From the UK comes this heart-wrenching story of a family “too fat to work”. These poor souls – who through no fault of their own weigh a combined total of over 520kg – receive a paltry £22,508 (around $A50k) each year, and are having trouble coping.
Naturally, they want more money (emphasis mine):
Mr Chawner said: “What we get barely covers the bills and puts food on the table. It’s not our fault we can’t work. We deserve more.”
After all, it’s not their fault they’re fat:
“We have cereal for breakfast, bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner,” Mrs Chawner told Closer magazine.
“All that healthy food, like fruit and veg, is too expensive. We’re fat because it’s in our genes. Our whole family is overweight,” she added.
And it’s not like they’re lazy – they lead very hectic lifestyles:
Emma, said: “I’m a student and don’t have time to exercise” she said “We all want to lose weight to stop the abuse we get in the street, but we don’t know how.”
So, next time you’re doing it tough, spare a thought for the Chawner family, who can barely put food on the table.
UPDATE: Seems this family has form. Having achieved 15 minutes of fame for their daughter’s disastrous X-Factor audition, they were in the news again recently, after getting evicted over loud and horrible singing! (more below the fold)
Last month at Bury County Court Emma, her sister Samantha, 21, and parents Philip, 53, and mother Audrey, 57, were given 28 days to leave the rented house, but said they intended to fight eviction.
They claimed they were being victimised by neighbours because of their size.
UPDATE 2: More choice quotes:
Mr Chawner said: “We love TV. It’s on from the moment we get up. Often I’m so tired from watching TV I have to have a nap.”
“We all love nibbling on biscuits. I once bought some pears, but they tasted funny.”
Emma, who would like to lose 6st (38kg), added: “We don’t have time to diet.”
Australian Libertarian Society (old site) 
Click to access MiniPlotPlan.pdf
Food bills can be cut to $6.50 a week.
Very cute looking family. Trouble with giving them more money is that would end up eating more, so keeping them away from the cash may actually be helping the lards maintain a “healthier” life.
Thanks for the link, Mark 😀
“We all love nibbling on biscuits. I once bought some pears, but they tasted funny.”
I don’t know if my down to earth, healthy, cheap and exercise getting regime of growing your own cheap food would work.
Do these guys get any folate in their diet? Fresh meat, eggs, or root or red or leafy green vegetables?
They are candidates for a range of weird and deadly diseases.
I suggest you look up the following on wikipedia:
Megaloblastic anemia, Pellagra, and the more well known Scurvy and congestive heart failure, on top of diabetes, “asthma”, “epliepsy” and high blood pressure.
Think of the costs to the NHS of this family.
They will keep social workers employed for years and years! The poories are a God-send to statists! Perhaps they could all be compulsorily enrolled in ‘Biggest Loser’, and become TV stars and ‘earn’ their own cash! (I know it’s a four-letter word, but I feel strongly about this issue!)
I eat pretty unhealthy, and don’t exactly have a fondness for green leafy vegetables, but really… to let things get this bad, you’d have to be pretty shocking.
I think the worst thing is that they have the mental condition that it’s not their fault – that they have no control over it. This is the inevitable result of excessive welfare.
Mark – the Internet can turn anybody into a hypochondriac, so I’ll refrain from looking up the nasties you mentioned… I’m sure these fatties are lacking nutritional value, but it’s almost impossible to buy bread these days that hasn’t been fortified with the basic vitamins, so I doubt they’d be lacking those.
They probably cover the five food groups though: sugar, salt, fat, caffeine and alcohol.
Actually I saw it on our socialist ABC, a programme named Medical Mavericks, quite a good series from the UK profiling some of the maddest bastards in US and UK medical history, ranging from Professors and Surgeons General.
However, I may still be a hypochondriac. :p
Nicholas: Noooo… some tv exec will read this and say, “Of course – a family edition of biggest loser!” – please don’t encourage them.
Given their daughter’s previous outings on reality tv, they’d probably jump at another 15 minutes of fame.
Unbelievable eh. I had a mate send me this story earlier during the week.
Good work highlight the “we deserve more” section.
What a disgusting attitude.
But I guess the money they got from the news article will buy a few pies.
A politically minded objectivist in the US – Ari Armstrong has done two “food stamp challenges” as a form of political activism. He proves that you can live on very little money (for food).
“During the month of August, my wife and I ate for $2.57 per day each”
http://www.freecolorado.com/2007/10/7news.html
I love that hereditary argument — it’s funny that once upon a time, people did everything to deny the biological basis of anything, but now there seems to be a biological basis for everything, and this basis appears to be completely deterministic on life outcomes. Perhaps stupid people should claim next. I’m too stupid to work. It’s true.
If it’s genetic, it must be getting worse with each generation – those girls are fatter than their parents already… wait till they hit their 30’s!
“I wash myself with a rag on a stick”
I’m having a hard time believing this is for real. My instinct is that they’re attention seeking again, but for what purpose I have no idea.