I know this is a cancellation notice thread. But, maybe this one will help keep spirits up too!


TV Chef Jamie Oliver has called for the government to introduce healthier alternatives to salt on the UK's roads. Speaking at the launch of his new campaign, he said it was a 'crying shame' that the nation's children had to walk and drive to school on unhealthily treated roads and pavements which could lead to high blood pressure, heart disease and rusty bike wheels.

In his new Channel 4 series, with accompanying book and DVD, Jamie Oliver demonstrates how other condiments can be used to treat frozen surfaces including cracked black pepper and freshly chopped herbs. The government has supported the campaign with Transport Minister Lord Adonis saying that using local ingredients such as sorrel and wild garlic would reduce the nation's reliance on imported salt stocks during severe winter weather.

However parents at some schools have objected to healthier alternatives being used to on icy school playgrounds. In Rotherham, parents were seen pushing salt cellars and even ready-salted crisps through school fences after their children refused to play football on a school yard treated with rustic French mustard vinaigrette.

Despite the criticisms, many councils have backed the idea and later episodes of the show will reveal how Hampstead and Highgate have now fully replaced salt across the borough with shaved parmesan and torn basil leaves, although it admits it may have to maintain stocks of freshly milled Maldon sea salt for emergencies.

In other news a driver and four pedestrians were seriously injured after a car mounted the pavement after skidding on a redcurrant and balsamic glaze outside a school in Islington.