THE TRASH CAN SOCIETY

We are made aware everyday by the various charities like World Hunger of the perilous conditions of children in Asian and African countries. What is less well known is that children in Britain are going hungry too. One journalist has expressed his horror on learning of the plight of many London kids when it comes to getting enough to eat. "Yet that description - the "S" word, starving - conjures up all sorts of images of IDPs and refugees and aid workers with bags of grain. London?? So they took me to a centre about 3km from Westminster where they feed the kids. In school time they might get lunch; it's the Easter holidays, and without this they'll have NO MEAL AT ALL. The parents are either destitute or dispossessed, or addicts, or some other sort of horror which means the kids often make their own way to the centre (aged three upwards) or if not they root through bins for food. (This I can attest to - I live in Peckham and have seen people at the back of the Iceland supermarket, next to the train station, doing just that)." (Al Jazeera, 13 April) These kids realised that the supermarkets throw away vast amounts of perfectly good food. The UK's supermarkets throw away three million tonnes of food every year. Just because it's past its sell-by date or is a bit bashed up. RD