Looking at the choices issue for a second and I think this angle is being massively over-egged if you actually look at A&B's lunch menu.

Like most of the Scottish councils they work on a 4 weekly menu plan and it seems that Martha Payne and her classmates have the grand choice of two hot things.

Here's a sample of their menu;

Week 2 - Monday (Family Favourites)

Chicken in Gravy served with Boiled Potatoes and Carrots and/or Cauliflower Cheese
Or Pack a Snack Selection including Hot or Cold Wraps with
tasty fillings served with Carrot Sticks or Side Salad (v)

Tuesday: Around the World
Burger served in a Bun served with Potato Wedges, Broccoli or Side Salad
Or Creamy Ham or Vegetable (v) Tagliatelli served with Broccoli or a Side Salad

Wednesday: An Italian Feast
Meatballs in a Rich Tomato Sauce served with Pasta and Corn Cobettes
Or Pizza with a Selection of Toppings (v) served with Crunchy Diced Potatoes and Corn Cobettes

There's no a huge amount of scope there for the children to be always picking the wrong option. Some larger schools in the area serve baked potatos every day and they have a choice of having a sandwich either. The issue, to me, appears to be the quality and quantity of the actual food. For example the pizza appears on another page of the menu described as being served with a "side salad" - is 3 slices of cucumber now a side salad? Children certainly shouldn't end up having a sandwich because the hot meal options are crap.

In one report the children were told that unlimited salad and bread was available to them, and had always been available to them. Can it be possible that the majority of children in the class missed that fact or could it be that it was something that was kept quiet because it is yet another area of cost cutting? Worryingly for those associated with the primary school is that it is part of a flagship joint campus, it shares with a nursery complex and the High School. So the kids will be exposed to the crap food they are being dished up until they leave school.

My kids grew up during the Blair years. Why weren't those old Tory policies reversed?

Well think about it in thsi way then:

Dad: "how do you feel when you don't get enough to eat at lunchtime?"

Daughter: "hungry"

Dad: "anything else?"

Daughter: "tired"

Dad: "do you know why that is?"

Daughter: "because I'm hungry?"

etc

The girl has never claimed to have been given only 1 croquette as a whole meal for the whole afternoon. If you actually read the caption with the photograph then I think it's pretty clear that she's talking about the potato element of her meal. It's extremely petty of newspapers, the council or anyone to take her comments completely out of context like that.



She mentioned the pizza, but focused on the croquette - where is the harm in that. If you read through her blog she regularly speaks more about one aspect of the meal. In this case she chose to speak about the disappointing part of the meal.
I also don't see why it would be surprising that a child who is doing a blog about her school lunches and the impact of them would mention the energy aspect? Far better to pretty much accuse the Dad of writing the blog than to give the girls parents some credit for the fact that their daughter has been encouraged to think about food in terms more than just not being hungry anymore? Is teaching her about the energy gained from food and an enjoyment of food not a good thing?

I'm not getting into the choice issue again. I don't understand the train of thought that suggests giving children any choice is a bad thing. How many people from the era of "here's your meal - eat it" have food issues? Simply removing choice teaches children nothing about food, in the same way that rewarding children with pudding for eating everything on their plate teaches them nothing about self control, learning to understand your body etc.

Minty - you mention France and the sit down meal, that can't happen in the majority of schools here for one simple reason over and above any food issues - 45 minute lunch break, maximised school rolls thanks to the loss of other schools in the area (so the primaryschools local to us have 283, 197 and 201 pupils respectively) with a dining hall that seats 80ish. The children get approximately 15 minutes each to eat their lunch. No chance of a sit down, multi-course meal with time to learn to enjoy food in that time.

Also on the Tory aspect of it, I left school in 1997, but have been in and out the local schools because of various groups using them. The meals have gone downhill massively since the change of "School cook" to "Catering Manager" - that wasn't a Tory choice/change. The Scottish Parliment should have repaired the damage since they took over too, so there's blame on all political parties.

That's one post. And people put ideas into children's heads the whole time - it's kind of how parenting and schooling works. Rather than some sinister motive it could simply be that she's been told on numerous occasions about the importance of food to concentration and is repeating the idea. It's certainly not beyond the bounds of possibility that the post was produced by a 9 year old girl.

Ask for asking other readers opinions - she does that throughout the blog.

Ah, that old chestnut.

You see, destroying something is easy, putting it in place again involves cost.
Brown is always accused of spending too much, are you saying he should have spent more?