What's for dinner, Mum?

This is the eternal question. From Mali to Manchester and from Timbuktu to Tavistock the answers are very different.

For some there is more than enough but for others the cupboard is bare.

As the Iran and Ukraine wars continue the situation regarding transport and ultimately food supplies wil get worse.

With food shortages the problem will just get more difficult to put food on the table. For many families there is the need for both to go out to work, often both parents are at work full-time.

The easy option after a hard day at work is to grab a ready meal from the supermarket shelves. They know it will be more expensive than cooking raw ingredients but it is the quick and easy solution.

Thereby lies the dilemma. Recent research has pointed out that 11 types of cancer are being found in the under 50 group. The main factor in this increase had been shown to be excess body weight.

We have known for a long time that the country has a obesity crisis yet the situation is just getting worse. Children have been shown to have an increasingly poor diet with too much processed food and salt and sugar intake.

Despite the efforts of people like Jamie Oliver results are still proving a matter of deep concern.The solution must be a radical move to change cooking and eating habits. To do this the education system needs a major overhaul.

If we agree that the most important thing in life is good health then every effort must be made to ensure the population lives as long as possible in good health. There is little point if young people grown up with expert knowledge of computer science and the works of Shakespeare if they are to die early.

Domestic science in all its forms needs to be part of the school curriculum from primary school until the end of secondary education. Critics will scream that it is just not possible because the curriculum is already overcrowded. Others will point to the cost in terms of facilities and specialist teachers.

Others will claim that existing subjects cannot make room for this vital subject. If they win the argument and things stay as they are the nation will continue in a downward spiral of more and more people suffering by illness caused by being overweight. As things stand the need for radical educational reform does not sit high on the political agenda.

We seem to be more concerned about immigration and in spending day after day debating whether the Prime Minister misled the House in answering questions about Peter Mandelson.

Everyone in Paliament knew that any vote to make Keir Starmer go before the Privilege Committee was bound to fail with Labour having a huge majority. It was just a complete waste of time which could have been better spent on the real issue of ‘What's for dinner, Mum?’

Hopefully some healthy food.