Friday 6 August 2010

The Cocky Harrow Show

After some success at starving HMRC this week, I'm thirsty for more. So off to Antwerp I trot today to inflict more damage on the exchequor. Not sure I'll be returning with an awesome stash such as this but will do my best - back Sunday.

While on the journey, though, this will be inducing many a smirk.

Parents' fury at council plans for halal-only menus in primary schools

Parents have expressed fury at plans to serve pupils halal-only menus for school dinners.

In a move which has also enraged animal welfare groups, only meat from animals killed and prepared using Islamic teaching may be allowed at 52 primaries in Harrow.
Now, I've written before of the perfect storm brewing - victimhood poker-style - between the righteous animal rights lobby and, err, righteous religious apologists. But I never factored in the equally righteous anger of the Daily Mail reader. This particular antagonistic ménage à trois could run and run.

Stock up on the popcorn and watch the holier-than-thou gut each other. Sweet.

As it currently stands, it would seem that Harrow council are frantically back-pedalling in the usual 'never say sorry' local authority way, with the most delightful euphemism I've seen for a long time.

Anger is now 'interest', apparently.

'At present we are not proceeding to roll this programme out more widely but this is because of the cost constraints and the level of interest from parents. We will be reviewing the position with schools in the autumn.'
Unfortunately (for them), Harrow's pushing of the envelope may well kick up a lot of fuss over something which doesn't seem to have been noticed before.

The council will be using its preferred supplier, Harrison's, which has been providing halal-only menus to Harrow's high schools for four years after a decision reached by a consortium.

A council spokesman said: 'Halal meat was written into the specifications when high schools were procuring their catering contracts.'
Yep. Since 2006 all kids over 11 have been eating only ethnically-approved meat anyway. No-one noticed ... but Harrow parents sure as shit know now.

Hence the second anything-to-quell-the-riot quote from Harrow spin merchants.

'This was due to recommendations from dietitians.'
Because it's not a religious thing at all. Just a health matter.

Someone please go round to Harrow's offices, remove their spade, and tell them to step away from the hole, eh?


8 comments:

JuliaM said...

Nah, I say give 'em a mechanical digger!

'When your enemy is destroying himself, get out of the way'

Lawson said...

I'm with Julia on this Dick. That hole is nowhere near big enough yet. Needs a bigger digger and more participants from competing pressure groups.

Unknown said...

Thats the problem when councils or governments try to pander to minorities all the time.
Everyone belongs to some kind of minority ,somehow.
It's a divisive policy that will blow back in their faces.
It was better decades ago ,when minorities just catered for themselves.
This is what happens when goverment (muppets) start messing around with social engineering exeriments ,as Mcawber said ...
Result ...
Misery.

J Bonington Jagworth said...

This is the best use of the phrase 'perfect storm' I think I've seen.

Reminds me of the circle of Hell reserved for all the religious fundamentalists, which they have to share with each other, as well as atheists, pornographers and gays.

In my day, anyone with a special diet brought sandwiches...

Umbongo said...

Presumably halal meat is as good as any other - unless you don't like the ritual slaughter aspect - so in principle if you provide meat to schoolchildren it really doesn't matter what religiously-inspired mumbo-jumbo it has had done to it. However, unlike in the Jewish community where, as I understand it, there exist "official" organisations which supervise the process from rearing to slaughter to distribution of kosher meat, there is no supreme (or any?) such organisation in the Moslem community. Accordingly, I wonder on what authority Harrisons - the supplier of choice to Harrow's finest citizens - pronounce their supplies halal.

Whatever - and since this is "other people's money" we're dealing with here - I guess this is a nice little earner for someone. Ritually slaughtered meat is, I would think, more expensive than the stuff that most of the rest of us somehow manage to survive on. But naturally - the beneficiaries in this case being a minority which if crossed can turn very nasty indeed - this lunacy is paid for by all Harrow Council Tax Payers not solely by those who are apparently prepared to see their offspring starve to death rather than sully the purity of their consciences.

As DP writes, we can sit back and enjoy the spectacle of the irredeemably Righteous, the fanatically Religious and the furious bystanders having a right old punch-up.

Anonymous said...

Similar load of animal rights pap
in Catalonia where they want to ban Bull Fighting but seem a bit touchy when I ask them about Halal and Kosher products in the local
Carrefours.
Matadors ......bad
Mullahs........good
Rabbis...Schhhhhhhhhhhhhhh



human lover

Anonymous said...

I say Jagworth old chap, don't think it's very fair putting pornographers in with rest of them.Seems a quite honourable trade when compared with politicians, lawyers, police officers etc.

Pogo said...

No form of "ritual slaughter" should be legal. We're supposed to be civilised and a marker of that civilisation should be how we treat animals. I have no problems with eating meat but slaughter should be as humane as possible and cutting a concious animal's throat and letting it bleed out is barbaric.

Bull-fighting is equally barbaric and I, for one, hope the Catalans succeed in their efforts to ban it.