We previously discussed whether England was becoming a “Nanny State.” (here and here). As much as I love London (and Londoners), it appears to have plunged into realm of government regulation of virtually every aspect of life and family management. An example is the new directive from the British government to school officials that they can and should use their “common law powers” to search student lunches to remove and destroy “unhealthy or inappropriate.” Education minister Lord Nash issued the directive to cover unhealthy items listed by the school that are now barred. Teachers can now “confiscate, keep or destroy” such snacks.
As the parents of four, my wife and I tend to be fairly strict about junk food, but we try to find a happy balance. We work hard to put together healthy lunches. A couple days a week, the kids may have a cookie or other treat to jazz up their lunch. The idea of a teacher then overriding our parental judgment and confiscating such an item is otherworldly.
Nevertheless, Education minister Lord Nash has said that such searches are permitted, though he added that they should be done with the consent of the pupils: “There is nothing to prevent schools from having a policy of inspecting lunch boxes for food items that are prohibited under their school food policies. A member of staff may confiscate, keep or destroy such items found as a result of the search if it is reasonable to do so in the circumstances.”
On the list are such items as sausage snacks and the delicious English breakfast of Scotch Eggs (something I enjoyed virtually every morning recently in London). Cereal bars have also been seized.
We have seen similar moves in the United States, though there appears far greater public backlash to trend. I am not one of the critics of the First Lady for her effort to improve the healthy content of school lunches though the management of program has been rather . . . well . . . hamhanded. I think it has been a great idea to remove soda machines and candy machines from schools and reduce fried foods. However, the resulting menus have often been distinctly unappetizing. If the kids are not going to eat the lunches (which appears a widespread problem), it defeats the purpose. Regardless, there must be a line preserved around parental authority and family choice in the rising (and feeding) of their children.
What do you think?
Source: Express
Olly……perhaps in the spirit of reciprocity and the Holiday weekend, we can take this opportunity to comment on how the British system is nonfunctional. And what they need to do to create a utopia.
Knowledge of British history, procedures, or governmental structure not required.
Yeah Tom, not that nasty individual freedom. He is a hoot.
Maybe this is the “collective freedom” we’ve been urged to adopt in America by a British poster/commentator here.
Great Britain needs to kick some ISIS butt!
I’m, an anglophile…born in Rhodesia in 1962, with dual citizenship , UK and US of A….
The UK has become more of a nanny state, we just don’t get the news here.
issac – using controlled studies there is no relationship between your students being wired on sweets and just you being hypersensitive.
How in the world did these central planners ever manage to survive their own childhoods without the heavy hand of the State? Assuming these State controls were absent in their youth, they have somehow risen in life without them. What ‘education’ (indoctrination) do they receive along the way that makes them reject the formula from which they have succeeded only to then conjure up some other plan that has no proven history of success?
DBQ
If you read carefully, I questioned the Scotch Egg issue. I had them, have them, and will continue to have them. All told there is probably no more than 300 calories in one. The egg has 70, sausage another 150, and the rest in the crumbs and grease.
There are societies that are far healthier than the American society and, as someone put it, full Stalinist. In these societies the government mandates that the schools serve snack, lunch, and snack. The kids are less obese, healthier, and achieve much higher levels of education. America could learn from these full Stalinist countries.
This seems to be a case of the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction which is almost always the case when negligence is addressed. The English have the same problem that we have here in the US. Lower to low middle class families neglect nutrition. It goes without saying that this is not the case with all families.
One good nutritious meal a day, well prepared, inviting, and free is the way to go.
Isaac has gone full Stalinist. A Clintonista Stalinist. I think more than politics or nationalistic tendencies, I’m seeing just a good ol’ fashioned control freak. The control freak problem explains all the philosophies preached here.
@ Isaac
A Scotch egg consists of a hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in bread crumbs and baked or deep-fried.
http://blog.giallozafferano.it/bastalapassione/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Scotch-eggs.jpg
All protein. What could be bad about having a scotch egg once in a while? Do the English hate the Scottish people and want to oppress their culture…..well actually yes. Hate Crime!!!!!
