British 'Food Police' Search Lunch-Boxes

[amicus]

Not satisfied with bland school lunches resembling soy products, seaweed and tofu, British public school officials are opening students lunch boxes and removing any politically incorrect food substance, such as pastries, sweets of any kind, products with sugar or artificial coloring and all carbonated soda drinks.

Claiming the moral right to conduct such searches and confiscate such products, as in the 'general welfare' of the students and the mandate to provide a safe learning environment(oops), thus the Gestapo Grunges justify their actions.

As goes Britain, the Fountainhead of Freedom, so goes the world; as American's so adore Euro socialism and the erosion of individual rights and liberties.

Such a deal!

Amicus...

 

[oggbashan]

Amicus,

British "Public School" doesn't mean what you think it means.

"Public School" in UK terminology means PRIVATE FEE-PAYING CAPITALIST RUNNING-DOG school.

The parents pay for their children to be searched!

Og

 

[JackLuis]

"PRIVATE FEE-PAYING CAPITALIST RUNNING-DOG school"

Amicus' alma mater?

 

[amicus]

And Ogg was defended as not being a Troll?

Evidence obviated that indeed he is.

I related a news article.

Ogg attacked me.

Thas, dear friends, is the definition of a Troll. (wmrs2 was correct in her assessment, neener, neener, you ain't got no weiner! Heh)

ah that amicable amicus....

 

[oggbashan]

And Ogg was defended as not being a Troll?

Evidence obviated that indeed he is.

I related a news article.

Ogg attacked me.

Thas, dear friends, is the definition of a Troll. (wmrs2 was correct in her assessment, neener, neener, you ain't got no weiner! Heh)

ah that amicable amicus....

You did relate a news article but you misinterpreted it because of the difference between terminology between the UK and US. It was not the socialist state system that was policing the lunch boxes but the capitalist parents.

Og

I'm a troll, fol-de-rol, and I'll eat you for my dinner...

 

[LLs Man]

Having not seen a link to the original story, I'd have to say that sounds more like the sort of thing state schools under some types of local authority would do, rather than public schools. It would fit in with this government's control-freakery concerning health (among other things).

 

[amicus]

It gets even better, folks, let's see Ogg the Troll, ooze outta this one:


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376868,00.html

British Minister Says Locking Kids on School Grounds Will Breed Healthier Eating

"...One British official reportedly believes the best way to do it is to lock kids inside school grounds to make sure they don't buy unhealthy fast food.,.."

 

[kendo1]

You did not answer Ogg's mention of terminology.

Ogg was correct.

It also only applies to a couple of schools, not the vast majority.
Reporters, as usual, quoting out of context and blowing it out of proportion.

 

[amicus]

Well, perhaps, Kendo, perhaps, although confirmation by a Minister of the Brit Parliament seems to indicate government involvement and if 'public' education does not properly describe the state run school system in jolly old England, then just what does?

The liberal zealots in our school system have banned coke and candy machines in schools, replacing them with 'fruit and yogurt', and such nonsense, so it seems perfectly logical to me, that the Brits, being somewhat more odiferous in terms of modern liberalism, would do just as the news piece said they were doing...

My point, as always in referring to this piece was the accumulating state control over children which once was, as I recall, the realm of a parent or even two if one can be so bold.

Amicus

 

[kendo1]

Well, perhaps, Kendo, perhaps, although confirmation by a Minister of the Brit Parliament seems to indicate government involvement and if 'public' education does not properly describe the state run school system in jolly old England, then just what does?

The liberal zealots in our school system have banned coke and candy machines in schools, replacing them with 'fruit and yogurt', and such nonsense, so it seems perfectly logical to me, that the Brits, being somewhat more odiferous in terms of modern liberalism, would do just as the news piece said they were doing...

My point, as always in referring to this piece was the accumulating state control over children which once was, as I recall, the realm of a parent or even two if one can be so bold.

Amicus

It is easily misunderstood, ami.

'Public school' refers to private education in England, as opposed to state schools.

We tend to refer to 'private schools' in Scotland. My children attend one of the oldest schools in the UK- a private school, a mere 400 years old. It is their choice what they eat at school. The meals supplied in the school tend to be healthy options, but they can choose to leave the campus and buy from local shops if they wish. Mostly, though, they take a packed lunch.

On another point, Liberals are the centre party in the UK. Labour to the left and Conservative to the right - but not as far right as your Republican party.

Ken

 

[Boxlicker101]

Not satisfied with bland school lunches resembling soy products, seaweed and tofu, British public school officials are opening students lunch boxes and removing any politically incorrect food substance, such as pastries, sweets of any kind, products with sugar or artificial coloring and all carbonated soda drinks.

Claiming the moral right to conduct such searches and confiscate such products, as in the 'general welfare' of the students and the mandate to provide a safe learning environment(oops), thus the Gestapo Grunges justify their actions.

As goes Britain, the Fountainhead of Freedom, so goes the world; as American's so adore Euro socialism and the erosion of individual rights and liberties.

Such a deal!

Amicus...

I don't know of any American schools where this is done, but there probably will be some. Maybe Berkeley or SF or in MA. Even now, I think they search for pot. Can sugar be far behind?

 

[amicus]

As I have been 'rebuffed', not necessarily refuted, concerning both British and American schools( you argue the private versus public misnomer), let me widen the subject to include the feminine mistake, ahem.

I have grown daughters, five of em and I watch television with the advertisements and the news articles that cater to the sensitive female psyche and palate, that said to qualify somewhat my commentary; I know of which I speak.

Red meat, salt, sugar, fried foods, fast foods, dolphin meat, mercury bearing fish flesh, whale blubber & meat, almost everything that tastes good and pleases the male palate has been banned or prohibited or legislated against.

Anything fattening, God forbid the waistline that bloats at menopause or the hips that widen following childbirth, the 'sugar free' chewing gum and ice cream that is virtually without flavor, all to please the finicky female, have now all been visited upon our poor and innocent children, not only at home but in the female dominated school systems here and abroad.

They don't like the McDonalds that kids love and yearn for, hell, this is becoming worse than a nunnery, Christ, health and nutrition facts are required by law to be placed on all products, since women have been in the halls of government.

Thas why I sneak in all the sugar saturated candy and ice cream and pastries to my grandkids...at least they will have personal knowledge of how food 'used' to taste.

I wonder about this generation of tweeks and am sometimes grateful to realize that I won't be around most likely when the kids rebel against a really, 'tasteless' society. Heh!

I did good!

ami

 

[voluptuary_manque]

We have a list of approved foods that we can use to sell as fundraisers. A careful reading determined that juice bars, corn nuts, pickles and popcorn were all legal under California Ed code. So that's what we sell and we clean up big time. Pays for all the sixth grade field trips!

 

[amicus]

"Aproved Foods"

Ain't that a gas! Rather makes me point, eh?

ami

 

[Boxlicker101]

We have a list of approved foods that we can use to sell as fundraisers. A careful reading determined that juice bars, corn nuts, pickles and popcorn were all legal under California Ed code. So that's what we sell and we clean up big time. Pays for all the sixth grade field trips!

Are chocolate bars still legal? I know people used to sell them as fundraisers at the office where I worked.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Are chocolate bars still legal? I know people used to sell them as fundraisers at the office where I worked.

Our low-fat fudge bars sell out faster than any other flavor except lime. So yeah, after a fashion, chocolate is legal.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Our low-fat fudge bars sell out faster than any other flavor except lime. So yeah, after a fashion, chocolate is legal.

Not much of a fashion. (bolding added.)

 

[DesertPirate]

You did relate a news article but you misinterpreted it because of the difference between terminology between the UK and US. It was not the socialist state system that was policing the lunch boxes but the capitalist parents.

