Duncan O'Leary
Duncan works on projects looking at public services, skills and work.
at 1:47pm on Monday, 22nd May 2006
Tony Blair caused a stir a couple of weeks back by signing a petition (do prime ministers sign petitions?) and Cameron says that his government would be an advocate for best practice, whilst criticising those companies who do not live up to expectations.
Great. But coming back to the question, wasn't one of Jamie Oliver's great achievements to put government in a position where it had to respond? Undoubtedly the government was reacting to ' rather than leading ' the debate on this and deserves credit only for noticing that people were fed up. But when all is said and done I guess most of us are happy to see more healthy food served in schools as a result of those government initiatives, which Jamie Oliver helped force onto the agenda.
Of course he did more than this - educating and exciting people about the quality of the food they eat in their own homes. But what children eat for lunch at school every day matters, doesn't it?
So culture change is crucial ' agreed. For real change to take place politicians need to take dinner ladies and parents with them. And signing a petition or being a powerful advocate can be a helpful way of creating a debate, raising the profile of an issue and influencing people's behaviour.
But charismatic Jamie and those unfashionable government initiatives are two sides of the same coin, aren't they..?
Tony Blair caused a stir a couple of weeks back by signing a petition (do prime ministers sign petitions?) and Cameron says that his government would be an advocate for best practice, whilst criticising those companies who do not live up to expectations.
Great. But coming back to the question, wasn't one of Jamie Oliver's great achievements to put government in a position where it had to respond? Undoubtedly the government was reacting to ' rather than leading ' the debate on this and deserves credit only for noticing that people were fed up. But when all is said and done I guess most of us are happy to see more healthy food served in schools as a result of those government initiatives, which Jamie Oliver helped force onto the agenda.
Of course he did more than this - educating and exciting people about the quality of the food they eat in their own homes. But what children eat for lunch at school every day matters, doesn't it?
So culture change is crucial ' agreed. For real change to take place politicians need to take dinner ladies and parents with them. And signing a petition or being a powerful advocate can be a helpful way of creating a debate, raising the profile of an issue and influencing people's behaviour.
But charismatic Jamie and those unfashionable government initiatives are two sides of the same coin, aren't they..?
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