Print the Legend

When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

 

“I had no idea who Jamie Oliver was. I wasn’t particularly interested in TV chefs and I didn’t watch Jamie’s School Dinners.

“All I knew was that the school was desperately ill-equipped for what it was trying to undertake.

“They were trying to provide 1,200 dinners in just two half-hour sittings with not enough staff.

“My children came home telling me about jacket potatoes which were raw in the middle and dry, pre-packed sandwiches they were being forced to eat.

“They asked if I would take them a fresh sandwich up to school so I bought them from the local shop, Chubby’s, and passed them through the gates.

“On the second day other kids asked me to do the same for them. By the third day, it was going ballistic. Another lady told me she would give me a hand and we took a list of everything the kids wanted and ordered it from Chubby’s.

“There were bacon and sausage sandwiches, tuna and egg mayo sandwiches, half a dozen portions of chips and gravy, crisps and pop.”

Julie Critchlow – The Sun Weds 17 Sep. 08

That is the true story behind the Rawmarsh media circus of 2006 according to the main player. Julie Critchlow and her friends became the burger mums- held up as examples of everything that is wrong with Britain. They, and by association, the town of Rotherham, became a kind of shorthand for ignorance, stupidity and the break down of society. A bunch of thickos who would only get off their fat arses to protest when their right to shovel chips into their kids was challenged.

Plausible isn’t it. A few women just doing a favour were stitched up and became silly season superstars. They have been vilified for all this time- if only we’d known this before. Thank goodness The Sun has sorted it all out- we can all move on now.

If only…

Even at the height of the madness, the ‘sinner ladies’ were making perfectly reasonable points to the press. (read Times article), but were drowned out by the abuse. Who wants to debate when you’ve a three second video clip that confirms every prejudice you can think of?
When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

 

Julie Critchlow is now 100% signed up to Ministry of Food. As a result, she gets the chance to put the record straight in the paper one time. I don’t know what her motivation is for joining up with Jamie Oliver, but I hope she is being well rewarded. She certainly deserves it after the vilification she copped- much of it whipped up by a certain mockney chef.

Unfortunately for Julie, and Rotherham- some people won’t let go. For example:

“Jamie chose Rotherham, South Yorks, to launch his most ambitious campaign ever. Asked why, he grins sheepishly before replying: “It’s where Julie Critchlow lives.”

Julie became infamous in 2006 as Jamie’s arch enemy when she attempted to sabotage his School Dinners campaign at the town’s Rawmarsh Comprehensive by delivering junk food to kids through the railings.

She failed and his mission resulted in the Government pledging £500million over six years to improve meals.”

“Arch enemy”,”junk food”, “sabotage”. She didn’t watch School Dinners or even know who Jamie Oliver was. Who’s still churning this crap out?

Well, actually, Sharon Hendry of The Sun wrote this on Monday to introduce the week long series of puff pieces. The same journo who did the interview with Julie.

 It’s not just the papers digging up the past:

“Jamie wants to start a food revolution and encourage British people to abandon their ready meals in favour of home cooking. He attempts to recruit one of the fiercest critics of his school dinners campaign: so-called ‘Burger Mum’ Julie Critchlow.”

That’s from the Channel 4 sales website (at least they’ve updated it from the original idea of Jamie and his family playing “Challenge Anneka” in Southend).

Why did Jamie Oliver come to Rotherham?  Statistically- it is not an exceptional place in terms of obesity. We have already been labelled “the town of food sin” and “nutritionally challenged Rotherham” and it’s only going to get worse. Two years ago, the media took a few choice images and added their own twisted narrative. Overnight- our town became internationally known for all the wrong reasons. Imagine the damage an experienced production crew could do if they got to select the cast and had 6 months worth of footage to edit into four tasty, bitesize bits.

Do you think they may show a certain news clip at the start of the show?

Unless there’s a clear problem- there’s no call for a solution.

If the truth isn’t enough to convince people of the need for action – sex it up.

Unless there are people in black hats- there’s no reason for the new sheriff to ride in and clean up this town.

When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.