Rich pickings from sausage tree
For one moment let's just forget Tony Blair's decision to go to war with Iraq, the disgusting cash-for-honours affair and his pathetic inability to keep Mr Prescott from dropping his trousers, writes Rural Affairs Editor Nathan Rous.
Tony Blair promised to keep education at the forefront of his reign, not just once but thrice. So perhaps he will be a little perturbed as he heads for the exit door (the one illuminated with pound signs) that today's kids know almost nothing about where their food comes from.
Well, they are bright enough to know it comes from a supermarket but that's about as far as they can run with this little brainteaser. Whether it's bacon, cornflakes, yoghurt or beefburgers, the future of this country assumes the food is engineered in a factory before being packed up and stacked on shelves by the very people they will probably become.
It's not all Blair's fault. The veggie brigade have hardly helped with their prolonged campaign of cynical drum-beating about the welfare of animals and the way in which meat ends up on our tables. Terrifying children when myriad producers take enormous care over the welfare of their livestock is not a responsible approach.
Once you detach people from the food they eat it's hardly surprising that they care little or know nothing of its origins.
Cynics lampooned Jamie Oliver during his school dinners campaign but at least he is one celebrity chef who has managed to achieve something with his fame other than a fleet of fancy cars and a steadily increasing paunch.
He got this country to sit up and take notice of the rubbish we feed our children when all the rest were simply trying to expand their profit margin - at the expense of both the animal and the child.
Yet there is good news afoot, especially in Shropshire. Admittedly it is easy to pan the county and district councils sometimes because of the nonsensical red tape which they love wrapping themselves up in. But every so often they play a blinder and it's important to recognise this.
So well done to Shropshire County Council for encouraging our smaller butchers and producers to fight for contracts to supply schools in the county with quality produce.
They have made the entire process more user-friendly and, as a result, Castlemoor Meats of Much Wenlock, Andrew Francis of Ludlow and Morgan's of Waters Upton have all got the thumbs-up for the next three years.
Kids may not know how the humble pig becomes a sausage, but at least they'll know it comes from a Shropshire butcher if nothing else.
