Advocate-General Jaaskinen has delivered an opinion to the European Court of Justice on the subject of obesity in connexion with employment rights, especially in relation to the circumstances under which an obese person might be considered "disabled" for the purposes of various provisions of EU law prohibiting disability discrimination.

Link: tinyurl.com/qj7qfhs

His conclusion was as follows,

"(1) EU law does not include a general principle prohibiting employers from discriminating on grounds of obesity in the labour market.

(2) Severe obesity can be a disability covered by the protection provided in Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation if it, in interaction with various barriers, hinders full and effective participation of the person concerned in professional life on an equal basis with other workers. It is for the national court to determine if this is the case with respect to the plaintiff in the main proceedings."

The Advocate-General's opinion is not the same as a court's judgment and it is not binding on the court, although the court will generally take it seriously and follow it in more cases than not.

You may be confusing being real with having desirable characteristics.

The concept of a person being "in the closet" about her or his sexual preferences is a rather odd one, since t is very rare for anyone to discuss these things in public. What exactly would a non-closeted feedee do that a closeted one would not - wear a t-short with "I am a feedee" written on it?

Crumble.

Ahh, yes, splendid fun. Glad that the bundt cake went down well.

Who are the Guano Apes? I thought that this song was by Alphaville.

Not all of us. Some of us are quite pleasant chaps, really. Some of us make cake.

Interesting video from the BBC:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25745999