10 September 2006

The milk round

I rather doubt if it would be quite as easy as implied by this article in The Sunday Herald:
"Thirty-five years after Margaret Thatcher inflicted her cruellest cut, the Scottish Executive has revealed plans to restore free milk in schools.
The former prime minister’s decision, made while she was education secretary in 1971, to abolish universal free milk for schoolchildren aged seven to 11 earned her a place in history books as “Thatcher, Thatcher Milk Snatcher”.
According to nutritionists, the decision could have led to a generation lacking enough calcium, necessary for strong bones and teeth. In girls, it can help prevent osteoporosis in later life.
But legislation published by the Scottish Executive tomorrow paves the way for every school in Scotland to once more provide free milk."

When I was a lad, the free milk amounting to one-third of a pint in a glass bottle was delivered to the school in crates first thing every morning. It was drunk mid-morning, meaning that in winter it had frequently frozen and in summer it had gone off. This would probably be unacceptable today but do schools have additional refrigeration facilities to hold a carton of milk for every child for a few hours?

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