SELF-delusion is a wonderful thing. It allows you to be completely blameless even when all the evidence points to you being at fault.

Take the very worrying latest report about the number of Bolton children who are obese or grossly fat. Far from everyone getting the message about making healthy diet choices for children, the figures are still increasing.

One in 10 children are obese when they start school which means that 1,051 four year-olds in Bolton are extremely fat, with almost 2,400 overweight. That’s 20 per cent of the total number of children starting school, a fifth – frightening.

Nor does the situation improve in older children. In Year Six, - 10 to 11 year-olds – 2,058 were obese last year and a further 34.4 percent were overweight.

Now, these children didn’t get fat on their own. They can’t provide their own food and treats, it has to be given to them or paid for by parents. And just giving them cash for chips or a burger is not being a proper parent.

Adults simply cannot blame “big bones” or “metabolism problems” for their child being very fat. They are the ones who have created this situation in their children.

It may be a lack of knowledge or just laziness. Whatever the reason, they are the ones guilty of allowing their children to be dangerously overweight. A state which can easily lead to all kinds of health problems, making children unhappy children and probably with emotional problems, too.

To me, that verges on child-abuse.

Any parent who refuses to help their child eat healthier meals is deliberately neglecting that child by allowing them to eat the wrong foods that make them fat.

This is not about a lack of money. It’s possible to eat a healthy diet on a very limited budget. Work it out and fast food costs far more than fruit, vegetables, tins of tuna or even cheaper cuts of meat.

Bolton Council is doing what it can but it can’t police children at home all the time. It’s up to parents to look after their children properly and I really think we should now look more carefully at prosecuting parents of obese children if it’s shown that they’re not making any genuine effort to improve their diet.

The truth is that we cannot afford to have a generation of increasingly obese children growing into obese and unhealthy adults.