Row over ‘ownership’ of school milk petition

Wednesday 25th May 2011, 2:59PM BST.

Deputy Southern and Ted Vibert have both collected signatures for the petition

POLITICAL relations over the school milk petition have turned sour.

With one day to go until the 10,000-strong petition calling for the reintroduction of free milk in Island schools is presented to the States, Deputy Geoff Southern and his former Jersey Democratic Alliance party president, Ted Vibert, cannot decide to whom it belongs.

Mr Vibert, a former Senator, left the JDA earlier this month stating that the party he had founded in 2005 had moved too far to the left.

It was an acrimonious divorce, soured by a public war of words, and now it seems that the argument is about who is in charge of the petition, which has been signed by 2,000 schoolchildren.

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  1. 1
    Sarah

    Who cares? its still going to get ignored.

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  2. 2
    Boo

    Oh grow up for goodness sake. Surely if you’re both in agreement about the content of the petition it really doesn’t matter? Think of the children and stop acting like babies.

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  3. 3
    No Kid Joe

    Signed by 2000 schoolchildren – presumably the petition to stop the stuff was signed by 10,000 school children but totally ignored as it doesn’t further the political interests of anyone desperate for election later this year.

    White elephant and total waste of money, there’s nominal nutritional value in milk and any child so lacking in nutrients as to need it should be investigated by social services.

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  4. 4
    Zoro

    Well, we all saw Mr Ted out there most of the time collecting them….so half a pint each perhaps…….? Best they let the principle of the thing stand and lt the public draw their own conclusions…rather than argue…for the opposition would like nothing more than to rubbish the petition so don’t give ‘em the ammo.

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  5. 5
    Froggy

    Jersey Cows are too expensive for Jersey people…lol

    Did the 2000 kids knew what they were signing this time?

    A petition to make bigger cows may be…
    Or was it to fire the greedy farmers who monopolies the Jersey milk market???

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  6. 6
    joker

    Well if you ever needed any more proof that this lot (Southern & Vibert) are out for nobody but themselves and couldn’t give a stuff about Jersey or its people. Worse still these two are so full of themselves they even show their complete lack of social awareness by not realising how this spat will be interpreted.

    I suppose the 2,000 children were given all the facts about the nutritional value of milk were they? (That’s a rhetorical question by the way because No Kid Joe has caught it square). Nope, this just shows the depths these so called ‘working population’ representatives will go to.

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  7. 7
    Concerned citizen

    I would like to say I agree with Boo’s comment… surely the idea is that the children get free milk. What else is there to sort out, your either with it or against it.

    I would also like to point out that when you are requesting that people sign a petition that they do so of their free will. A nasty incident happened outside a school where a mother had abuse shouted at her because she declined to put her name down.

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  8. 8
    J G

    For goodness sake GROW UP Vibert and Southern! You are behaving worse than the children you are trying to get the milk re-instated for.

    Surely it is all to do with the content of the petition, not who claims ownership of it. You are doing yourselves no favours, just making yourselves a laughing stock.

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  9. 9
    small money

    will the real sparticus please stand up.

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  10. 10
    Annoyed

    Does it matter, Grow up

    Vibert and Southern are a waste of space and this is pathetic.

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  11. 11
    John Rambo

    Roll on the next elections so all of these idiots can finally be out of our hair for good.

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  12. 12
    Jerry Gosselin

    “Turned sour”- good one.

    I agree that in an island known internationally for its breed of cow, getting rid of school milk was a terrible idea in the first place. The cost was minimal anyway.

    However, I disagree with the methods these two clowns have used to get the issue back before the States; petitioning school children for Pete’s Sake! Politicians shouldn’t be involving youngsters in political matters designed to score political points over their political rivals.

    So it’s the right issue to raise but because these two politicians have used controversial methods (and their motives for raising this so near to elections is highly suspect) I think the States will reject funding school milk by an even bigger margin if it is debated again.

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  13. 13
    B A

    I agree with j G two sad grown up men or they think so stop thinking of themselves and get on the job i signed for, KIDS GET THERE MILK BACK

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  14. 14
    Moscow

    I am strongly against school milk and demand a referendum!

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  15. 15
    mike Hunt

    If this pair get elected in Oct, 3 years later they will have pocketed over £1/4 million of our hard earned cash. FRIGHTNING

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  16. 16
    Rudi

    Every time I think my opinion of Geoff Southern couldn’t possibly get any worse a story like this comes along. Will these two pathetic clowns please try to focus on something important for a change.

    A child-size carton of milk must cost about 20p…if parents are so desperate to give their children milk, can they really not afford this amount each day ???

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  17. 17
    Mulvie Le Phew

    I think No Kid’s onto something here, if we can put aside the emotive issue of taking something away from our kids and examine the value V cost there seems to be little to support providing the stuff.

    A few questions.

    1 – Is milk the most nutritious product we can provide for the price.

    2 – Is there evidence to show that kids will suffer if we don’t provide it.

    3 – Are there really any families so poor that they cannot afford milk for their kids and if so lets spend some of the money saved to assist those kids in need rather than provide for all irrespective of need.

    4 – Is Elvis really dead? sorry that one snuck in but it’s a valid question.

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  18. 18
    orsoncart

    My two sons had school milk at primary school, it was not refrigerated in summer and were forced to drink it at room temperature, this put them off milk, subsequently they do not drink lt in any form 35 and 31 years later

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  19. 19
    Mark

    This is why the JDA went down the pan. Sorry Red Geoff is still in a party of one. A joke.

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  20. 20
    Yorke Hunt

    You won’t see the petition get recognised anyway – it won’t get PAST YOUR EYES
    :)

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  21. 21
    Real Truthseeker

    Subsidised school milk is a joke, and glad it was abolished.

    These two prove the saying correct that people from the left wish people from the right woudl shut up. People from the right hope those in the left don’t.

    Every time people from the left open their mouths liek this, absolute nonsense comes out.

    People of JErsey – look at this lot, and make sure your vote counts to keep people like this out, and keep people who have kept Jersey economically superior relative to the western world in like Ozouf.

    You can’t trust this lot to arrange a petition let alone loose on the economy!

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  22. 22
    Sue

    BRING MILK BACK! I have signed this petition and have asked anyone who can to sign it! I work in a school and I know that the children definitley miss their milk, and yes some parents are too poor to afford more milk as everything else is so bloody expensive in this island, people saying that parents surely arnt that poor to afford milk probably have money coming out of the bottom end of their body and throw it away! Bring the milk back! It is full of goodness and the children miss it! If the children already know that this government take away fundings for their own benefit what a sad sad world they are going to be brought up in!

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  23. 23
    BEAN THERE DONE THAT

    Boy oh boy, and this shambolic pair are going to put themselvces up for election. Thank goodness that Southern failed in his attempt to become a Senator previously. If the voting population are daft enough to vote this pair of clowns in then we will go downhill faster than Eddie The Eagle.

    You think the current lot is bad, wait for the circus to really get going if Southern and Vibert get elected.
    All we will need will be a ring master a big tent and a bucket of sawdust for a new States assembly.

    Good Luck.

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  24. 24
    Yorke Hunt

    “Roll on the next elections so all of these idiots can finally be out of our hair for good.”

    What makes you think they’ll actually take the hint this time? It’s never stopped them before :(

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  25. 25
    Beaumont

    I hope it’s not re-introduced, poor kids having to drink that rubbish

    I hate milk, always have

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  26. 26
    J Bean

    It seemed that Bill and Ben were in King Street for months getting these signatures, every week day and saturdays too, it was really annoying watching them hijack holiday makers to get them to sign their petition. If the petition was checked how many signatures were from primary school children and how many from tourists?
    At the end of the day it is the PARENTS responsibility to buy milk for their children, not the taxpayers….and all of those on income support who bleat on about how they can’t afford it should not be breeding unless they have the means to support the countless offspring they produce yearly.

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  27. 27
    colin

    One of them must have been a milk monitor at school

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  28. 28
    Real Truthseeker

    Sue: if you want your kids to drink milk GO BUY IT YOURSELF!!!!!

    My son has a lactose intolerance and therefore doesn’t touch dairy. The sort of intolerance I have of ignorant people like yourself who want the States to give you handout after handout. Go get a job and pay for milk yourself.

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  29. 29
    Parktown Prawn

    For once, I agree with you RT.

    Perhaps the kids shhould be given a glass of water instead?

    It’s free
    It’s more important for the human body
    Not enough children drink water in it’s pure form.
    It may reduce obesity in kids….known fact that hunger pangs are usually the body telling you it’s thirsty!

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  30. 30
    Real Sheepseeker

    BRING MILK BACK! I have signed this petition and have asked anyone who can to sign it please! I work in a school and I know that the children definitely miss their milk, and yes some parents are too poor to afford more milk as everything else is so expensive in this island, people saying that parents surely aren’t that poor to afford milk probably have money coming out of the bottom end of their body and throw it away! Bring the milk back! It is full of goodness and the children miss it! If the children already know that this government take away fundings for their own benefit what a sad sad world they are going to be brought up in.

    Report abuse

  31. 31
    Real Truthseeker

    Sue and Real Sheepseeker is the same person who wants to bring back school milk. Sue has all these different names on here, but is a voice of one. when Parktown Prawn and I agree on something then it is definitely the best decision. Perhaps Parktown might be just swinging my way …. but Sue and RS take a Valium and have a good lie down.

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  32. 32
    rt3

    RT; It hasn’t really got anything to do with you whether or not we have school milk over here.

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  33. 33
    Real Truthseeker

    rt3: Why not? I pay 15% tax here so therfore mytaxes go towards providing milk which should be provided by parents/guardians.

    rt3: I question what your credentials are…

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  34. 34
    Toastedteacakes

    Reinstate the Nit Nurses and they can bring the free milk with them to the states schools.

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  35. 35
    Mike

    To clarify the issue for those who refer to “free” milk, it is whether milk should be provided to all schoolchildren at the taxpayer’s expense. It ain’t free, someone else is paying for it.

    If there is a concern that some kids’ parents can’t afford stuff we see as healthy, we should perhaps think about conditional “free” milk, on the condition that the kid does not wear designer trainers, does not go home to Sky TV, isn’t given crisps to eat whilst watching, and doesn’t play Call of Duty whilst waiting for his/her parents to come home from another evening at the pub.

    On the side issue of Southern and Vibert playing tug of war with the forced petition, I would say this for Red Geoff – he is right that it is JDA’s nonsence and not Vibert’s.

    Finally, the Prawn is right – we should be advocating regular water intake, and for grown ups as well as kids.

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  36. 36
    Leah Holmes

    #30 “people saying that parents surely aren’t that poor to afford milk probably have money coming out of the bottom end of their body and throw it away!” :-D

    NOPE! Has it occured to you that maybe that’s why we object so strongly to paying for something that parents are meant to provide? Some people genuinely cannot afford to help fund other people’s children, some even want but choose not to have children of their own because they realise they cannot afford it. Awful then that we would ask them to pay for someone else’s children!

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  37. 37
    Trippy

    Has it occured to you that maybe that’s why we don’t object that strongly to paying for something that parents are meant to provide? Some people can afford to help, some even want but choose not to because they realise they cannot afford the nit nurse!

    Finally, the Prawn is right – we should be advocating regular vodka intake, and for grown ups as well as teachers.

    If there is a concern that some kids’ parents can’t afford stuff we see as healthy, we should perhaps think about patronising, controlling, conditional “free” milk, on the condition that the education minister does not wear designer trainers, does not go home to Sky TV, isn’t given crisps to eat whilst watching paint dry, and doesn’t play grand milk theft auto whilst waiting for his/her parents to come home from another evening at the stereotyped ooh arr working man’s pub as identified by a daily mail reader.

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  38. 38
    Goldie Yawn

    Leah 36

    What if you take seriously ill, Leah?
    All the healthy taxpayers will have to pay for your operations, healthcare, etc.

    Some people genuinely cannot afford to help fund other people’s healthcare; some people choose to pay private consultants and hospital and yet still have to contribute to the communal coffers.

    Whether we like it or not, that is social welfare…it’s swings and roundabouts!

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  39. 39
    Toastedteacakes

    No. 36 Leah, it is not the children’s fault, it is the perants who are milking the system and it needs to be addressed.

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  40. 40
    Real Truthseeker

    Here Here Leah – we agree on something. The moons have aligned!

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  41. 41
    Vote Quint!!

    Wake up, Grow up.

    Too busy fighting amongst yourselves to fight for the real issues and those suffering.

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  42. 42
    Jonaspan

    BRING MILK BACK! have signed this petition and have asked anyone who can to sign it please! I work in a school and I know that the children definitely miss their milk, and yes some parents are too poor to afford more milk as everything else is so expensive in this island, people saying that parents surely aren’t that poor to afford milk probably have money coming out of the bottom end of their body and throw it away! Bring the milk back! It is full of goodness and the children miss it! If the children already know that this government take away fundings for their own benefit what a sad sad world they are going to be brought up in.

    Report abuse

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