Jamie Oliver, for a better school meal.

Jamie Oliver, for a better school meal.

Jamie Oliver, the famous TV chef and cooking book writer is once again upset with the way schools are handling their school menu's. A couple years back the TV chef was also campaigning for school to change their menu's and serve their kids healthier food. He did this with great success and even caused the government to review their laws and regulations for school concerning food. But now more and more school are once again trying to put soda, snacks and generally unhealthy junk food back on the menu. Not all school were happy with Mr. Oliver’s campaign since snacks also had the best profit margin of all foods sold in school cafeteria. Because kids could not get their snacks from school anymore, some kids even started selling snacks brought from home to their class mates.

Now some school are trying to get out of the government regulations by turning their school’s into academies. Since the government has less of a influence on how academies operate, they are able to put fast food back onto the menu. Now this information has come to the attention of Oliver and he’s is pushing to the government and the school to make necessary changes.

My opinion

I believe it is a good thing that Jamie Oliver pays attention to the school diets and in general food in the UK. Not too long ago I think I read somewhere that UK is still very high on the list of the most obese countries in the world. Therefore I think it is a very good idea to educate kids about the risks of fast food to their health. Another good thing would be to make the kids aware of the fact that you can eat some fast food but you should not eat this daily.

The London Riots

Since my time doing the Speaker's Corner assignment is devoted to this subject I thought it would be interesting  to write a little bit about this subject as well. My subject 'The London Riots' refers to the events which took place at the beginning of August this year.

Summary:

My subject 'The London Riots' refers to the events which took place at the beginning of August this year. When the police shot a 29 year old male called Mark Duggan in Tottenham on the 4th of August friends, family and people from the neighbourhood organised a peaceful protest march. As the march continued the situation got more grim when police showed up and told the protesters to leave, both sides getting more aggressive as time went by. This eventually evolved into a fight, or riot, against the local police. By using social media, young sympathizers of Duggan began to notify their friends. As more and more people got to know about the police shooting and the unfortunate death of Duggan the riot grew. By this time, the riots spread to other impoverished parts of London and the reasons to riot changed as well. What started as a protest against police violence changed into a desperate cry for attention by a generation of youthful people who feel the government has abandoned them. The death of Duggan seemed to be the trigger for these people to let the authorities know about their situation. Many of the people who took part in the riots are part of a large group of people who have poor education and big unemployment rate. However, as the riots grew even people who did not have anything to do with the cause joined the riot, they just joined for the sake of rioting.

Opinion

I think this is a very obvious signal for a large population of youthful people that their government is not doing enough to aid their situation. Many of these people are the same age as myself but lack any education or reasonable chance to get a job later on. They often come from broken homes, meaning their father or mother abandoned them. Without a school or job to attend to they often hang on the streets and cause all sorts of trouble like robbing or burglary. While they obviously difficult lives I think this riot will only have a negative impact on their situation. The rioting neighbourhoods are closely being watched by authorities to prevent future riots and their unemployment en school drop-out rate remains the same. However, I hope the government interpret this as a signal to take a serious look at these areas and come up with a way to help these people. Otherwise I cannot see how future riots and uprisings can be avoided.


Sources 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14668770
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14657456
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15426720
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14931987
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Mark_Duggan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/08/mark-duggan-profile-tottenham-shooting

Sharia Zones

Source: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ae5_1320786379

Summary:

This clip is about a member of the English Defence League, a rightwing activist group, Tommy Robinson who is showing a camera crew around in the neighbourhood he grew up in. During the process of filming, Tommy comments about how Islam took over his neighbourhood. Because Robinson is a well known member of English Defence League he gets recognised by a Muslim guy. The Muslim walks up to the car Robinson is in and confronts him about his comments on Islam and accuses him of racism. In response, Robinson says he thinks that the Islam is a fascist religion and that Sharia Law ( traditional Muslim rules, literally meaning ‘Law of God’) has no place in English society. Because Robinson feels the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous, as he says more of ‘them’ will show up, he begins to drive away. While still arguing , Robinson gets punched in the face by the Muslim guy.

Reaction:

Of course Robinson is provoking the Muslim guy by trying to have a discussion with him. The way the Muslim guy reacts to Robinson’s statements however is incredibly stupid. He immediately accuses Robinson of racism and hatred towards Islam in general and by slapping Robinson in the face he proves his exact point. I think it would be better if the Muslim guy would have tried to have a decent discussion to prove Robinson wrong about Muslims having no place in English society. According to Robinson whole neighbourhoods are being ‘invaded’ by Muslims who practice Sharia Law, thus making it nearly impossible for people to visit that particular area.

Obviously this issue does not come to a surprise being from Holland, we have also have a lot of problems regarding integration. In The Netherlands there are also area's where there is a large Muslim community but I do not think it is as worse as being described in the video.