'poor Children Are Overweight' - Emily Thornberry Defends Free School Meal Plan

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39544692

I have to agree with her here. When you look at photos taken of poverty in Britain in the 1930's, you see painfully thin children. But now, the poorer you are, the fatter you are likely to be.

[ummmm]

HJ...I would answer you but at times I just can't be bothered to read your long posts.

[ummmm]

NJ..not HJ :-)

Typing in the dark.

[youngmafbog]

It's a nonsense saying the poor are fatter, the Nation as a whole is getting fatter.

It's down to exercise and parental control really. I grew up in the 60's was fed pie lard sandwiches (laden with salt and pepper) chips were cheap and we had two cars but I had plenty of exercise as did my brothers.

Fast food isn't a problem in itself, they dont know how many times you go in, it is up to the individual to take responsibility and stop looking for someone to blame.

Trying to tax private school fees is simply envy tax. Many people sending their kids to private school are not rich and go without things like holidays booze and tabs to pay for it. Raise the fees and such people will have no choice but to remove their child and send it to the local, putting more strain on those services.

[youngmafbog]

I do believe there should be free school dinners for all. To pay for it abolish child benefit, that way we would know the child is benefiting and the brass is not being spent on booze and tabs.

[ummmm]

You really think parents would put booze and fags above feeding their children?

I live near a school and see the kids in the shop daily. The amount of crap they buy is shocking. I bet if their parents seen they'd be giving them much less money each day.

[cassa333]

My experience the kids are buying that crap because they haven't had breakfast!

[ummmm]

This is usually at lunch time.

[Ellipsis]

There's something about this that doesn't add up:

> Poor children are overweight, and Labour's plans to extend free school meals to all primary pupils in England will help tackle the issue, the shadow foreign secretary has said.

Poor children already get free school meals. So if they're already overweight and already getting free school meals, how does extending free school meals to all primary pupils in England help tackle the issue?

Not saying it isn't a good idea for other reasons, but the reason children, poor or otherwise, are overweight is that they consume more calories than they need for their lifestyles - and most of the blame for that must lay with their parents.

Slightly off-topic - isn't Emily Thornberry one of the most patronising MPs going?

[andres]

How can you be classed as poor when you have your rent, council tax, water rates and goodness knows what else being paid for .? When you have a car, wide-screen tv with sky, smart phone stuck onto your ear, all the latest gear , fags and beer!! When the kids are clutching large bags of crisps and stuffing chocolate in their mouths.
It's education regarding healthy eating that the parents of these children need.Possibly ask them to attend free night school courses.As for free school dinners a lot of the children would probably turn their noses up and refuse to eat them because they wouldn't be used to fresh veg. and fruit.

[ummmm]

Andres - that's quite ignorant. You can be in work and the reason you're poor is because you don't claim benefits!!

[New Judge]

"Slightly off-topic - isn't Emily Thornberry one of the most patronising MPs going? "

Indeed. If not the most patronising. Readers may recall the "WhiteVanManGate":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30139832

This led to her resignation from Labour's front bench in November 2014. However, after the usual few months (eleven in her case) in political purgatory and she was appointed to Mr Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet. Promoted to Shadow Defence Secretary when Angela Eagle resigned three months later. On being appointed, Thornberry was interviewed by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS). She said:

"...I have a brother-in-law who's a general. I was actually made an honorary lieutenant colonel when I was doing court-martials [sic] when I was a barrister and so I have a certain amount of experience of the military there."

The Ministry of Defence denied this claim and Thornberry subsequently admitted she had thought she was made a colonel to have access to the officers' mess, not to appear in courts-martial.

And now here she is as Shadow Foreign Secretary, pontificating on why children get fat.

[Smowball]

Where I live there is a local parade of shops with at least 5 fast food outlets plus chippie etc. Every day you can guarantee they will be filled with schoolkids on their way home,and out thy come with fried chicken, burgers, chips, battered sausages etc. You also see the same kids in the morning coming out of Lidl with cans of Coke, crisps and bars of chocolate. I actually know a woman who said to me once oh I didn't have enough to make a meal lastnight so I ordered a Chinese. ?? . She lives opposite a shop where you can buy a bag of pasta for 49p. I know of so many people who eat convenience food every night and are spending double what they need to on food every week. I really don't know if it's laziness or like as has been said do they simply not know how to cook?

[Islay]

When we lived and worked in London we maybe had 5 takeaways a week - it was down to pure laziness out before 6 in the morning and back after 7, I would ring them on the way home and either pick it up as I passed or get it delivered to the house.
It stopped when I realised how much I was spending but it went on for months and the weight gain was awful.

[ummmm]

Working long hours means you're not lazy, Islay. Sometimes the last thing you want to do when coming home from work is start cooking. Cooking is easy...but then you have to clean up. By the time you're finished it's almost bed time.

[rockyracoon]

I think that's the problem for most families. Before I went back to work I cooked at awful lot, now I'm full time and really can't be bothered to cook when I get in. I do though, as I can't stand take away more that once every couple of weeks. I do double up on certain meals so that I can freeze them and then get a night off cooking during the week, once in a while.

[Islay]

rocky but you have the knowledge, I really do think there is a lot of young people who do not know how to cook.

[ummmm]

I lived in a pub so drank loads of coke and ate loads of crisps but I was a very active child.

[Smowball]

This is when my slow cooker comes into its own. This morning it took literally 5 mins to throw in diced beef, peppers, onion and stock etc. Thats it done - just leave to cook all day.

[rockyracoon]

That's true Islay. When my kids did Food Tech they were taught nonsense. They should really be learning how to feed themselves for a couple of quid. My daughter could do it, but my son couldn't.

[New Judge]

People are no more busy today than my parents were or indeed I was when I was working all the hours I could. My mother rarely got home before 6pm but we always had a cooked meal (most of which she’d prepared in the morning). Mrs NJ and I were, in our earlier working lives, both out of the house for around 12 hours five days a week (and sometimes six). We always ate properly and still do. The poverty that people suffer today is not lack of money; it is lack of application.

“This morning it took literally 5 mins to throw in diced beef, peppers, onion and stock etc. Thats it done..”

Alas that’s not all there is to it, smow. You have to go and buy the stuff (having decided what to cook). And that’s where the application comes in. If these takeaway outlets did not exist people would have to feed themselves properly. I’m not blaming the outlets – they provide what people want. Many people have decided to forfeit their responsibility to feed themselves and their children properly. That’s why children are getting fat – not because they don’t have free school dinners. Ms Thornberry needs to get out there and have a look.