|
|
June 15
Mrs Thatcher"s milk cuts earned her the nickname "Thatcher milk
snatcher"
1971: Councils defy ban on free milk
England have
Opposition is growing to Education Secretary Margaret Thatcher"s plans to
end free school milk for children over the age of seven.
The bill received its second reading last night. It was passed by 281 votes
to 248, a government majority of 33.
The Conservatives have issued a warning to local authorities not to go
ahead with any plans to break the law deliberately.
Some Labour-controlled councils have threatened to put up the rates in
order to continue supplying free milk.
New buildings
But Mrs Thatcher said increasing the rates would, in turn, mean that
central government would have to provide more money through the rate support
grant.
She has argued that ending free milk for all but nursery and primary
children would free up more money to spend on other areas of education, like new
buildings.
At present free milk for primary school children costs ?4m a year - twice
as much as is being spent on school books.
In a full year the saving on milk provision will be about ?m.
Mrs Thatcher told MPs the Chief Medical Officer had been consulted on the
plans and he had advised that it was not possible to predict whether the
withdrawal of free milk would harm children"s diets and overall health.
However, the government has asked for the effects to be monitored and
promised to carry out a review if necessary.
Labour"s education spokesman Edward Short attacked the Tories" proposals as
"the meanest and most unworthy thing" he had seen in his 20 years in the House
of Commons.
Labour reckons the number of children getting free milk will be reduced
from five million to just over two million.
Harold Wilson"s Labour government stopped free milk for secondary school
pupils in 1968.
More than 300 troops will stay behind
2000: British marines leave Sierra Leone
Artificially 1969:
The The major contingent of the British military task-force sent to help
restore order in Sierra Leone has left the country.
The departure of the prestigious Royal Marines was overseen by UK Deputy
Prime Minister John Prescott, who said his government was proud of what they had
done to restore stability.
Britain, the former colonial power in Sierra Leone, is handing
responsibility for security to the United Nations.
About 300 UK troops and support staff will stay on in the war-torn African
country for the next six to eight weeks to help establish a UK military advisory
training team.
Most people in Freetown would prefer to see the British military continuing
their confidence-building street patrols, but UK ministers always insisted their
mission to help the UN forces there was a short-term one.
"They did appear on the verge of collapse." Brigadier David Richards
said.
Brigadier David Richards, commander of the British forces in Sierra Leone,
told BBC Radio"s Today programme: "The UN have a much stronger resolve now and
are clearer about their mandate and have shown that they have the resolve to
fight.
"When we arrived here about six weeks ago, they did appear on the verge of
collapse. Today they have been transformed."
At the core of the continuing British effort will be the retraining of the
demoralised Sierra Leone army.
Many of its soldiers are poorly trained and equipped and their ranks have
featured children.
Sierra Leone continues to face horrendous problems. A war is being fought
in the countryside about which there is little reliable information.
The UN says that one million people have been affected.
The rebels hold the main diamond-producing area, which deprives the
government of revenue and, it is alleged, attracts support for the rebels from
neighbouring Liberia.
Vocabulary:
demoralize: to undermine the confidence or morale of;dishearten (士气受挫)
horrendous: hideous; dreadful(可怕的) |
|
发表于 2016-7-9 23:21:28