The Rear Window

Scene- A backyard in Rotherham.

Jamie Oliver sneaks up to the kitchen window and watches a group of young women mess up at cooking.

JAMIE: (Shaking head) Fucking hell

Fin

 

And there you have Jamie’s Ministry of Food in a nutshell. Voyeurism. A chance for the middle classes to feel superior by sneering at the less well off. Carefully casting a group of hapless individuals and passing them off as representatives of the working class.

 

In a rare burst of honesty- this was the clip used to publicise the show on Jonathan Ross. In a pattern which will become depressingly familiar- the audience cheered Jamie to the rafters for taking on his selfless mission to raise up the savages and laughed their heads off at mentions of Rotherham.

 

Jamie displayed his usual grip on statistics by saying that the UK was the third most obese nation- after America and South America. Me neither. I thought he must have meant South Africa- but a poverty riddled country is hardly likely to be the second most obese on Earth. Also- Jamie has let it be known that people in Soweto have better diets than us plasma screen pissheads.

 

The photo’s of the Rawmarsh were put up. The audience laughed when he said he had called Julie Critchlow a scrubber. Ross generally took the piss and repeated the lie about “Big Macs” being passed to kids. Jamie didn’t join in because he didn’t have to. By coming to Rotherham- he knew that the power of the images would do his promotion for him.

 

Every piece on TV or radio I have heard refers to pushing burger and chips through the fence at Rawmarsh. Most build it up as some concerted campaign to stop the School Dinners campaign. This not true- but it is the general perception and that is all that matters. Even if the actual show has Oliver doing a five minute bit to camera apologising (which I doubt he will) – the damage is done.

 

Never mind the “issues”- let’s face it, Pass it On is a pretty thin idea. Instead, follow the lead of the radio presenter I heard on Friday. She just went on about a scene where a young girl gets alarmed when she sees bubbles in boiling water as she’s never seen it before. The radio presenter did the polite equivalent of shaking her head and saying “fucking hell”. That’s the level of analysis you’re supposed to have. If you think deeper and consider the casting process and the encouragement people may get to say whatever’s in their heads- no matter how daft it may seem- you may find the whole exercise exploiative and distasteful.

 

Jamie dodged every question worth answering. He banged on at length about how the government must keep funding investment in school dinners. When asked if he had put up the money for the Ministry of Food shop in Rotherham- he sort of made a noise which sounded a bit like yes. He failed to mention that it was also funded by Rotherham Borough Council, that RBT has given him phone lines and he wants the council to fund it to keep it open. In other words- those of us who pay council tax to Rotherham Borough Council put the money up for the shop. How much are the council getting for the tie in promotions Sainsbury’s and WH Smith are running at the moment? As a stakeholder in this enterprise- I think it’s only fair that a share of any profits should be spent on local services for Rotherham people. Don’t you?

 

Also – check the editing on the clip they showed. Either they had plenty of cameras or they are acting out the scenes more than once. Reality TV- do me a favour.

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Jamie didn’t make it onto the cover of this week’s Radio Times.

That honour went to James May: erudite, urbane and a maker of interesting and entertaining shows. And a product of a Rotherham comprehensive school. May’s mate Jeremy Clarkson started off on the ‘Tiser. And he produced this tribute to our fair town.