It’s going to be like Nectar or Tesco Club card and points mean prizes, discounts on your takeaway or your favourite daily coffee drink.

And all in the name of getting the nation healthy. Good lord what will they come up with next?

1 in 4 people do less than 30 minutes activity per week, how I don’t know but increasing this, with incentives to 30 minutes walking per day could put as much as four years on your life. People clearly don’t wish to live longer, or didn’t get the 10,000 steps a day memo.

It’s easy to get into a rut. A few years ago I lost 5 stone just by changing my lifestyle. I started to feel the stress on my joints, I had aches and pains in too many places, over the counter painkillers and alcohol, a couple of bottles of wine a week weren’t working like they used to, I’d been signed off work sick for the first time in my life and my quality of life was pretty rubbish.

I started walking daily with a neighbour early in the morning, not that far at first, around the block but that got further and further as time passed and we both got fitter. The summer was easier than the winter but it changed everything. Before long my energy levels had improved. I looked forward to seeing the sunrise, I started laughing more and within three months I was back at work.

So I agree walking is the key, but I am just not sure corporates paying people indirectly to do it will work.

The 10 year plan to get Britains healthier is being spearheaded by Brendan Foster the middle distance runner from the North East who successfully set up the Great North Run.

I think the motives are good but for me lack of motivation when you are not feeling good anyway was the biggest problem, being lazy made getting healthier something I put off for too long. Would a free Starbucks got me moving, I doubt it.

When school kids are campaigning for a late start after England Beat Mexico in the World Cup because everyone stayed up all night and are now too knackered to go, I think it shows where our priorities are in the UK. We have forgotten things like free education and free healthcare are a privilege not to be squandered and abused but to be valued and grateful for.

We have a 350 billion pound welfare bill we collectively cannot afford and a lot of people off sick with low level depression, mild anxiety, back problems, joint problems and physical limitations and injuries caused by being overweight and immobile ate exacerbating the problem too. I know because I used to be one of them. There are people with chronic disabilities and life limiting conditions that of course must be helped but we all know that’s not everyone. Hands up if you’ve stretched out a sick leave or just got the doctor to sign you off for a bit because you were sick of getting up and going every day not because you were actually sick.

Poor diet, fast food, sedentary lifestyle and low mood (which can be really tough to shake off) are to blame for a lot but how do we help people more effectively without putting everyone on anti depressants.

I don’t want to live in a nanny state where people have to be told what to do. Go for a walk and we’ll pay for your Starbucks just seems crazy to me.

Instead why not tell people you cannot continue to abuse the health service unless you change your behaviour, help get yourself well or pay for the service yourself. At one time not that long ago people knew, good food, plenty of fluids, fresh air (exercise), sleep, a hot water bottle, were the cure alls and only went to the doctor when common sense didn’t work, as a last resort.

I believe doing nothing is the biggest part of the problem. It makes you feel rubbish and worthless. When people go to work they gain so much, self esteem, a good routine, they go to bed when they have to get up, the joy of the pay packet we’ve lost sight of. I’ve heard people say, it doesn’t pay to work. There are so many government schemes and incentives it becomes a full time job applying for and managing them.

Like the store membership cards, you have to be a Nectar expert to get the most vouchers and benefits. People don’t realise when you get moving and eat less you don’t need all the club discounts, you spend a fraction of what you used to.

For me doctors have been trying to get people healthier for years, eat 5 a day, take 10000 steps a day, Veganuary, non of it is working.

Maybe try the tough approach. Cut off services and see if that works better. I was lucky, I had a doctor who told me straight. Carry on and you won’t have the luxury of getting out for a walk, because you’ll be dead. Of course I didn’t like it at the time. But I got over it. I had to think about it. It also made me reluctant to go back to the doctor until I could say look, I listened.

It might not be the done thing, politically correct, telling people the truth, but it worked for me, better than a free cup of coffee or snack would have done.