Irish Examiner View: It’s too early to swap stick for carrot

Members of An Garda at a barrier beside the Four Courts in Dublin. PA Photo. Picture date: Tuesday April 28, 2020. (Brian Lawless/PA Wire)

Anyone who started a get-your-life-back campaign to lose weight in post-Christmas January knows the drill. First we sign up to a tortuous diet — is there another kind? Then, the more enthusiastic join a gym. For the first few weeks, gyms are crowded and you may have to queue for one torture wheel or another. By Valentine’s Day the queues are shorter. By St Patrick’s Day crowds are so thinned that those still committed to their programme might enjoy the experience, especially if they have lost weight. Those who have not endured their new Spartan regime have returned to the couch and, festering with self-loathing, have reacquainted themselves with those old enemies — a biscuit or five with the cup of tea.