General

Ban lifted: girl blogger can continue photographing unhealthy school lunches

UPDATE:

The massive internet outcry caused by nine-year-old blogger Martha Payne, from Scotland, being banned from taking pictures of her school lunches has caused the Argyll and Bute Council to reconsider its decision. According to the BBC, council leader Roddy McCuish has ordered officials to lift the ban immediately. Payne became a little cause célèbre today after announcing the ban on her “neverseconds” blog. Even celebrity chef Jamie Oliver weighed in, telling Martha through Twitter to “stay strong.”

Original post below:

A nine-year-old girl from Scotland has been banned from taking pictures of her school’s cafeteria after more than 2 million people clicked on her “neverseconds” blog, the Guardian reports.

Martha Payne had been documenting unhealthy and unsatisfying meals at her school in Argyll since late April and now the school has told her to stop taking pictures. A statement by Martha on her blog yesterday read:

Good Bye.

This morning in maths I got taken out of class by my head teacher and taken to her office. I was told that I could not take any more photos of my school dinners because of a headline in a newspaper today. I only write my blog not newspapers and I am sad I am no longer allowed to take photos. I will miss sharing and rating my school dinners and I’ll miss seeing the dinners you send me too. 

The Argyll and Bute council has released a (poorly written) statement on the matter:

Argyll and Bute Council wholly refutes the unwarranted attacks on its schools catering service which culminated in national press headlines which have led catering staff to fear for their jobs. The Council has directly avoided any criticism of anyone involved in the ‘never seconds’ blog for obvious reasons despite a strongly held view that the information presented in it misrepresented the options and choices available to pupils however this escalation means we had to act to protect staff from the distress and harm it was causing.

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