ALEXANDRA SHULMAN’S NOTEBOOK: Middle-aged dieters are now gorging on a miracle jab 

It was only a few months ago that I first heard mention of Ozempic. The drug wasn’t billed as a magic potion that would solve the country’s obesity crisis, but as a diet aid, injected into the tummies of many of my well-off and perfectly healthy contemporaries.

Last week the Government announced a pilot scheme to test the effectiveness of Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs to see if their use can reduce the country’s £234 billion annual welfare bill and help get people on sickness benefits back to work.

I was told about the drug by a friend who was in heaven over its abilities to dramatically shrink their appetite and hence waistline. Abracadabra – the perfect figure at a tiny tap of weekly injection.

Though it was still relatively rare here, in New York and Hollywood it was as common as an oat milk latte.

Now it’s the new Botox, with so many middle-aged dieters trying to get hold of it that supplies are running out. I walk into rooms where men and women have lost huge amounts of weight. They’re united by having the pinched features known as ‘Ozempic face’ and by the slightly smug look of those who share the secret of their new svelte selves. And, as with Botox, most people aren’t freely admitting to its use.

This is not surprising, since to access it, either through a private doctor or online, you are supposed to have a BMI of more than 28, high blood pressure, diabetes or other health issues.

Another friend who attempted to secure some online filled in a form honestly and was told that she wasn’t eligible. Certainly, none of the users I know would qualify for an NHS prescription were it to become available.

When it comes to severe, persistent weight problems and diabetes, these drugs are a terrific breakthrough. On a recent radio phone-in, a man suffering from both Type 1 diabetes and Alzheimer’s said his dose was life-changing because, if ever he forgot his diabetes medication, the effect was not so disastrous. Also, he was suffering less from diabetes.

However, with so many people clamouring to use these drugs purely for cosmetic reasons to lose weight, their availability to those with severe diabetes is much reduced.

It will be interesting to know, if Ozempic becomes available to all those who are obese, whether it would continue to have quite the in-the-know, faintly elitist, allure it currently has.

Breast is best? Only a mother can decide

How perverse that the discussion over whether ‘breast is best’ still goes on. Yet another survey, this time from Oxford University, says breastfed children are likely to do better academically than those who are formula-fed. The results were based on GCSE performance.

There’s enough to worry about as a new mother without fretting that your baby might not get an A in Geography 15 years later.

Generally, it’s clear that breastfeeding makes little difference to life chances. Or, more accurately, the difference it makes is unclear. The truth is that so many factors come into play that to attribute any lifelong advantage is surely pointless. Breastfeeding should be a matter of personal choice. Some women simply can’t do it, while others breezily spurt away.

A young woman told me that she was breastfed until she was two. Instead of giving her an advantage in life, she now thinks it might account for her considering herself being a bit clingy.

Another with a new baby is still breastfeeding her four-year-old. That’s a kind of insanity that can only demonstrate it is the mother who is the needy one, unable to give up that child’s dependence on her.

Generally, it’s clear that breastfeeding makes little difference to life chances

I breastfed my son for the four months I was on maternity leave. I can’t say it made any difference to his health, mood or behaviour, but it did mine. I was exhausted and couldn’t have been happier when we switched to bottles and someone else could do some of the work. Even so, I’ve felt guilty since.

Like so many mothers, I had the breastfeeding pressure hanging over me like a thundercloud. Others I knew immediately delegated the task to formula, and, frankly, were far less stressed and fractious than I was with my sleep deprivation. Their children have turned out just as well.

Give sporty Kate a book now and then

There doesn’t seem to be a day when the Princess of Wales isn’t out and about and being required to fling a ball around or take part in some athletic activity.

I don’t remember her father-in-law, or indeed her late mother-in-law, required to be at what seems to be a permanent PT class. But, no doubt, some Royal courtier has decided that her sporty nature would be well harnessed in this way. If it were me, I’d prefer the more sedentary and cerebral role that’s been allotted to Queen Camilla, who has made books her subject of choice. Much less tiring.

So would a pale blue wine taste as sweet?

That time of year has come round again, when the pretty pale pink liquid of the gods slips down so easily. But how much of rosé’s appeal comes from appearance rather than taste? Would we drink as much of it if the wine were a less seductive colour? Pale blue, for example.