We are generation XXL, and we need more space for our sedentary lives, from cradle to office chair to grave. Crematoriums across the country are now ordering supersized furnaces to accommodate larger coffins that house increasingly big dead people. Coffins wider than one metre - compared with the 56-66cm standard width - don't always fit inside traditional furnaces. So Lewisham council has ordered an extra-large furnace from - where else? - the US, measuring 112cm in width. Extra-wide furnaces are also planned in King's Lynn and Blackburn. "As waistlines keep on expanding, we can expect more councils to provide larger furnaces," says Hazel Harding of the Local Government Association.
Adult obesity rates have nearly quadrupled in the UK over the past 25 years and two-thirds of us are overweight. Thousands of everyday objects - chiefly those we plonk our backsides on - are being redesigned as every stage of life becomes larger.
At school in the 1950s, the biggest blazer available for a 16-year-old was 36in. This year the National Schoolwear Centres announced the introduction of a blazer with a 52in chest, along with 42in-waist trousers.
Much of adulthood is spent gaining weight while sitting down, and office equipment is also being scaled up. Senator, the office equipment company, is producing chair seats with larger surface areas and more adjustability to cope with a bigger range of body shapes.
In leisure time, we're encased in ample seating. Standard seats at Wembley are 50cm compared with 41cm in the old stadium. And the width of the seats on Wimbledon's Centre Court will be increased to 46cm this year after they were found to be smaller than British Airways' economy class. (Airlines, trains and buses have resisted the imperative of our increasing size.)
The reverberations of our greater bulk are finally felt in sickness and in death. Some hospitals have had to replace x-ray tables unable to bear the weight of 25st-plus patients. And perhaps most poignantly, some of us really are leaving on our own: funeral directors are using trolleys and lifting equipment to carry some coffins because they are too heavy for traditional pallbearers.
