Feed me, feed me not, feed me, feed me not…!
What havoc is wrought by the readers of the Evening Standard? Forgive them, they know not what they do!
A brief three months ago, their hearts bled as they read of children with:
“shrunken faces, sallow skin, dark rings around their eyes and rotting teeth.”
Yeah! Starving children, not in some third world booming economy, bloated with EU grants, but in first world, deprived, London town. Only the wallets of the generous Evening Standard readers stood between this ‘silent epidemic of hunger’ and the hamburgers and fried chicken ladled out by the charity Kids Company. £2 a week and you could relieve those waifs of “constantly feeling sick, your belly’s hurting, your head’s hurting, you can’t concentrate.” The accompanying photograph showed small brown hands reaching out for the fast food that Evening Standard readers could/should provide for them…it was their moral duty, surely?
“We have a collective responsibility to make sure every child in London always has enough to eat. This is a basic human need and a basic human right. And it is something we can solve as a society, if we want to.”
The Royal College of General Practitioners weighed in to tell us of the increase in rickets. Dig deep, behind the sofa, hand over your spare change…
The collective power of the media, eh? Barely three months later, another charity is patrolling those same streets and reports (Evening Standard again, with not a hint of irony!) that:
One in 10 deprived inner-city children visits a fast food outlet every day, research suggests.
Researchers found that half of schoolchildren living in poor urban areas may be consuming fast food twice a week.
Once more action is required:
“These schoolchildren are exposed to an environment that is likely to cause obesity, and it is not surprising that in this situation, many of these children are already overweight or obese and will likely become obese as adults.
“Clearly, actions need to be taken to either limit the ability of these children to access fast food outlets or to change the foods they purchased at these outlets.”
Three months and those sallow faced and shrunken eyed kids have been transformed into fat little gits that will need another hand-out to slim them down again…
Now the Evening Standard readers are being exhorted to ‘snatch a hamburger’ from the mouth of a deprived kiddywink. You couldn’t make it up. Does the right hand press release never talk to the left hand press release?
June 28, 2012 at 15:45
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Herrings in oatmeal – feed a family of four for about three quid.
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June 28, 2012 at 11:26
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I once knew a young mother who couldn’t afford to pay her Rent because she
had to buy Best Lamb Chops to feed her very young children, but I suppose she
was at least trying. But when I pointed out that Mince and Mash or Mutton Stew
might be a better idea she virtually accused me of Child Abuse.
Mind you, I
was The Rent Collector so I obviously had a hidden agenda, which I did, of
course.
Just as a matter of interest, did you know that all Rent Defaulters
always come up with the very same excuse in any one week? One week, absolutely
everybody got mugged, and the next week they all left their purses on a Bus.
And No, there wasn’t any Internet in those days.
- June 28, 2012 at 09:38
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Gildas, I think you might find it difficult to buy from a farm shop in an
urban area. Generally they are poorly serviced and even the supermarkets cater
for a preconceived demographic. You’re lucky to be able to buy anything other
than carrots, onions and potatoes, maybe a few yellowing granny smith apples
in your more up-market store . Yes, I know that this should suffice but in
reality the truly deprived have no experience of cooking fresh food.
I am not a bleeding heart liberal but I am a realist. It’s difficult to
change the habits of a lifetime. When you have been brought up on ‘pot noodle’
it’s hard to think about carrots and brocolli.
- June 28, 2012 at 10:55
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The old parable about giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day, or
teaching a man to fish seems relevant here. It does seem that both Welfare
State and some (I accept, sincere) charities have leaned to the ‘give a man
a fish’ end of the scale of late. Maybe a rebalancing is overdue.
There may be few farm shops in inner cities, but there are still
independent butchers and markets, where not only prime cuts can be bought,
but the cheaper cuts as well. Some of the latter make very tasty and
nutritious dishes – oxtail stew, anyone? I’ve found that our town’s market
has the best fruit and veg. as well, and we are blessed with a fishmonger in
the market – fresh from Fleetwood every morning – fish pie, anyone?
It may be difficult to change the habits of a lifetime, so maybe it’s
time we thought about providing some decent nutritional information at an
early age. My mother, growing up during the nutritional deprivation of WW2,
and now a very sprightly 81 year old, recalls that her education was pretty
basic compared to today, but did include ‘home economics’ – cooking and
sewing for the girls, gardening and woodwork for the boys. Maybe her
education wasn’t so limited – and it didn’t cost much either, since all the
country’s money was going on the war effort.
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June 28, 2012 at 07:22
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This is all getting rather boring, isn’t it. We all know that any possible
starvation is due to feckless and ignorant parents, but still they keep on
churning out the propaganda. What exactly is it that they are trying to do?
Convince the feckless that it isn’t their fault mayhap? Who could possibly
spend Twelve Quid on Sandwiches and Coke and still afford to pay their rent?
That’ll be it. Homeless or Starving. And whatever happened to Cake?
- June 27, 2012 at 21:27
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Charles Dickens, William Booth, read this and weep!
