The night-walkers of Uganda

Sam Jones
April 21, 2008
Anorexia and bulimia are both illnesses where 
people have problems with eating – problems 
known as eating disorders. People who suffer 
from anorexia do not eat enough food and they 
soon become very thin. People who suffer from 
bulimia eat a large amount of food but they 
usually vomit after eating it. Both these eating 
disorders can be very dangerous for your health. 
The former deputy prime minister of the United 
Kingdom, John Prescott, has published his 
autobiography. In the book he says that he 
suffered from bulimia for twenty years. He says 
that the stress of political life made him eat large 
amounts of food and then force himself to throw 
up. He says he began suffering from bulimia in 
the 1980s, when he was under a lot of stress in 
his work as a politician. He suffered from bulimia 
during his time as a member of the government, 
eating large amounts of burgers, chocolate, 
crisps and fish and chips. But he now says he has 
been free of the problem for more than a year.
“I’m sure it was a question of stress,” he wrote 
in the Sunday Times newspaper. “I wasn’t doing 
it all the time, and sometimes I didn’t do it for 
weeks and months, but when I had too much 
work to do I use to eat a lot and then throw 
up.” He added: “I’ve never told anyone before. 
Probably because I was ashamed or embarrassed 
– or just because it’s such a strange thing for 
someone like me to suffer from. People normally 
associate eating disorders with young women 
– anorexic girls, models trying to stay thin, or 
women in stressful situations, like Princess Diana.” 
He also said he used to eat sweet things and 
Chinese food when life became stressful. “I could 
drink a whole tin of condensed milk, just for the 
taste, stupid things like that. And when I went to 
Mr Chu’s in Hull, my favourite Chinese restaurant 
in the whole world ... I could eat everything on 
the menu.”
Prescott tried to hide the illness from his wife 
but she realized what was happening. “I could 
see the signs in the toilet and a lot of food was 
missing.” She told him to see a doctor and a 
consultant finally told him he was suffering from 
bulimia. “I arrived at the consultant’s and his 
waiting room was full of young women. I was the 
only man there. I felt like an idiot. Luckily none 
of the women told the newspapers about me.” In 
the book, he also says that although he preferred 
food to alcohol, he would sometimes drink 
because of stress and to let people know how 
bad he was feeling.
“Once or twice a year, when I was absolutely 
exhausted, I used to get out a bottle of vodka 
and put it on my desk. The people in the office 
hated it when they saw what was happening. 
They knew I’d drink it really quickly and finish the 
whole bottle. But that was very rare.” 
The charity Beat, which helps people with eating 
disorders, said Prescott’s decision to talk about 
his illness was very brave. “It will help other 
people to realize that men can suffer from eating 
disorders, and you can get help and treatment 
– even if you have been ill for a very long 
time,” said the charity’s chief executive, Susan 
Ringwood. “It is a brave thing to do because 
people often feel ashamed and find it difficult to 
talk about, even to family members.” 
80% of new cases of eating disorders are girls 
and young women aged between 12 and 20 but 
boys and men also suffer. “Even some doctors 
don’t believe it can affect a boy or a man,” said 
Ringwood. “Anybody can have this illness, 
including the well-known,” she said. “People 
shouldn’t be ashamed or embarrassed if they 
have an eating disorder.” 
Dr Ty Glover, a consultant psychiatrist and expert 
on eating disorders, said Prescott was very brave 
to talk about his eating problems. He added: “It’s 
difficult for a young girl to say she has an eating 
disorder, but for a well-known male politician who