It was a awkward conversation.

rlAt least business has come in to rescue Gove's school bible planrl

Good to see that the Education Secretary has got his priorities right, his plan to send each primary and secondary school in the country a copy of the St James bible, has been rescued thanks to tory donors chipping in. Even better that these bibles are written in 17th century English, I bet the kids can hardly wait to start reading them.

I wonder when the first one will appear on eBay?

Few, I thought they'd waste peoples time and money.

Anyone got the stats on how many schools didn't have a [iBible[/i and thus desperately needed one?

You're missing the point: this one has a foreward written by Gove himself. I'm frankly amazed that our schools have coped without such a literary gem as long as they have.

At a guess and discounting Muslim, Jewish and other non-christian schools, I'd say none. But you can bet your life they never had a leather-bound, 4th centenary special edition, written in gobbledegook.

Pity these philanthropists can't throw some dosh at providing adequate nutrition to pupils, in the form of rlschool dinnersrl

Food-o-meter- 9/10
Mouthfuls- 33, I took a pad and my pen ran out but I remembered!
Courses- main/dessert
Health Rating- 6/10
Price- £2
Pieces of hair- 0

Health rating 6/10? - How can that meal be healthy cosisting of nothing but two servings of carbohydrate (potato & pasta) bit of water (cucumber) and a blob of gelatinous sugar (jelly)?

Certainly not worth £2. Mind you the average price per day for school meals in france is around £4.

I'd first seen the blog last week.

It is absolutely extraordinary – in a really rather frightening sort of way. And I do think think that what you say here about the cost of school dinners in France says a great deal.

As Joanna Blythman asserts in [iShopped, Britons spend 10% less on food per household than any other country in western Europe. And yet we still complain about the cost. You get what you pay for. So perhaps it really is a case of many in this country not really valuing food.

Not wishing to stray too far off topic but I know for a fact that I can provide a nutritious meal for an adult for less than £2, so if I was providing meals for primary school children, in volume, I'd be quids in.

It is scientific fact that, once a child has been weaned, it could then get all vitamins, nutrients, minerals etc it would ever need, all its life, by eating nothing but potatoes and drinking nothing but real ale.

If you don't grow your own, potatoes at Morrisons are often available at £2 for a huge sack, and for coppers you can of course brew your own real ale in gallons.

You have to make a tidy profit too, remember.

Thinking back, I really don't remember having fried food at school. And you'd certainly never have got to have something as ridiculous as portion of one starchy carb with a portion of another.

You got what you were given, and it was prepared and freshly cooked on the premises every day.

The overheads are high - equipment, labour, H & S, HACCP, etc. You'd need to be doing a lot of fishing to keep your food costs down.

But I thought that this was exactly the kind of thing that is holding us back as a country, stopping employers taking on more workers etc?