Oxfordshire has introduced a new
packed lunches policy ... by banning
them altogether. Instead, pupils and staff
get to choose from eating a hot Halal
meat meal, hot gluten-free vegetarian
meal, a jacket potato, a salad, a pasta pot
or a baguette. Aureus School in Didcot
says that Halal meat “celebrates the
diversity of our country’s culture,” and
insists that only water may be swigged
on school premises, because “hydrated
brains learn better.” But parents have
branded the rule “draconian” with one
alleging the school has become, “like a
dictatorship.”
End of an era
One of the last few remaining lollipop
ladies in Devon says she was forced to
quit the job last month. Helen Freeman,
51, had been the lollipop lady at Newport
Primary School Academy for nearly five
years. However, the reason for her
departure had nothing to do with job
satisfaction, poor health or a disciplinary
offence. It had to do with money.
Helen travelled to work every day from
Bideford but Devon County Council
decided it would no longer pay her
travelling expenses, leaving her feeling
“devastated” and sad because, she said,
she would “miss seeing the children so
much.” She said they used to pay 45
pence a mile for the round trip from
home, although the Council limited that
to cover just half of her 40 mile journey.
“I did offer Devon County Council the
chance to keep me on with the bare
minimum expenses - just £45 which is
what it costs me,” she explained, “but
they said no.” The Council said that the
vast majority of its School Crossing
Patrols did not claim expenses so the
change was made, “to make it equitable
and to comply with our business travel
policy.” Board room jargon for
“cheaper,” we think.
Life’s a drag
Building workers at a site in Surrey were
upset when their bosses said that health
and safety regulations banned them
from wearing shorts, even when the
temperature last month hit 26 degrees.
But they realised they could get around
the ban by wearing women’s clothing
thanks to gender equality regulations.
They argued that, as there were women
in skirts working in offices on the same
site in Chertsey, “they couldn’t stop us
doing the same.” Some nipped to the
ladies department in Tesco while others
raided their partners’ wardrobes, and
they all showed up for work in skirts and
dresses. One said he was wolf-whistled
by a man, adding, “I’ve never had one of
27
those before.” The men said they had
been inspired by a group of teenage boys
at Chiltern Edge School in Oxfordshire
who last year tackled a shorts ban in the
name of gender equality by arriving for
classes in the skirts approved for female
pupils.
Modern Times
TV viewers in the UK are reported to
have received a leaflet through the post
advising that it is no longer necessary to
have a paper copy of their television
licence. This is apparently because it’s all
done on-line nowadays so those who
actually pay for the thing will be sent a
confirmation by email. But the question
then arises of what to do with the old
paper licence? And luckily, after weeks of
intense debate and arguments, the TV
licensing boffins have come up with the
ideal solution to avoid simply throwing
the thing in the bin and being
ecologically unfriendly. On the back of
the leaflet is an eight-point instruction,
complete with diagrams, on how to fold
it, origami-style, into the shape of a
swan.
A city in northern China is reported to
have introduced a special pedestrian lane
on one of its roads, exclusively for
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