Desperate TV chef leaps aboard bandwagon
We’ve had Jamie Oliver and the school food. We’ve had Jamie Oliver and the hospital food. Now it’s Paul Rankin and the care home food.
Aside from the fact that my limited knowledge of TV chefs doesn’t include him, and even aside from the fact that he’s clearly desperate to raise his profile, why’s he bothering making such a fuss when even he admits this:
“The standard was not too bad,” Mr Rankin told BBC News 24. “They had a cook in there cooking everything fresh but there just wasn’t any real emphasis on quality tasty foods.
So he’s not too fussed about the nutritional content of the food, he thinks the standards are quite good, but the food just doesn’t taste quite good enough?! Is this really worthy of a campaign?
It’s not even as if they’re particularly underfunded meals:
Shelia Scott from the National Care Homes Association said its members were already spending a average of £20-£30 a week on meals for each resident.
That’s compared to the £1.85 per week Mr Oliver apparently had to deal with (I can’t say I’m over familiar with his methods, having actually not watched the programme).
So where will the celebrity chefs go next? Gordon Ramsay launching a campaign because the turkey in the Ritz is a bit dry?
Your Comments and Responses
Comment from Alfred the Bread Burner
It is high time that an in depth analysis by a qualified celebrity chef was done on the abysmal state of food being provided to England’s deprived and neglected prisoners currently doing time at Her Majesty’s pleasure in the many penal institutions throughout the kingdom.
Remember –
“A well fed convict is a happy convict!”
and one is who is less likely to re-offend.
» This comment was received at 14:14 on 15 May 05
Comment from the original poster,
sjhoward
They couldn’t possibly do that – it’s the Daily Mail crowd they like to appeal to, and I doubt the Mail would support anything more than gruel being given to ‘evil’ prisoners.
As for crime in general, my car’s been broken into overnight, and the stereo stolen. I rang the police to report it, and the staff member took lots of details. Then phoned back half an hour later to take a description of the car and it’s registration number, which she’d forgotten to ask.
I was told that a policeman would call me back ‘soon’ to take more details – that was several hours ago.
Quality policing.
» This comment was received at 14:25 on 15 May 05
Comment from Maximilan Goldenberg
Sorry to hear about your material loss.
Realistically, do you think that Durham County Constabulary will be motivated to spend much time on a crime which they have almost no hope of solving and where the victim was a student, a temporary member of the community, who in the eyes of the Establishment, is part of the scrounging classes and of a group who causes trouble with excessive drunken behavior and unwelcome political demonstrations, and thus deserve anything coming to them?
The police are very busy and by troubling them with such details, you are taking them away from their coffee and donuts.
» This comment was received at 17:50 on 15 May 05
Comment from the original poster,
sjhoward
Well, as it happens, they’ve been rather more efficient than their first impression implied. They have sent round a lovely policewoman, who has dusted extensively for fingerprints, and is now toddling off back to her station where she will formalise a report, before getting back to me with a crime number and any more details I can supply.
The lovely people at Zurich car insurance and AutoGlass have also been very helpful in repairing my car such that I was back on the road, so to speak, within hours of discovering the damage.
All-in-all, I’ve been rather impressed by the level of efficiency in the system, even if I was a little perturbed by the response of the law enforcement officer this morning.
» This comment was received at 18:59 on 15 May 05
Comment from Emanuel Goldstein
“They have sent round a lovely policewoman”
Did you ask her out to dinner?
» This comment was received at 19:50 on 15 May 05
Comment from the original poster,
sjhoward
When I said ‘lovely’, I meant ‘friendly’ and ‘courteous’. She was approximately twice my age. I did not ask her out to dinner.
» This comment was received at 22:23 on 15 May 05
