While we’ve all been marvelling this week at the ability of members of this sleaze-ridden, corrupt and most importantly, incompetent government to dodge their P45s, the fresh produce industry has succumbed to a typically ludicrous piece of “joined-up” thinking from Downing Street.
While the prime minister swans around with his infuriatingly smug grin on his face, telling his voters to eat more fruit and vegetables to stay healthy, his party has decided that providing schoolchildren with free access to the same products is no longer its responsibility.
Removing funding for the School Fruit & Vegetable Scheme, despite its proven results, is another example of the short-sighted, short-term strategy of this shop-soiled administration. Perhaps, as the NHS has had its “best year ever”, the need to fund initiatives to reduce the future burden on our packed hospitals has disappeared.
Of course, the DoH can work with the industry to find alternative means of supplying children with fresh produce. But the FPC has just failed to raise £500,000 for Eat in Colour - the schools scheme has been supported by more than £70m of government funding, so the obvious conclusion would be that we will soon have seen the last of this initiative.
How long, I wonder, before 5 A DAY becomes surplus to requirements. How long, indeed, before we have a government we can trust?