I WAS reading that the waistlines of middle aged ladies were six inches bigger than 60 years ago. Why? Because, the Saga report said, today's women don't do as much housework.

This makes a lot of sense. Until I started thinking about it.

Sixty years ago, fewer mums went out to work. They took pride in their role of bringing up children and maintaining a home. Housework was part of that job description.

For the last 30 years or more, it has been normal for both partners in a relationship to have careers and go out to work. Apart from anything else, they needed the money and a double income became essential.

Housework still has to be done but is a shared obligation. Or you could just ignore it. Plus, there have been advancements in household aids since 1952.

However, housework and a 1950s role didn't slim down the women in my family. Back then, they all had Rubenesque figures. My mother was always the wrong side of her Body Mass Index (not that it had been invented then) and my Auntie Doris was as voluptuous as a Beryl Cook painting. If, all those years ago, she had been presented with Twiggy, she would have thought the model was a novelty wishbone.

The Saga report says the average waist measurement for a woman then was 28 inches, while today it's 34 inches. They put it down to rationing, change of diet and a lack of housework.

Whether women ever were as slim as Saga make out, I'm not sure, but I am doing my bit to help my wife Maria stays in trim. I make it a policy never to intrude around the house and allow her do all the dusting, Hoovering, washing, cleaning and polishing, as well as cutting the grass. And it works. Her waist is still 28 inches.

Put it down to my understanding nature.