This is a ghost written article for Northampton MP Brian Binley for a local newspaper. The Red Alert Media team is often asked to write or tidy up letters, articles and speeches on behalf of clients who trust our professionalism to make sure their message gets across loud and clear...
Like many of you, I watched Jamie Oliver's TV programme about school dinners earlier in the year with interest.
It was good TV, and though my own two sons have both grown up and have long since stopped worrying about school dinners, as an MP I do take an interest in these things. And I know there are many people with school age children who worry that their youngsters have a stable diet.
Chicken nuggets and fast food are far more appealing to kids than meat and two veg from my experience, and that of many other parents, I'm sure. So it was interesting to see what Jamie Oliver's solution was, and the subsequent impact it had on the children.
The programme received a tremendous amount of publicity, Jamie Oliver was feted as some kind of Super Hero, and - surprise, surprise - our Government jumped on the bandwagon, as they always do.
Of course, once all the excitement had died down, and Jamie Oliver went off to Italy to film his latest series, the Government then did what it normally does when it makes policy announcements on the hoof, and in reaction to popular opinion: it swept it under the proverbial carpet, and forgot all about it.
The reason I am telling you all this, is because a school in my constituency of Northampton South has recently been victim of this style of Government.
You might have read in The Herald & Post that the new Bridgewater School is being redeveloped, and despite the wishes of local residents, it is being redeveloped without a community room or a kitchen.
Such facilities would greatly benefit the school and the community, but apparently there's no more money available from the Government, despite all their promises earlier in the year.
Well school governors wrote to Ruth Kelly, the Secretary of State for Education, while I, as local MP, tabled a question in Parliament to Jacquie Smith, the Schools Minister. Basically we wanted to know how they could explain their promise earlier in the year that every school had an entitlement to a kitchen, while refusing to provide more money for this particular project.
In reply, they told us: 'it was only a proposal'! Was it now? Well it seemed more than a proposal at the time! What did they mean by that response to us? That it doesn't really matter? We are still awaiting an explanation!
I'm afraid to say this is another example of the Government jumping on a bandwagon, then jumping off it when the fuss dies down. I am not impressed. And I don't think Jamie Oliver would be, either!
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