By Jenny Jefferies 

I was invited to enjoy a truly inspiring and informative evening to network with food educators that included chefs, teachers, parents and carers, entrepreneurs, and many more like minded and good spirited people and organisations. 

All are incredibly passionate about educating our children. Food is a fundamental human right, and the UK thrives off charity. Collaboration and communication is key and our political leaders should be ashamed of themselves.

Politicians have neglected areas of society where they depend on volunteers and charity to fill the moral and ethical vacuum at the heart of Westminster. And deliberately so. 

Politics affects everybody’s lives and should float around in the background of society without a murmur. But we are weary. Weary of the incessant scandals that are being uncovered. Every. Single. Day. This is not normal. This is absolutely unprecedented and we have not seen a worse government than the current 13 year conservative consortium. 

Their common objective, (as proven in the Covid Inquiry, public decisions being made and with certain hindsight) is nothing but corruption, deceit, self-interest and throughly undesirable machismo behaviour. 

It’s very difficult, in this current nonsensical and devastating time, to be blinded and to remain in the dark. But there is always hope. Hope for some light, for something better, for something good, for somebody who cares and for people to show compassion for their fellow human beings. 

And there are. They are all around us. So many people who just quietly ‘get on with it’; who volunteer, help, give thanks, care and share, who are skilful and passionate, who can listen, and ultimately ‘be there’. For example, people who run their local Rainbows group; parents who volunteer on their local school PTA; individuals and local businesses initiating free food parcel deliveries to the most vulnerable, OAP’s offering lifts to hospital appointments for their friends, end of life care for those with cancer, philanthropic businesses supporting good causes… people who know the meaning of life. In my humble opinion; to love, and to be loved. 

What we may need is for all charities to come together and to collaborate under one umbrella? For instance, the two charities Age Concern and Help the Aged joined together in 2009 to create a new charity called Age UK. Perhaps food charities such as Chefs In Schools, Taste Ed, Fish In Schools, School Food Matters, Magic Breakfast, FareShare Active Ate, End Child Food Poverty, Campaign Against Child Poverty, The Food Foundation, Food For Life, The Felix Project, MCKS Charitable Foundation UK, Feeding Britain, and many many more could all collaborate and relaunch as ‘Food UK’? Oh, but… we already have that. It’s called a government. We already pay for it. It’s such a shame the politicians are all so rubbish. 



@jennyljefferies - www.jennyjefferies.co.uk