The last time school milk was a live political issue I blogged:
One of the factors behind Mrs Thatcher's election victory was her act of abolishing free milk in schools.
Some people hated her for it and dubbed her the "milk snatcher". But they didn't have to drink the stuff. The crates were not kept in a refrigerator, so on a hot day it was already halfway to going sour by the time mid-morning break came. The trick then was to avoid drinking the stuff.
Yes, Mrs Thatcher was swept to power by a generation of grateful first-time voters who wanted to thank her for delivering them from the horrors of school milk.I went on to quote some more arguments against the idea of subsidising milk for schoolchildren - the most powerful of which was that you could buy the stuff more cheaply from a supermarket even after it had been subsidised.
Milk is in the news again because the new standards announced this week oblige schools to make semi-skimmed milk available to all pupils at least once a day. They will still have to pay for it though.
For some reason best known to Michael Gove, the standards have been drawn up by Henry bloody Dimbleby and his business partner.
I suppose we just have to be grateful that he did not ask Gregg Wallace.
My eyes were opened to the politics of milk when, a few years back, I realized the 500ml of semi skimmed from the station shop on my way home cost me £0.60, whilst 500ml of WATER cost me £0.85. The sheer need to get rid of the stuff each and every day is staggering!
ReplyDeleteI really can't see how school children will benefit from drinking milk, its fruit and veg they need, but it will sure as hell make for some happy farmers (and per chance soften the blow from the demise of Badger killing?).