Paternalism and sandwiches

During the smacking debate I have heard more than one person say, next they will be telling us what we can and can't feed our kids. Quite. Well they've started in Scotland, a country which is as mired in nanny statism as NZ.

It may read like the latest healthy lunchtime range from an upmarket sandwich shop, but the menu is what the Scottish Executive believes parents should be putting in their children's lunchboxes before sending them off to school for the day.

Guidelines on what a healthy packed lunch should contain were yesterday issued to schools and placed on a special parents' website.

Of course the prescription isn't compulsory....yet.