The “do-gooders” are now campaigning against nutritious food easily
available to the poor.
- June 27,
2012 at 14:15
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When I were a lad, “fast food” meant horse meat, if you were lucky enough
to know a butcher who could get it off ration.
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June 27, 2012 at 16:34
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Demetrius
That is the best Avi on the net!
Yours in admiration
G
the M
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June 27, 2012 at 13:16
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A little story.
About 6 months ago I had the pleasure of doing a little
job for a lovely lady in her 80′s. She was a widow, and she stilled worked
avery day, getting up early to run the little florist stall that she and her
late husband had run for 60 years. Well, what else would she do all day, she
mused. Indeed. Anyway, this little old lady and her husband had purchased
property wisely and over the years they had become quite wealthy, and even
owned the little market in which said stall was situated!.
For reasons I
cannot now remember we got to talking about how one could live on a low
budget. Specically we agreed that using leftovers and making a great big stew
one could feed a family for many meals for not a lot.
You should see the
girls that come into the market she said, eyes big as saucers! You know, they
come in with 2, 3, children (alll by different men of course dear!) and what
do they do? They go and by a coke and a sandwich for the kids from the cafe.
Where is the good in that, she asked. And besides, that will set them back
about £12 when they have all had one, she said. She could feed a family for
days on that she said, and had done. But they spend all this money on coke and
sandwiches! She was quite appalled.
I suspect she would have been regarded
as a tad politically incorrect by some.
Clever lady! Same goes for burgers,
chips and other “fast” food. Here is an observation. I can buy a rib of prime
beef from a farm shop I know for about £15. It is by the way cheaper than the
supermarket and vastly better quality. If I told someome I had just bought a
rib of beef from a farm shop many people’s reaction would be that I was a rich
bon viveur. But from that rib of beef I could probably get meals for a family
of four for 2 days (plus veg). Roast dinner, sandwiches at lunch and what we
used to call “resurrection” for tea, maybe make some stock for a soup.
Alternatively if I bought fish and chips from my local “chippy” for a family
of four or. I think, bought burgers from “MacRubbish”, I would probably spend
about the same.
Just sayin’
Here endeth the rant!
- June 27, 2012 at 22:52
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Gildas is, as usual, spot on! I thought for a moment of my late Mum who
could stretch food to last for days – as a legacy of having lived through
the war. She hated waste and could make something delicious and nutritious
out of the simplest ingredients. Very sad to see that young children are
being nourished on crap.
- June 27, 2012 at 13:16
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Do these poor suffering infants not have parents? And when did childhood
nutrition become the responsibility of the state rather than the parents?
As Ivan says above, the body needs fat too for some vitamins (& a
nutritionist I know has just back-tracked on years of advice about avoiding
saturated fat and most meats, to declare that sat fat is good for you!)
- June 28, 2012 at 11:07
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Saturated fats are good for you as they increase HDL (good cholesterol).
The overwhelming scientific evidence is very clear that saturated fats are
good for you (just don’t go round eating whole blocks of butter at a
time).
So what is wrong with eating a McD’s if saturated fats are good? The
problems are 1) excessive carbohydrates (if you assume burger/fries/drink)
cause a massive insulin spike (diabetes in waiting….) and the excess glucose
(from the carbohydrates) is stored as fat (obesity) 2) excessive
carbohydrates raise LDL, bad cholesterol. (heart disease). 3) excessive
amounts of fructose (coke, milk shakes). The body does not tolerate high
levels of fructose, and the liver stores excessive fructose as fat on the
liver (fatty liver).
Scientifically, the debate is unresolved about the effects of salt
intake. But humans only need quite low amounts of salt for normal function.
Hotter weather (sweating) does need a higher salt intake.
Not all fat is created equal though. Modern fats derived from vegetables
(vegetable oil, corn oil etc) are not tolerated well by humans. We have only
been consuming these oils in the last 100 years (mainly since ww2). Animal
fats and natural vegetable oils (olive/coconut) are great for health. Most
other fats are rather bad. The main issue is when animal fats/natural oils
go rancid you know about it (smell). When modern vegetable oils go rancid,
which happens very quickly, the smell/taste does not change. Rancid fats (of
any type) are harmful to health.
And when did childhood nutrition become the responsibility of the
state rather than the parents?And why would ANYONE trust the
state/politicans? The nutritional/exercise advice by the state is not based
on any scientific evidence and is the root cause of type 2 diabetes,
obesity, heart disease, arthritis, numerous bowel related diseases, erectile
dysfunction, multiple skin disorders, MS, stroke, asthma and a very, very
long list of health problems. Note: Diet is not the cause in all cases, but
is most of the time.
