Sorry - I'm afraid I don't know who you are.

Most of us here know Dally's record as a bigot. Clearly, as a newbie to the Sin Bin, you won't.

But anyway, welcome to the Bin.

Bigot I maybe but not to the degree of most on here. Furthermore, I don't resort to embarrassing, feeble-minded name-calling (except when others start it) in every serious thread when someone expresses a different to me.

Bigot I maybe but not to the degree of most on here. Furthermore, I don't resort to embarrassing, feeble-minded name-calling (except when others start it) in every serious thread when someone expresses a different to me.

Why does you knowing who I am matter on a public forum, or was that supposed to be a subtle dig?

On the rare occasion I read this section I remember Dally as a dissenting voice, of which I usually disagree. I'd take him over bullies like you though.

The fact that the children get quite a few choices for school dinners now seems to be something that a number of friends who are talking about this have mentioned, as well as on here. I find it utterly bizarre how many people seem to be of the "why do children get so many choices, we didn't" school of thought.

Surely it's a good thing that we're well by the days of "here's your meal, now eat it" regardless of what that meal was and the child's opinion of it? That kind of attitudes towards children and food just gives people life long issues. There's nothing to be proud of when little johnny had to sit at school dinners and eat the macaroni cheese because that was the days dinner when he simply threw it up afterwards.

Yes, some parents give their children too many choices. However surely if we want children to grow up with a healthy attitude to food then the best way to go about that is to give a little respect to the fact that there are some things that some people just won't like (and some days where you just want a snacky lunch and others you want a big lunch). Also there are some things that some cooks just can't make - I love macaroni cheese, alway have done, but to this day I have no idea what our school cook used to do with it. It was the most vile thing I've ever eater in my life. No good would have come of making that the only meal of the day.


The biggest problem with school dinners, imo, is the finance issue. Our local primary school has a huge certificate on the wall in the dining hall stating that their "catering manager" won the award for being the most efficient with her budget. She won a stonking prize for it as well. Personally I think the fact that she managed to save a couple of grand a year in food should see her hauled over the coals because she did it by serving crap food, smaller portions and, most ridiculously, running out of hot food before the end of the serving leaving children with no choice but sandwiches in the midst of winter.

If you want to join in the debate you are more than welcome, if you just want to take a dig at the staff then I suggest you do one.

Because if there are choices, you can bet your life some would take the crap (less healthy or balanced), option every day

Yep, admittedly at secondary rather than primary school but we had healthy alternatives at school. Did we eat it? Did we balls. We had pizza and chips. We were kids, it made sod all difference because we spent hours before during and after school playing either football or rugby in some form and got a decent meal at home.

Unfortunately quite a few never did and I reckon even more so these days. The reason school dinners were introduced was to ensure that kids got at least one decent meal a day. Unfortunately when we now see school kitchen "managers" being rewarded for saving money, as opposed to being rewarded for providing the best food for the money allocated, we get to the bottom line.

It is very obviously the fault of a parent if their kids aren't eating properly, unfortunately we have to admit that there are some pretty shi[it[/ity parents out there and I don't believe it is indicative of a nanny state, if we try to at least mitigate any nutritional shortcomings through good school dinners.

I don't hold out much hope, especially when the party in power is the same one who, when presented with evidence that rickets had been eradicated, dropped free school milk.

It's also not just rubbish parents who want/need children to have good quality meals at school. When I was younger due to the circumstances my father left us in the fact that we got a good quality hot meal at school was a massive help to our situation. I imagine that is (or would be) the same for a lot of people who are struggling at the moment.

We've gone so far away from what school dinners were meant for it's unreal. It's not that long since those entitled to a free school lunch were still able to get it in the school holidays so that they still got at least one decent meal a day.

rlSome very positive outcomesrl

It seems that the strangest circumstances still stirr our souls as members of the same species, and that is great news!

rlThe questions the journalists should have been asking.rl

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.

... or, as I have raised in the piece linked to above, is the school doing as it should, and the photographs do not represent the whole story?

Apparently, only Martha's parents have complained about the school meals. Why? What was the nature of the complaints? WY have no other parents complained?

And frankly, as I also also mentioned above, I do not believe that the voice in the blog is the voice of a nine-year-old child.

Perhaps Mr and Mrs Payne are peeved that, in offering choices, they give their child the chance to make poor choices - and that's why Daddy has, it seems, been 'behind' this way of trying to attack the school.

And an interesting side question: why are so many people so ready, apparently, to take what is being represented by the blog at face value, and assume that it tells the whole story?

It would appear that the whole sorry saga was actually the work of a sub-editor who thought they'd got themselves a "funny" headline. If they'd simply added one small word "up", hyphenated at the end of the word "fire", then I reckon none of this would have happened.

rlThe offending articlerl