If it can be demonstrated and publicized thoroughly that eating foods which promote good health is smart, stylish, or makes one more attractive, richer, stronger, or more capable in some way, social pressure will make it popular, it will become a trend, and eventually will dominate human activities. But most people don’t make their decisions based on intelligent decisions. They make choices based on emotions, which are influenced by personal relations. If a girl is overweight and her friends or schoolmates make fun of her for it, she often will get depressed and eat more high-calorie high-carbohydrate foods to compensate and make her feel better. When friends and others around her are caring and mutually supportive, her eating habits will improve and she will find it easier to lose weight and maintain good health. This is as important as what foods the school cafeteria offers, but schools don’t have classes in developing good interpersonal relationships. And in the open markets of grocery stores and restaurants, food manufacturers are guided by what makes the most money for them, and creating foods that people enjoy eating is what sells, regardless of the related health concerns of the product. Some fast food restaurants offered salad bars for a while when “eating right” became popular, but most of them got rid of the rabbit food when in proved unprofitable. Government monitoring and control of foods and their availabilities may be helpful, but there are many other factors that influence what people choose to eat that those regulations eventually will prove ineffective.
It is NONE of the business of the school what type of lunch I want to make for my child. The government doesn’t (yet) own our children, although they act like and are working toward that end.
I do agree that many people, especially in the inner cities and among the poor, do not eat properly. This is not a function of not having funds……they get food stamps and anyone with a minimal amount of skills can cook and prepare healthy meals. The amount of money they get on food stamps is perfectly adequate to make good meals. I can do it. Anyone can do it.
They just A) Don’t know how. B.) Don’t want to C.) It’s too much work
Instead of teaching anything in school, they take the food away from the kids. The schools exist now to be propaganda arms of the government.
If I were Queen of the World, I would make it mandatory that all schools bring back home economic classes that ALL children need to take……. and that food stamps would be a mostly food commodity program. Meat, butter, bread, cheese, beans, vegetables, fruit.
I can see it now, school officials walking the halls with powdered sugar and chocolate encircling the outsides of their mouths, after they have “seized and destroyed” all of that toxic, heart-clogging and unhealthy food. That’ll teach the kids a lesson! Better yet, send the confiscated crap to Michelle Obama. She’s always photographed, along with her family, walking around and stuffing her face with french fries and ice cream, while she loudly supports banning junk food from the schools. Check out the menus, served at the White House to various visiting dignitaries–not exactly what one could describe as healthy fare by any stretch of the imagination. You see, the little people must be held to a different standard than that indulged in by our King and Queen. Obama, a chain smoker, is never photographed partaking in his toxic and deadly weakness. Wonder why?
So, what’s with the Scotch Egg? I can see twinkles but eggs? The pendulum is definitely swinging the other way. Unless it has something to do with the egg sitting in a bag for half a day. There might be a health issue, you know more to the story.
On the other hand, the school system for the young should include food control. In most American public schools the kids eat either the crap their idiot parents make for them, the crap their idiot parents allow them to make, ‘lunchables’ etc., or crap that the local district serves up. If their was ever a social obligation and one that would even out ‘sugar highs’ malnutrition, obesity, etc it is food at school. When I taught at inner city schools, half the kids were hopped up on sugar and were not eating properly. The mood swings from hyperactivity to lethargy is definitely food related. The week or so after Halloween was a thrill. Done right American kids getting one main well balanced meal a day would be a good start. Of course this is infringing on the rights of Americans to do what ever they want…….
This reminds me of the SF short story, “With Folded Hands,” by Jack Williamson, an allegory for government intrusion into individual decisions.
“Underhill soon realizes that, in the name of their Prime Directive, the mechanicals have essentially taken over every aspect of human life. No humans may engage in any behavior that might endanger them, and every human action is carefully scrutinized.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_Folded_Hands
Bullies would take someone’s lunch when I matriculated. Just sayn’
At some time, and that time probably passed a while ago, we should get the government out of our daily lives. An edict like this assumes that someone making the decision knows everything about everything – and that is not likely or even possible. As you point out, one man’s delicacy may be defined as junk food by another – like your above-mentioned Scotch Eggs and Holmes on what is taught.
The Tories are losing their minds. They fund schools where radicalized Islam is taught but they will confiscate “unhealthy lunches”. Insanity.
Would teachers confiscate a student’s steak & lobster lunch? I’d swap it out with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then head back to the office for a steak & lobster lunch.