andy1505

Just read on the BBC site that Tony Blair and Labour are about to increase the money given to schools for school dinners. Just because people want something, and it is the right thing to do does not mean that a political party should do it. This smacks of trying to buy childrens votes to me.

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

Children can't vote

OllyK

TB resigning is something that people want and is the right thing to do, but I don't see him rushing to do that

555wrx

What about increasing the money given to schools for the main reason of having schools....................better education!

farmer1

So you think that he shouldn't give more money to school dinners?

Personnaly I think by injecting a little cash into getting kids to eat the right food, will help there education far more then the amount of money they pump into ICT.

555wrx

And whilst on the case, if this is because Jaimie mockney, erm, Oliver is pushing for it, then maybe Oliver should also push for less speed cameras, better policing, health service etc etc etc.....

Sad that it takes a celebrity chef to make government take note..........and a forthcoming election of course.

Leslie

Its just that Oliver has embarassed them at an awkward time, and they will do or say anything to get votes of course. I wonder if the money will actually appear in the end though!

Les

pslewis

What bollox!!

The Government has been working towards better eating for 18months now - I know, we at our school have abolished Chips, changed the contents of the vending machines and employed a new Catering Contractor.

The extra money will help .... whats wrong with extra money??

You want Labour to listen, then when they do and action something you shout that they are trying to buy votes!!

Grow up ..... the lot of ya'!!

Pete

andy1505

Uh oh children can't vote!! Better take the money back then. We need it for tax cut's, would probably just have been wasted anyway. Tell you what though if instead of giving it to the kids why not cut the price of fuel. Easy way to win a few votes, or have we gone past that.

unclebuck

Of course it won't. As you say, after the election nothing will happen.

We have to have a celebrity chef creating education policy in this country now as the government appointees are too incompetent to do the job.

andy1505

Just let my kids know that the Turkey twizzlers are back on the menu. Pleased them no end. Makes me want to vomit. If it takes a guy like Jamie Oliver to make a change then great, maybe if we all did our bit then he would not have made a difference we would of.

pslewis for president!!

unclebuck

That'll help.

That lesbo Ruth Kelly is still refusing to ban junk food from schools. It's all just hollow New Labour election lies.

type-r-stan

is it me or is that ruth kelly one patronising ****???

Of course it is everything to do with the election..they haven't been too worried about it untill now. And it's bollox to say they have been working on it for 18 months; kelly herself was banging on about how since she's been in the job its been 'priority' er that'll be about 2 1/2 months then luv.
jamie's dinners is repeated tonight on c4. i watched it 1st time round and am pretty sure that at the end the narrator said that although charles clarke promised to sort it kelly backtracked and the fmb programme could NOT be rolled out to other boroughs as it was in Greenwich...

RB5 Paul

Wouldn't things be better if the parents taught these kids how to eat the right food?

pslewis

Why do that when you can blame Labour!!

Pete

RB5 Paul

Good point,i forgot it's nobody's fault anymore except the government

blueone

He may not resign but you could always do your bit at this site
http://www.impeachblair.org/

This school meals thing is not just about extra money it is about the whole food message we give to children. Take the lyrics in music having Big Mac in them to adverts on the telly for dairylee lunchables. When you look at the ingredients in the food we give to children is it any wonder that some schools have kids with behavioural problems. This leads onto them being excluded and turning to vandalism and petty crime out of boredom or inability to obtain employment later in life. Dependancy on drugs and so on and so forth. Not to mention the health benefits of eatting good food. You only have to look back at the bad diets at the time of the relief act and the age of death then.
People experiance longer life expectancy due to the standards of food increasing not decreasing. Food standards for kids and people on low incomes are decreasing and if we do not do something about it. When it is our time to retire we will not have the people needed to care for us in our old age due to them all being obese or dead before us.
Of course we could always let in more asylum seekers et al to counter act the exploitation of the populations health for the benefit of a few party politicians getting backhanders directorships etc etc. But I don't think the population is willing to see the real reasons behind what is happening to our society...

unclebuck

It is important that people are not taken in by what the Government is doing here.

They are not offering any new money! It is simply being promised from the existing educatioln budget so for this to happen means that other areas will go short as a consequence.

blueone

I was talking about amount spent per plate. The amount spent on education is of concern. For an example ICT can have a positive impact on the results attained by students. However the amount spent on Interactive White Boards is quite high considering there is no wide spread standard training to use these aids to teaching. It is a wasted opportunity not to use the resources available to there full extent.

Milamber

iTrader: (2)

Good point, well made.......

SJ_Skyline

Tony really is the David Beckham of the political world!

Gordo

Why can't the Labour w4nkers admit they've fecked up and have spent the last 8 years making a mockery of children's diets? Instead (and UncleBuck is right) that lesbo Kelly is claiming it's always been a priority - my **** - why have they allowed it to get so bad and why have they allowed schools to spend much less on food per portion than prisons do?!

Time for a change, New Labour has become Old Labour.

Gordo

PIXIEDUST

What did you lot eat for school dinners.For some children it's the only meal they get a day and this has always been the case under labour and tory,and it's the tories that's planning to abolish puplic services i.e nhs direct.

Jap2Scrap

hmmmmm, but NHS direct is only worthwhile because the rest of the NHS is in such a state. If we could all visit A&E or see a GP/Triage nurse immediately then NHS Direct and diagnosis-by-phone would become largely redundant.

andy1505

I can happily recall that the best offer at school was Spam fritters in bater and chips. 1984 real Tory quality. Stil shudder when I see that awful Spam it up advert.

Gordo

"What did you lot eat for school dinners.For some children it's the only meal they get a day and this has always been the case under labour and tory,and it's the tories that's planning to abolish puplic services i.e nhs direct."

not sure how this is relevant - school meals have deteriorated dreadfully since Labour came to power FACT. I'm saying they should be honest and admit they've messed things up (instead of denying it before claiming the Tories would make it worse - errr, how can it be worse than the salt and fat riddled ****e they're serving now?).

I'm not sure what PUPLIC services are but am amused by your perception that the Tories will cut public services - I'm hoping they'll maybe cut out some of the administrative waste and pointless public service employees that Labour have ramped up, to ensure more funding actually reaches the front line (statement on the radio this morning that only 16% (!) of recent tax rises earmarked for improved services has actually reached its intended destination. Blimey.

damian666

If anyone, blame companies like Sodexho (I think that is spelt correctly) who are contract caterers. They do make a profit. When the dinner ladies used to cook our dinners (in Primary school) we had a 'salad bar' etc. At secondary school, where Sodexho operated, we had crap burgers chips and beans.

Not good enough in my book.

Gordo

The catering companies should make a profit or why would they do it?

Whilst on the face of it this is evil and capitalist, it actually doesn't cost any more than doing it in house as the catering co's have great benefits of scale (buying power, staff training, quality monitoring etc). Not ideal but no worse than in-house I reckon.

The issue is around pandering to what the parents/kids want and local authorities setting stupidly low meal budgets.

Good for Jamie Oliver for flagging the issue, no matter who's at fault.

Gordo

unclebuck

Schools spend £1.50 to £4.00 per head on pupils lunches in France.

And New Labour say that raising the amount from 37p tp 50p per head in this country will solve the problem? Far from strutting around, looking pleased with themselves they should hang their heads in shame.

blueone

Do you really think that the french would not rise up and revolt if they had just 37p per plate. Shows what a bunch of spineless me me me me selfish individuals this country has.