Chef accuses ministers of jeopardising progress made in school dinner halls Jamie Oliver fears the school meals revolution he kickstarted is in danger of unravelling because ministers are ignoring research showing that nutritious lunches improve learning. In an interview with the Guardian, the celebrity chef has accused the education secretary, Michael Gove, and the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, of putting at risk the changes that happened after his 2005 Channel 4 series, Jamie’s School Dinners . Some of Gove’s decisions on school meals have led to unease among health and education campaigners. Gove has ended the school lunch grant as a separate source of funding and exempted academies from the nutritional standards for all other state schools that Labour introduced after Oliver’s programmes highlighted the poor quality of much school food. Oliver said: “Honestly, I’m very worried. I’ve had a couple of very cordial, interesting meetings with the secretary of state for education and although I would love to believe that Mr Gove has school food high on his agenda, I’ve not heard anything so far worth celebrating. “I’m sure he realises that there are clear benefits to having good food in school: it improves a child’s behaviour, willingness to learn and concentration at school, and that in turn helps children to achieve more and perform better. “You would have to be an idiot to ignore all of the academic research that’s been published to support these things, but still I don’t see him or his ministerial colleagues in health actually doing anything to ensure that the improvements we have made over the last six years remain in place and are built upon – instead the progress we’ve made seems to be at risk.” Oliver added: “I used to have similar rants about the previous government so I’m absolutely not siding with one political party. In my experience forward-thinking politicians are a rare breed.” Asked if the government’s decisions were due to the spending squeeze or ideology, Oliver replied: “I think it’s a bit of both but as anyone in this area knows, we have to invest now so that we don’t cripple the NHS or destroy the health of our kids later on.” Given obesity already costs the NHS an estimated £4bn a year, Oliver added, “we simply can’t afford to cut costs in prevention work now because we will have an even bigger bill in the future. It’s like any business: you have to invest in the short term to see a longer-term benefit.” In a new eight-point action plan for extending schools’ influence over children’s eating habits and knowledge of food, Oliver asks ministers to apply the nutritional standards to all schools and says “it would be incredibly disappointing and counterproductive not to make them mandatory for new academies too”. Academies currently teach almost 1.2 million pupils. The manifesto says: “If the government wants all schools to become academies in the long term, the reality is we risk losing the legislation that has made a difference as well as the benefits gained from raising nutritional standards.” Oliver also suggests introducing a new school food premium, which would give schools direct payments for increasing the number of pupils having school lunches. About 3 million of England’s 7 million primary and secondary pupils eat them. Charlie Powell of the Children’s Food Campaign said: “We are unhappy that the school lunch grant has been amalgamated into the overall education budget because it means schools can spend it on anything they like, rather than increasing uptake of school meals.” But Judy Hargadon, chief executive of the School Food Trust (SFT), which helps schools improve take-up of meals, said she feared Oliver’s idea could demotivate schools that faced the toughest task in persuading pupils to use the canteen regularly. The Department for Education (DfE) released a letter Gove wrote to Oliver in August after they met, in which he said “I very much share your views about the importance of providing children and young people with healthy school food and about the benefits this brings”, and promised “the government will continue to support and encourage schools to this end and support the improvements that have been achieved in recent years in schools food provision and food education”. He noted “with interest” the school food premium idea and has asked DfE officials “to discuss with the SFT how such an initiative could work in reality and how it would fit in alongside its ongoing work”. School meals Schools Children Health Jamie Oliver Food & drink Chefs Health policy Denis Campbell guardian.co.uk
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Some 70% of voters want a vote on Britain’s EU membership, Guardian/ICM poll shows Conservative rebels pushing for an in-or-out referendum on Europe are riding the tide of public opinion, according to a Guardian/ICM poll. Some 70% of voters want a vote on Britain’s EU membership, and by a substantial nine-point margin respondents say they would use it to vote for UK withdrawal. Forty-nine per cent of voters would vote to get Britain out of Europe, as against just 40% who prefer to stay in. There is a clear majority for staging a referendum on Britain’s relationship with Europe in each of the social classes and across the regions and nations of the UK. Men and women are similarly keen, as are supporters of all three main parties, although rather more Conservative (71%) than Labour voters (65%) are calling for a poll. Overall, just 23% of all voters say they would be against a vote that “could ask the public whether the UK should remain in the European Union or pull out instead”. On the crunch question of which way they would vote, there are marked differences across the age range, and by party support. Where just 28% of the youngest voters aged 18-24 would vote to quit the EU, 63% of those aged 65+ would do the same. An outright majority of Tory voters – some 56% – would vote to leave, as against 34% who would prefer to stay in. By contrast among Labour and Liberal Democrats, there are majorities for staying in Europe, although there are also sizeable minorities among both parties’ supporters – of 38% and 44% respectively – who indicate that they would vote to get out. As David Cameron stands up to make the case against staging a referendum, he will argue that regardless of the public’s feelings on Europe, the issue is not currently their most pressing priority. Past polling evidence bears that out, with just 1% of the electorate having told ICM in the runup to the last general election that Europe was the most important question in how they would cast their vote. But Monday’s poll contains signs that the Euro-sceptical side of public opinion is firmer than the Euro-enthusiast element. The 40% who would vote to stay in split relatively equally, between 23% who say they would definitely vote to stay in and 18% who say they would only probably do so. Among the 49% who want to quit, by contrast, 34% describe their position as “definite”, more than twice as many as the 15% who say they would “probably” vote to leave. The 49%-40% split for pulling out of the EU represents a total turnaround in public opinion, as compared to a decade ago. When ICM asked a slightly differently worded question in May 2001, by 68% to 19% the public indicated Britain should remain a member, a huge 49% lead for the pro-Europeans. And the most Euro-sceptical segment of opinion has grown rapidly: where 34% of all respondents now say they would “definitely” vote for pulling out, in 2001 just 13% said they were “strongly” in favour of pulling out. ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,003 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 21-23 October 2011. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. European Union House of Commons Liberal-Conservative coalition Europe Conservatives Tom Clark guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Some 70% of voters want a vote on Britain’s EU membership, Guardian/ICM poll shows Conservative rebels pushing for an in-or-out referendum on Europe are riding the tide of public opinion, according to a Guardian/ICM poll. Some 70% of voters want a vote on Britain’s EU membership, and by a substantial nine-point margin respondents say they would use it to vote for UK withdrawal. Forty-nine per cent of voters would vote to get Britain out of Europe, as against just 40% who prefer to stay in. There is a clear majority for staging a referendum on Britain’s relationship with Europe in each of the social classes and across the regions and nations of the UK. Men and women are similarly keen, as are supporters of all three main parties, although rather more Conservative (71%) than Labour voters (65%) are calling for a poll. Overall, just 23% of all voters say they would be against a vote that “could ask the public whether the UK should remain in the European Union or pull out instead”. On the crunch question of which way they would vote, there are marked differences across the age range, and by party support. Where just 28% of the youngest voters aged 18-24 would vote to quit the EU, 63% of those aged 65+ would do the same. An outright majority of Tory voters – some 56% – would vote to leave, as against 34% who would prefer to stay in. By contrast among Labour and Liberal Democrats, there are majorities for staying in Europe, although there are also sizeable minorities among both parties’ supporters – of 38% and 44% respectively – who indicate that they would vote to get out. As David Cameron stands up to make the case against staging a referendum, he will argue that regardless of the public’s feelings on Europe, the issue is not currently their most pressing priority. Past polling evidence bears that out, with just 1% of the electorate having told ICM in the runup to the last general election that Europe was the most important question in how they would cast their vote. But Monday’s poll contains signs that the Euro-sceptical side of public opinion is firmer than the Euro-enthusiast element. The 40% who would vote to stay in split relatively equally, between 23% who say they would definitely vote to stay in and 18% who say they would only probably do so. Among the 49% who want to quit, by contrast, 34% describe their position as “definite”, more than twice as many as the 15% who say they would “probably” vote to leave. The 49%-40% split for pulling out of the EU represents a total turnaround in public opinion, as compared to a decade ago. When ICM asked a slightly differently worded question in May 2001, by 68% to 19% the public indicated Britain should remain a member, a huge 49% lead for the pro-Europeans. And the most Euro-sceptical segment of opinion has grown rapidly: where 34% of all respondents now say they would “definitely” vote for pulling out, in 2001 just 13% said they were “strongly” in favour of pulling out. ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,003 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 21-23 October 2011. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. European Union House of Commons Liberal-Conservative coalition Europe Conservatives Tom Clark guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Occupy Wall Street may speak to the jobless–but do they have time to participate?
October 24, 2011 No CommentOccupy Wall Street actions continue in cities across the United States–in New York, protesters last week invited parents to bring their children to a sleepover in Zuccotti Park, while in Washington, D.C. demonstrators released balloons in Union Station to disrupt a gala dinner. The largely liberal uprising has even garnered the attention of the tea party–which
Continue reading …Occupy Wall Street may speak to the jobless–but do they have time to participate?
October 24, 2011 No CommentOccupy Wall Street actions continue in cities across the United States–in New York, protesters last week invited parents to bring their children to a sleepover in Zuccotti Park, while in Washington, D.C. demonstrators released balloons in Union Station to disrupt a gala dinner. The largely liberal uprising has even garnered the attention of the tea party–which
Continue reading …Florida is considering repealing its 22-year-old ban on “dwarf tossing”—throwing a person with dwarfism, often against a Velcro wall and usually done by drunks at a bar. The politician leading the repeal says he is doing it for the “freedom” of little people, so they can get that sort…
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Amy Bruni, cast member on Syfy’s hit show Ghost Hunters, doesn’t let anything faze her — not even staking out haunted houses in the dead of night. This October 31, Bruni and her team members will continue their yearly tradition with an immensely popular Halloween live show. This year, the casts from both Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International will head
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ScottDraeger says: Who pays for Gabrielle Giffords ‘ intensive ‘ therapy . #cnn http://t.co/TkJRefBG Everyone needs a decent standard of care.
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Garmin Oregon 550 – GPS receiver – hiking glen en ik probeersel How To Take A Good Picture In Under 3 Minutes k_aldabbous says: @ ammr Flickr, Instagram, Picasa وتضع رابط في تويتر
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