Britain is raising 'a generation of couch potatoes'

Richard Garner
Wednesday 04 May 2011 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Britain's children are likely to become a generation of couch potatoes who cannot swim, run or cycle, according to a survey out today.

The study of 1,500 children aged between six and 15 revealed that 15 per cent could not swim, one in 10 had not learnt to ride a bike and one in four had never run a distance of 400 metres.

Around half the children surfed the internet, chatted on social networking sites and played video games. A third said they did not even own a bike, while two-thirds had a mobile phone and three out of four had a games console.

The pressure group Parents Outloud criticised schools for not devoting more time to physical exercise.

The survey was carried out the steel firm Tata Steel, which is staging a series of mini-triathlons this summer.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in