Milk Snatching in the UK
By has been avoided for the 21st Century, in a comical manner.
Last night as I went to sleep, I was informed by BBC Radio 4 that the coalition government was going to eliminate free milk for the under five set as it did not “provide value for money”. At £50 odd million, it’s not very expensive, and while I doubt that it makes a huge difference in terms of public health, it does allegedly teach good dietary habits. But, I immediately recognized the scale of the political blunder.
In grasping free milk from my daughter’s delicate hands, the government, rather stupidly, invoked the image of “Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher”, when Thatcher did the same for 7 to 11 year-olds as Education Minister in the early 1970s. The last thing that David Cameron would want is a direct and valid comparison with Thatcher.
Hence, a classic U-turn, clumsily executed.
