Yet another scapegoat for Britain’s lack of physical activity: emails.

Doctors have hit on a cunning plan to transform fatties into slimline wonders: stop sending emails.

Health experts believe millions of hours of vital exercise are being lost every week thanks to the explosion in electronic messaging.

Once we walked to a colleague’s desk to pass on a filthy joke or reveal what the boss and his secretary were doing in the photocopier room for three hours during the office Christmas party. Now it is easier to tap a short note on the computer, hit the send button and the world knows in seconds what has happened. It’s great for gossip: bad for the figure.

Why must we continually target useful tools as somehow bad for our health?

Some internal emails are unnecessary, but perhaps Sport England, who are proposing an ‘Email Free Friday’ this week, would like to tell me how I can walk a message to all 200 head office staff, or send an important document to a colleague?

Emails are a useful tool. Are Sport England really gullible enough to think that stopping emails is going to compensate for people’s lack of exercise?

People should be eating properly and doing more regular exercise. Emails are not the curse or sole cause of this.

Instead of targeting individual activities, why not encourage people to take a holistic view of their lives. Instead of saying ‘stop sending emails and walk to your colleagues desks’ why not say ‘take a look at what you eat and do every day, and see how you could make some improvements’.

Yes, it could mean sending less emails, but I doubt it. It would probably mean walking or cycling to work, eating a salad instead of chips, going to the gym 2-3 times a week, using the stairs instead of the lift…

Each individual needs to find their own ways of keeping fit. Blanket demonisation of individual things is plain stupid.