day, buildings remain intact and citizens alive. As Tory Peer Peter Lilley explains: Our planned path to Net Zero assumes that Britain will need little gas for the next 25 years. Our own reserves will provide security of supply, generate tax revenue, strengthen the pound and contribute to the upside.” Before the eco-warriors start, it would also be better for the environment than importing liquefied natural gas, which emits four times as much carbon before use. Anti-fracking zealots are becoming as crazy, evil and reckless as the anti-frackers of yesteryear.
