The Conversation (0)
Joe Sommerlad
May 03, 2019
LBC talk radio host James O'Brien has become famous for putting Britain's politicians to the sword on Brexit in recent years and has acquired something of a fierce reputation.
But even he had to admit he'd been well and truly owned when he came up against Jamie Oliver this week, making the mistake of tackling the one-time Naked Chef on his pet subject: school dinners.
The pair were discussing the story of two pupils at Ravensdale Junior School in Derbyshire, who were given only bread and butter to eat after their parents fell behind on payments.
O'Brien had previously said he thought the school was well within its rights to act as it had but was forced to change his mind when Oliver - the scourge of the Turkey Twizzler - called in and pointed out that the root of the problem lay with means-testing for school lunches.
The parents that are on the first ladder of employment find it harder than parents that are on benefits. There are just more outgoings and they can't apply for as much help so the narrative for us that care has always been: is that cap too low?
A little shift, not a lot, a little shift could really take a big shade of those parents that are vulnerable, that are struggling with the fluctuations of paydays.
What Oliver said next actually caused O'Brien to wince with guilt at his earlier lack of compassion over what he conceded might well prove to be a "cash flow issue":
No British kid should ever have food turned away from them at school.
The biggest gift you can give to a teacher is a child that's fed, that can concentrate, that can focus, that has the best possibility of maintaining their brain...
If they come to school with energy drinks, if they come to school with nothing, if they can't get a lunch, they can't focus, they can't learn.
Contrite and visibly moved, O'Brien conceded:
I've been owned. I've been schooled. I've been completely schooled on my own show
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