Saint Jamie

Granny had a day out yesterday - sun sea flowers good food. Here's a picture of some kind of marine plant (she can't name it) to prove it. (No, no, she didn't eat it; the food was eaten up a hill, inland, with a long view and not a shrimp in sight. It was delicious. And there was a turtle to look at, who held his dear little hind feet up t0 the sun to warm them.)


Today has been taken up with shopping. This island is due to close down any minute; Semana Santa is yet another big festival and lasts four days more or less. Buy food now or starve. (Not an Easter Egg in sight, though Granny did see some rather etiolated hot cross buns in supermercado used by expats. She was not tempted.) So no BIG THEMES let alone BIG THOUGHTS, let own further episodes of Our Father - the one underground that is to say, not the one up there. Tomorrow or the next day perhaps. She has him all lined up.

But here a big salute to another holy one - the Blessed Jamie Oliver - who has just taken the food industry by the neck and shaken it. AND ABOUT TIME TOO. The craven government, though chuntering on about obesity etc didn't dare. So these bastards have been offloading addictive products made of E numbers, mechanically recovered meat (ie bones and BSE) and chicken skins onto also commercially driven school meals caterers (M Thatcher did much worse than snatch milk, she snatched school kitchens and cooks too) thereby filling up our children - my grandchildren too - if their parents hadn't had more sense - with total rubbish. Granny doubts if anyone could have seen Jamie demonstrating to a group of addicted kids what actually went into their chicken nuggets and turkey twizzlers without wanting to throw up. The children nearly did. And they promptly opted for Jamie's school dinners that they had rejected up till then. And afterwards - surprised anyone? - behaved better, did their work better - another finding from Jamie's labours.

So now Tony Blair - Granny has just been reading this in Sunday's Observer - has put forward his! - ha! - idea - that money should be provided for cooks, kitchens and proper food for children - and maybe cooking lessons for their parents....AT LAST. (37p per child for food. As the Blessed Jamie pointed out they spend more on meals for prisoners and police dogs. )

There are many villains in this world; from Berlusconi to Rupert Murdoch (who feeds the world with other kinds of crap) and all places in between. Not forgetting the dear man who boils people alive in Uzbekistan. For which the also blessed man who pointed this out has effectively lost his job. But in Granny's view the 'junk' food industry - she means junk in every sense - has as much to answer for as any.

People who make saints in Rome: people who put the worthy forward for knighthoods, please note. The one man band who effed and blinded his way across British television screens for the last few weeks deserves all of it, more than most.

THIS IS A GRANDMOTHER SPEAKING. A greedy, cooking grandmother at that...

She enjoys ranting too. Maybe, reader, you noticed.