helen-louise's journal

I think you'd like the novel "Fat", by Rob Grant (one of the Red Dwarf writers). The basic premise is that the government has set up camps to help people lose weight, and each person who goes to the camp is given a special swipe card; you earn points for doing exercise, and then you can spend those points on food. The camps are basically optional, except that obese unemployed people would lose their benefits if they didn't go along. Looking at the article you linked to, the "near future" of the novel suddenly seems a lot nearer...