Some health issues are related to not eating enough animal fats (stroke,
heart disease etc). Low fat diets increase appetite, therefore you eat more
and get obese, carbohydrate intake increases resulting in diabetes &
high LDL levels (making arteriosclerosis worse). Low fat diets reduce your
body’s ability to repair itself & make (most) hormones (numerous hormone
issues in women, mainly erectile dysfunction in men and fertility problems
for both sexes)
Other health issues are caused by inflammation responses (skin, bowel
etc) due to specific foods/groups of foods. The main 4 groups being a)
grains b) legumes c) nightshades (potatoes/tomatoes/peppers). d) milk. Note:
genetics (your DNA) determine which of those groups are tolerated. The best
advice is if you have problems cut one of those groups out for a month and
see what happens.
In additional there is a tsunami of scientific evidence coming in that
modern dwarf wheat is causing problems for a lot of people. (it is not all
about gluten).
If you are a woman the problems are more complicated. Women process
cholesterol (fats) very differently to men. (http://www.ted.com/talks/noel_bairey_merz_the_single_biggest_health_threat_women_face.html).
Women naturally have a higher % of body fat (energy stores to make babies)
which goes against the modern prepubescent look favored today.
Yes, in addition, the cost of food had dramatically reduced since ww2.
And if you eat too much (regardless of fat/carb intake) it will make you
ill. But that one is (mainly) down to personal responsibility (although not
helped by eating foods that do not satiate hunger, and advertising
encouraging snacking between meals).
And that is not the whole story for the UK. The UK is a genetically
diverse country today and the “one size fits all” dietary/health advice does
not match that diversity. Different groups of people respond differently to
diet (ratios of carbs/fat/protein) and sensitivities to specific food groups
(causing inflammation and early death). Even basic blood test ranges are
wrong for some people. If someones ancestral roots are from around the
equator the cholesterol normal ranges are different compared to someone from
Northern origins.
- June 27, 2012 at 12:41
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Wasn’t this the report that also found the the kids that went to the fast
food outlets were slimmer and fitter than those that didn’t?
Anyway, what is wrong with a nice fatty hamburger? After all the body needs
fat in food for the simple reason that most of the vitamin Bs are fat
soluable, therefore no fat and you end up with vitamin B deficiency – not good
at all.
- June 27,
2012 at 12:27
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And in today’s Standard we find a celebchef demanding that Boris Johnson
overrules the H&S people so the kitchens can feed the leftover slops not
to pigs, as they used to, but to these deprived kiddiewinks.
The thought of the looks on the faces of little Shaneece, Toenicia and
Duwayne Jr when they are served leftover polenta and girolle risotto with a
blackcurrant jus is almost enough to make me get behind the scheme…
- June 27, 2012 at 11:03
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And Frank.
- June 27, 2012 at 10:50
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Thank God for Gladiolys. She states the obvious and takes the edge off. You
guys need a reality check.
- June 27, 2012 at 10:36
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At least they eat. I can recall my Gran (God rest her) telling me of
children in Liverpool’s Scotland Road in the 1920s and ’30s who lived on
little more than bread and jam. Wartime rationing actually improved the diet
for some.
Poverty? They don’t know they’re born, these days.
- June 27, 2012 at 09:40
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So 9 out of 10 deprived inner-city children do NOT visit a fast food outlet
every day, Maybe they are the ones who need the help from Kids Company.
- June 27, 2012 at 10:08
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Is it just possible, maybe even likely, that the children in the first
story are not the same children in the second story?
I’m just asking. I’m all for bashing the tabloids when the opportunity
arises but it seems to me that if you’ve got (for example) 10% of children
who are underweight and 10% of children who are overweight they’re not very
likely to be the same 10%.
- June 27, 2012 at 10:11
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Sorry. That was supposed to be a comment on the story not a reply to
gladiolys.
- June 27, 2012 at 09:29
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Do we still have any journalists? I get a ‘free’ magazine from my
professional institute and 80% of the articles I find I leave knowing no more
than I did before I started reading and I get the feeling that that was true
for the ‘writer’ too. Just a bit of publicity material topped and tailed and
recycled.
Can the politicians hold multiple ideas in their heads at the same time?
Sustainability and Growth, how does that work? Consume less water yet have a
need to build flood defences. Road congestion, so take out lanes, build
islands and promontories. Cycling is dangerous so encourage more of it and
permit it to go AGAINST the flow of traffic. Tax more and control more seems
to be the only consistent policy out there..
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June 27, 2012 at 08:38
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Anna, I’ll break this to you gently, but I think they may have made a
subbing error here. ” One in 10 deprived inner-city children visits a fast
food outlet every day, research suggests.”
My own keenly honed powers of
observation , lead me to believe that this should, in fact, have read 10 in
10.
- June
27, 2012 at 08:29
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Speaking of fast food Anna… I have heard that fruit flies like a
banana.
But seriously, in a land where there is no such thing as poverty (well not
like that caused by war), there are malnourished children, and they are like
this because they do not understand what their own bodies need for good
health, good food is cheaper (and faster) than shit food.
It is difficult to work out why, in every discipline (that they still have
some control over), the powers that be in the UK only ever succeed in
harnessing the power of their corporate chums rather than the volk.
It is inexcusable, and yet the volk seem to like it that way and presumably
the Evening (sub)Standard as part of the elite, is just playing the game.
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