WE never tire of English PR people sending us stories about the NHS, the law and education in England, none of which have anything to do with Scotland.
They also appear to be blissfully ignorant of Scottish history, culture and geography, especially the latter. As it happened, yesterday we got a missive from the Vegan Society entitled: Glasgow borough caters for vegan children in all its schools.
It sort of went a bit strange then because the "borough" being referred to was West Dunbartonshire where the council has introduced vegan meals on the menu for all its nursery, primary and secondary schools as a result of a five-year-old vegan girl transferring from nursery to primary school.
Now as anyone from West Dunbartonshire will tell you, it’s a good few miles down the River Clyde from Glasgow, and has never been a "borough" of Glasgow in its existence - and the Scots word is burgh, of course.
The five-year-old in question goes to school in Clydebank. It’s one of the worst insults you can level at a Bankie to say he or she is a Weegie.
We can’t even blame the usual M25 blindness that afflicts London meejah types because the Vegan Society is based in Birmingham.
The Society said they checked with a Scottish person on the content, but have apologised and admitted they should have checked the facts themselves.
The release continued: “The food standards for schools in ENGLAND [our emphasis] state that all children should be encouraged to have a meat-free day each week by eating a meal containing alternatives like beans, chickpeas, lentils, soya mince, tofu or vegan meat alternatives such as Quorn.”
Scotland has its own food standards for schools, don’t you know, and they were updated last year so we’ll trust our own Scottish experts on that, thank you.
The Vegan Society has recently registered as a charity in Scotland due to its work here, and just to show we don’t hold any chippy grudges, we’re happy to quote Dr Jeanette Rowley, The Vegan Society’s legal advisor, who said: “All children, regardless of their ethical convictions, should be able to benefit from government-funded schemes; we applaud the school and council for recognising this.
“Veganism is protected under human rights and equality law, which means if a child is eligible for a free school meal, the duty is not to discriminate by providing a vegan option.”
And that, dear readers, is the meat of the story.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel