RIGHT. It’s that time of year again. Hands up if you give a monkey’s armpit if school milk ceases or not.

You are not allowed to put your hand up if you work for the dairy. I’m sorry, but those are the rules.

Personally, unless it comes on cornflakes, in tea or with chocolate powder whisked in, I have never been a great fan of the white stuff. I only say this so that you understand that I am completely partisan on this matter.

This subject comes up year in and year out and the arguments for and against are fairly unchanging – although bringing up obesity in the case against is a bit of a new line.

In the scale of things it isn’t much money and on the one hand you have to think that for the comparatively piddling amount (piddling by Jersey governmental standards, that is) of £190,000, you may as well carry on supplying it to the schools.

But in these days when we are asking the States to look critically at their budgets, can we honestly say that it is the best use of that cash?

The most compelling argument for is that there are some children who are not getting what they need at home when it comes to nutrition and this may be the only chance to get something inside them that doesn’t send them ever closer to a prescription for Ritalin.

However, it is hard to dismiss the argument that if you really wanted to provide something healthy for children, what could be better than a piece of fruit – or even a carrot?