I have been fat all my adult life. I was skinny as a student, but as soon as I got a job I started piling on the calories, and by the time I got married I was buying my clothes at High & Mighty.

It did not help that my wife was an excellent cook, and by the time I was 30 I had given up any idea of returning to a healthy weight.

I knew I was piling up trouble for the future. My grandfather had died a horrible death when I was 21 and we all knew it had been caused by obesity.

But he was 70 and I did not really care what might happen to me 50 years hence. My main interest was what would happen next Saturday.
The inevitable problems are now upon me. It is uncomfortable, debilitating and, frankly, humiliating.

And it is also frightening. The NHS is wondering aloud whether it will treat me and I am beginning to wonder whether, while I can still walk, it might make sense to go for a stroll along the Ribble Valley Viaduct and … splat!

I understand the resentment of people who have made healthy lifestyle choices at having to pay extra taxes to fund the healthcare of people who have behaved as foolishly as I have.

It is an obviously unfair imposition, but I have a suggestion to make for the future which is both fair and might dramatically reduce the current epidemic of obesity.

It is this. Suppose that, from now on, each of us, as he turned 18 and each year thereafter, had to go to the doctor to be weighed, to be tested to see if we smoked and be examined to see if we were taking regular exercise.

And suppose that, if we were making the unhealthy choices in these areas, we were obliged by law to take out an insurance policy to cover just the extra healthcare risks we were storing up for ourselves, in the same way as we are obliged to take out third party cover if we decide to drive.

I am pretty sure I know what the young Contrarian would have done if such a system had been in operation when he was young.

He was so keen on having enough money in his pocket to enjoy a good Saturday night out and get his first home that – just as soon as the first extra pounds appeared on his waist – he would have dieted like mad to get rid of them.

And the habit would probably have stuck.

It would certainly improve the public health. And wouldn't it be kinder than killing off fat old duffers like me?