Smart kids

The kids at Wellington High School are showing some good sense in responding to their first brush with Nanny State and the tuck shop. Effects have been:

• The school’s cafe operator has thrown in the towel, saying she could not turn a profit under the Education Ministry’s new healthy eating regime
• a group fundraising for a Japanese trip has seized on the opportunity by setting up a daily sausage sizzle and baking stall
• The Dominion Post watched yesterday as a stream of pupils headed to the nearby Wallace St shop for mince pies, chippies and fizzy drinks.

One also has to praise the principal’s attitude:

Principal Prue Kelly was relaxed about the week-long sausage sizzle, saying she hoped pupils would support the fundraising effort. Asked if the new culinary option met the ministry’s healthy eating guidelines, she said: “Who knows? It’s how we’re coping with the problem today.

“I think they’re using brown bread instead of white.

“They look like pretty good sausages to me. In fact I might get one.”

Good on her.

The Government is as usual missing the point. The problem isn’t kids having a sausage occasionally, but if they are having that for lunch everyday. But rather than concentrate on having a varied diet, instead they are purging tuck shops of any food they do not approve of. It will get worse if the Public Health Bill is passed into law.