Can we leave Bill Shorten's body alone? I'd rather good policy than good exercise | Brigid Delaney

It is received wisdom by 2016 that an overweight politician can’t win office. But the focus on politicians’ diets and exercise is nothing but a distraction

It was summer, 2012 and I was at a Starbucks in Columbus Circle, Manhattan, eavesdropping on the Australians in front of me in the queue.

They were journalists, gossiping about Bill Shorten. And they seemed a bit tetchy. I leaned as close I could without arousing suspicion; had Shorten been involved in Rudd-style topless bar hijinks? Or a Fraser-style pantless motel escapade?

Oh I’d like to be lighter. The cameras are unkind to those who are carrying a bit. One of the intriguing things as I go around and … bump into people in shopping centres and they say, ‘oh, you’re thinner than you look on TV’.

Campaign teams kick started their day with a morning jog with @JulieBishopMP #JogsandGrowth http://pic.twitter.com/dAgQm1xd2V

Now, in this more enlightened era, Shorten has a chance to win some key marginal seats with a man boobs-led recovery.

He needs to start appearing on the campaign trail as a woman, pushing up his boobies in a lovely, low-cut designer dress.

Related: Another election, another excuse to play the punters for mugs | Richard Ackland

For months Bill Shorten has been quietly negotiating a fog of early-morning sweat, fruit, muesli and restraint as the Labor leader has shed a heroic amount of weight in the lead-up to the election.

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from Fitness | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1t4BFMC
via FITNESS