Sugar Tax

The fool hardy plan to institute the sugar tax is the wrong way round to tackle obesity.

Sugar is a cheap means to make up nutrition and taxing it only hurts poor families.

It would be better to work on making vegetables cheaper than a food stuff for emergencies more expensive.

Krav Maga

Krav Maga has proved to be a very controversial martial art. It has been practiced in this country since 1996, Simon has been teaching it in Lambeth since 2012/2013

I am greeted by Simon who is keen to see Krav Maga taught in schools, having taught it in a few in the London area already.

He believes learning a martial art, not specifically Krav Maga, is a good way of building the confidence not to engage in a fight in the first place. He does not believe learning a Martial Art of this nature would lead anyone to take matters into their own hands to any greater degree.

The class is challenging, but manageable. Though if you’re currently a little unfit I would advise you go on a few walks and do some press ups before going. The work out isn’t impossible, but it is a challenge, so best not rock up when you’re still ill or you haven’t done any physical exercise in ages.

The taster course takes you through a series of self-defence moves, a couple with dummy knives. Despite a small stature they are all moves I am capable of performing, although on one occasion one of the men is so tall as to make the ascribed moves a little difficult to perform effectively. However, largely the promise that these moves would work for any body type largely holds out.

Martial Arts attendance is not one of my hobbies so when given a quite frankly mirth enducing cod piece to protect my nether regions and asked to kick someone between the legs I take to it a little tentatively. There is something supremely unnatural about going up to someone you’ve never met and then kicking them in the cod piece for no reason. There may be a lesson in there somewhere.

The lesson ends with no punches thrown. The course will set you back £35 and they recommend a couple of months to really make a difference. The aim of the course is to make these self-defence moves so habitual that you can rely on them even when taken by surprise in a real world situation, where an adrenaline peak may be clouding your thinking.

Simon stresses these self-defence techniques are for a last resort only. However, I press him further on whether this class offers anything in terms of helping people stay safe without having to use these combative techniques, he has less to say on this subject.

He does not teach any of the jabs to the throat in this class, which have caused so much consternation and all the moves though they would leave an assailant hurt, would probably not cause lasting harm. He does however teach these moves to adults, with what he says are appropriate cautions.

Simon got into Krav Maga in response to a violent burglary at his home. Knife crime in London is currently going up, so looking into self-defence of some form, may not be such a bad idea.