WHAT a wonderful ray of sunshine is the theory by heart specialist Dr David Grimes that what makes East Lancashire folk so prone to heart attacks is not their diet, but a lack of sunshine.

If nothing else, it enables us to cock a snook at those health fascists who ram the virtues of sun-dried tomatoes down our throats when what we really want is a nice chip butty.

Of course, there is nothing new in contradictory health theories.

But what is welcome about that of Dr Grimes is that it runs against the general trend of having to give up something you like in order to do yourself good.

Yet, if we can now pile chips and fried eggs on to our plate, safe in the belief that they are not going to do us any harm, how do we in East Lancashire go about acquiring the extra sunshine in order to make ourselves more immune to heart disease? Somewhere or other in the mass of government statistics, there will, I am sure, be figures showing how many billions a year it costs the NHS to treat heart patients, particularly in high-incidence areas like ours.

Would it not be a good idea then for the Government to work out whether it would be advantageous, both health-wise and economically, to send East Lancashire folk away on winter-sun holidays to the Caribbean, the Seychelles and similar hot spots - at state expense?

Ridiculous? Radical? Oh, I don't know - if taxpayers can pay for young offenders to be sent on safaris for the supposed good of the community, why cannot people at risk of heart disease be sent to sunny climes also for the overall benefit of the community?

Mind you, if the day ever arrived when you could get a fortnight on the Costas on prescription, those preachy health fascists would still be at it - warning about the risks of getting skin cancer from too much health-giving sun.