Og

I'm a troll, fol-de-rol, and I'll eat you for my dinner...

Ah yes I remember now "two countries separated by a common language" -G. S. Patton

 

[amicus]

Ah yes I remember now "two countries separated by a common language" -G. S. Patton

~~~

Heh, good point DP! Mebbe Patton invaded the wrong country?



amicus...

 

[oggbashan]

To be fair to my friend Amicus, there has been a debate about the nutritional value of school lunches in the UK with a high profile campaign by one of our nationally famous chefs to provide better nutrition within the allocated cost.

Most schools do not provide cooked school meals as used to happen in the 1940s and early 1950s when many foodstuffs were still rationed. People of my generation have horrific memories of the type of food provided - overboiled soggy cabbage, unidentifiable concoctions made with dried egg powder or Spam, gristly meat that became meat pie or minced meat later in the week and very dubious puddings derisively called "frogspawn" or "jam duff" by the students.

School meals were subsidised and "dinner money" had to be paid every week unless the parents provided a lunch box which is now a normal practice. Students of impoverished parents receiving benefits could get free school meals (and still can).

Some PTAs and School Governing bodies have tried to improve the range of choice available, providing so-called "healthy" alternative meals. Students have resisted compulsion to eat healthily but have increased their take-up of the healthy options.

Almost every school in my town has a fish and chip shop within a short distance of the school, serving deep-fried fish in batter and greasy chips. If the school attempts to make healthy eating compulsory, the students vote with their feet and patronise the fish and chip shop, often with parental support.

A few PTAs/School Governing bodies tried to make healthy lunch boxes a requirement last year. That led to the nonsense of parents standing outside the school railings to pass forbidden foods such as chocolate and cola to their deprived offsping.

The compulsion came from parents' elected representatives on the school's management boards. You will be aware just how nutty such bodies can be in the US. The UK is not exempt from well-intentioned but stupid school authorities. Recently one retailer has started a business selling "Kosher Salt" to schools that have some Jewish students. A senior UK rabbi has pointed out, in vain, that all salt, by its very nature IS Kosher but the business still trades.

The Health Advisors to the Government yesterday issued a report suggesting that all alcohol should be sold at a minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol (half a pint of weak beer or a small glass of wine) to deter binge-drinking. The Government and Opposition condemned the suggestion even before the report was formally published because they knew it would be very unpopular with the voters. That won't stop them raising taxes on alcohol year on year but to do it for a moral reason? - political suicide.

There is a constant debate in the UK about the cost to the National Health Service of substance abuse - drugs, tobacco and alcohol - and now excessive eating of the wrong foods. What that debate doesn't include is that people who smoke, and people who drink, pay far more in taxes on tobacco and alcohol than the most extreme estimate of the cost of their health care. For tobacco it is about 5 times the cost of treating smoking related disease. If all smokers stopped smoking overnight the Government would be in deep shit.

The current Labour government is deeply unpopular, not just for Gordon Brown's mismanagement of the economy, but because it has introduced far more regulation and controls as a "nanny state" determined to ensure that its citizens behave properly. The result has been that many more people are inclined to give the finger to government directives even if the directive might be sensible. We haven't yet reached the level of civil disobedience displayed by the French, but we are well on the way.

The Brits are just as bloody-minded about their government as US citizens can be. We don't impeach Presidents, but we have beheaded a King and chased out some other Kings.

Og

 

[christabelll]

There is a constant debate in the UK about the cost to the National Health Service of substance abuse - drugs, tobacco and alcohol - and now excessive eating of the wrong foods. What that debate doesn't include is that people who smoke, and people who drink, pay far more in taxes on tobacco and alcohol than the most extreme estimate of the cost of their health care. For tobacco it is about 5 times the cost of treating smoking related disease. If all smokers stopped smoking overnight the Government would be in deep shit.

