Judy Murray rails against ‘chip fat’ mentality

Judy Murray, mother of tennis star Andy Murray, has railed against what she calls a Scottish “diet of chip fat and parental indifference”.

She called on politicians to increase the number of PE lessons to four hours a week from the current two in a bid to improve Scotland’s sporting prowess and tackle child obesity. In an open letter to The Scotsman, the former head coach of Tennis Scotland said Scotland’s sporting potential was drowning “in a diet of chip fat served up with an unhealthy dollop of youth and parental indifference to exercise”.

Ms Murray, whose son Andy is currently ranked fourth in the world, said she wrote the letter to highlight the issue to candidates in next month’s elections. She referred to a recent study by the University of Edinburgh showing only 15 per cent of children aged between 11 and 15 in Scotland take regular exercise and only one in three teenage girls takes part in sport beyond the age of 16.

“What astounds me is that practical solutions can be found – but these must be driven through by political, educational and parental will,” Ms Murray said