Save Our Free School Meals By The Mental Alchemist(1/2)

(1/2), (2/2).

Q. What do you get if you cross neo-liberal economic policy with a liberal party city council? A. No bloody change and the end of free school meals in Hull. I sat in stunned belief whilst watching Look North today, as it was announced that Hull City Council have put a price on the health and wellbeing of all our children, and it's less than £4 million. It actually cost the council a little over £3 million a year to ensure all our children have free school meals, but the council have stated that this is far too much and the meals are to be stopped.

I realise that the council are as cash-strapped as the rest of us in the city but feel that the money would be much better saved by taking away members' privileges or Jamie Oliver's 'School Dinners' programme. Countless studies have shown that an increased of fresh fruit and veg and fresh meat not only has a beneficial effect on our children's health but also on their concentration levels, thus leading them to better academic careers. Teachers across the city have already stated they have seen an improvement.

This was initially the reason behind the free school meals programme, and it seemed to be working. There are other benefits too. If a child starts with a healthy diet, chances are this will continue and ease resources of an already failing NHS. While from a school's perspective, it would cut down on the bureaucracy of cash collection and save time and money directly from their already cash-strapped budgets. Neil Porter, chairman of the Local Authority Caterers Association said The big problem we have is that it's been commercially driven. And the big question is 'Should school catering be treated as a business?' And quite frankly, I don't think it should be.

Neither do I. But we have to realise that if we are to open our markets and rely on business to fill the gaps that the state would have one time covered, as Blair wants us to, then this is only the tip of the iceberg. Any business must be most concerned about profit - after all that is the nature of business, it doesn't have to worry about what and who it affects, as long as the profit is still there. We all know this, so today's move by the council shouldn't be surprising. BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT!!!!

The council should also take into account the affluence of the city it is trying to run. We are not a rich city. In fact, it has been documented in a report done independently and paid for by the city council, that in Hull the average wage is only 73% the national average. In fact we are one of the poorest cities in the country. It is also widely known, especially by the many people looking for work, that there are no jobs in the city and certainly no jobs that have a reasonable living wage.

Continued...Next page

Opinions - Response To The Grim Reaper's Article By Chris Wolds
	Hello thisisull team, I have just finished reading the piece written by the Grim Reaper titled Response To Arts Council Article. I read with interest what was there, just as I did the original article and the follow-ups. It puzzles me that these other comments have been published and those persons responsible for them have had their opinions aired. I have always seen this site as Read more...

Opinions - Money, School and Red-Tape: Education for Kids in Hull By Gregory Anderson
	Education in Hull is changing. Almost a third of our secondary schools are being demolished. Nearly £200m is to be invested in new schools. So let us not mince our words - the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project proclaims that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive reform of the secondary system and improvements in educational Read more...

Opinions - Response To Arts Council Article By The Grim Reaper
	We can guess it's a guy that wrote the anonymous letter regarding Lou Duffy Howard receiving money from the Arts Council for the Grassroots festival. As a matter of fact Duffy Howard and 'Full Flava' David Okwesia set up the Grassroots thing and we all work together in making it happen to benefit the local community. So to whoever wrote the letter I would just like to say Read more...

Opinions - Fickle Voters By Mark Pollard

	I watched a TV programme the other night about the seemingly endless, unaccounted and under-investigated murder of scores of young women by street gangs in Guatemala. As a father of three girls myself it was heart-breaking stuff that made me thankful to live in the UK; the 'scandal' of John Prescott shagging his secretary hardly seems to matter by comparison. Read more...

Opinions - If The Council Won't Sort This Out, We Will By Pete Stitt
	I felt it was only fair to give the readers of thisisull an update of non-events since the issue of Arts Council grants, Council and other funding for multicultural events was raised by one anonymous writer and half of the Kurdish community in Hull. I think we have waited long enough for 'stage two' of this saga. I sent several emails to Ken Branson, who I know to be an honourable man, and he Read more...

Opinions - Blair Is No Churchillian Statesman By David Sloan
	Every day now we read more and more New Labour sleaze stories. Cash for knighthoods, offshore accounts for ministers, weapons of mass destruction which never existed to name but a few. I could go on with tough on crime, and the causes of crime. When magistrates have now been told not to even jail offenders. You can rob, rape or kill by dangerous driving and expect no Read more...

Opinions - Hull City Council 2006 - Changing Or Caging Us? By Gregory Anderson
	Hull City Council is changing. Having recently improved its rating infinity percent -from zero stars to one star - a new council seems to be evolving. Into what, you may ask? An aggressive political powerhouse to empower the people? Or an experiment of existential dustbin policy? Whatever this nameless Hullian perceives the council's policies to be, recent history says one thing is Read more...

Opinions - Wanadoo Offers Schadenfreude at 10p a minute By Greg Anderson
	Do you find junk mail bellicose nonsense? Same here. Amusing? At times, yes. Annoying? Always, I agree. So are you yet to experience the silent delight of receiving Wanadoo's broadband advertisement through your letterbox? Do you want to know how junk mail could make you smile? Read on. An established internet company, Wanadoo proclaim Read more...

Opinions - Response To Criticism Of The Night Shift And The Hull Blokes By Ian Ahmed Newton
	Regarding Steven Greendale's criticism of the Hull Blokes which I understand included some comments about one of my books, The Night Shift. I would say to Mr Greendale, that if you live in Hull, we have enough people outside this city who like to take a knock at those who are trying to promote the city. I also believe that we have many in power within this city who have also done little Read more...

Opinions - Response To Arts Council Article - People Rewriting Our History In Their Own Image By Pete Stitt
	I would like to thank the Editor of Hami Kurd magazine for waking me from a sort of self-imposed coma this week. I had walked away from the local asylum situation, completely disillusioned, as loads of middle class white (and ethnic minority) English individuals and organisations came flooding into the 'industry' when it became clear there were funding opportunities. Read more...

Opinions - Praise For Ian Newton's The Night Shift By Andy Brown
	I am formerly from Hull and my daughter still lives there. I keep up with events going on with help of your website. It's great. I saw that stuff about The Night Shift book by Ian Newton. My daughter sent me a copy for Christmas and all I can say is that this book almost gave me a hernia with laughter. I have never read a book so funny and so spot on about working night shifts. Read more...

Opinions - In response to Joe Hakim's Opinion: The King is Dead ... Again. By Kay
	Well, this post reminded me of a railway station at midnight, where the only inhabitants are drunken tramps spitting out a string of semi-coherent invective. I really don't see how you can criticise anyone else Joe, when you come off sounding like an unbalanced style-less dumbfuck. I bet your keyboard took a hammering there as you released your ultimate weapon . . . Read more...

Opinions - Response To Steven Greendale's Article By Mark Pollard
	To Steven Greendale: You're a bright lad, aren't you? Firstly, you accuse Anthony Newlyne of taking a poke at Ian Newton's book The Night Shift, when Newlyne's enjoyment of and respect for Newton's work is made quite clear despite the article being somewhat ironic in parts. How could you not have understood this, Mr Greendale? Can't you read properly? Secondly, you have a Read more...

Opinions - The King Is Dead...Again By Joe Hakim
	Well, I've just read Steve Regan's latest column, and I'm glad to see that the old cigar-chomping fuckwit hasn't let me down. I can still remember seeing his mug leering out from the top of his shitty sub-Gary Bushell column in the Hull Daily Mail, and by the look of it he hasn't managed to land his dream job as a Sun hack, but then again, even people who write for the tabloids need Read more...