The taxes on them here is to help fund the trillions of dollars bail out - without smokers and drivers - (mileage tax come'on!) this country might well be bankrupt

because it has introduced far more regulation and controls as a "nanny state" determined to ensure that its citizens behave properly.

And this is SO apt as to be appalling........ NANNY STATE - NANNY COUNTRY more like....

THe more people ask for government assistance in getting out of the messes that the government has perpetrated on most citizens - well - lets just say the Orwellian society in 1984 is here and growing every day.



Og

I am afraid that this country and other progenitor countries are going straight to hell in a handbasket screaming all the while ------ but you didn't take care of me.......


Feed your own kids
Grow your own tobacco (four mature plants equals about half a years worth of tobacco -)
Mind you're own problems
and Keep the Government out of MY House!

 

[driphoney]

Thas why I sneak in all the sugar saturated candy and ice cream and pastries to my grandkids...at least they will have personal knowledge of how food 'used' to taste.

I wonder about this generation of tweeks and am sometimes grateful to realize that I won't be around most likely when the kids rebel against a really, 'tasteless' society. Heh!

I did good!

ami

Ummm ... yeah ... ONLY if you baked that stuff yourself, otherwise you are just passing on your own warped version of how food 'should' taste.

Evidence before you: a pkg. of chipsahoy chocolate chip cookies OR homemade, from scratch (no freezer section cheaters here) Tollhouse cookies

I rest my case. (But I'll be over in a bit for my afternoon junk fix, Grandpa Ami!)

But this is way off topic.

Og, I saw a BBCAmerica thing a while back regarding the whole school lunch problem in the UK and how, who was it? Jamie Someone (The Naked Chef, loved his show, bad on names) really got involved. They showed camera footage of parents sneaking junkfood through the fences.

I didn't read the whole thread, so I'm sure that many have remarked that our (American) school cafeteria's have pretty much turned into denisens of junk food. The local high school here now controls the vending machines during the day ... but a student can eat a greasy burger and fries off the 'a la carte' line every single day, or that other healthy alternative, nachos, or maybe branch out to their Italian brother, pizza. And nope, a concerned parent cannot do a thing about it. They offer a healthy alternative .... RIGHT!!

 

[oggbashan]

...

Og, I saw a BBCAmerica thing a while back regarding the whole school lunch problem in the UK and how, who was it? Jamie Someone (The Naked Chef, loved his show, bad on names) really got involved. They showed camera footage of parents sneaking junkfood through the fences.

I didn't read the whole thread, so I'm sure that many have remarked that our (American) school cafeteria's have pretty much turned into denisens of junk food. The local high school here now controls the vending machines during the day ... but a student can eat a greasy burger and fries off the 'a la carte' line every single day, or that other healthy alternative, nachos, or maybe branch out to their Italian brother, pizza. And nope, a concerned parent cannot do a thing about it. They offer a healthy alternative .... RIGHT!!

Jamie Olivier started a campaign to get schools to provide healthy alternatives to the usual school menu. His biggest problem was that many schools didn't actually cook on the premises but had the meals delivered in bulk before reheating in microwave ovens.

He had considerable support when suggesting choice but less when he suggested that the unhealthy options should be removed. Students and their parents rejected compulsion.

Locally, our schools do provide a range of options including healthy ones. Soft drink machines have been removed and replaced by machines providing water, tea, coffee etc. Gradually students are becoming more aware that junk food is junk. They are tending to treat junk food as an occasional binge rather than an everyday meal - but there will always be those who live on junk food all the time.

Og

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Thanks for the clarification, Og.

I suppose private schools can do what they like. *shrug*

We've had plenty of debate over here about the quality of school lunch. Which, frankly, is far below "poor" in the U.S.

Wasn't it Reagan who declared that ketchup was a vegetable?

 

[tenedave]

It gets even better, folks, let's see Ogg the Troll, ooze outta this one:


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,376868,00.html

I am sorry but to defend your arguement by quoting the "Daily Mail" as your source is comical.It is akin to me quoting the "National Enquirer" and stating that it is fact.

Dave