Parents are to be sent letters telling them that their children are obese, as if they were blind to their offspring ballooning before their eyes. Children aren't obese just for the heck of it, but because many low-income families survive on a diet that went out of fashion in the late Seventies. Today, for many adults and children, food is something mysterious that comes ready made in clingfilm, not a collection of ingredients. Cheap food nowadays is invariably bad food.

You only have to browse the aisles of your local superstore to see that E-numbers don't come at a premium. So sending letters to parents warning them that their children are 'fat' seems to me to be redundant, as well as stating the obvious. In my borough, Westminster, 27 per cent of children attend independent schools, but we also have one of the highest percentages of children on free school meals. If that doesn't highlight the chasm between rich and poor that's threatening to engulf us, I'm not sure what does. Saving postage costs and putting the money towards buying back playing fields and more cookery lessons would be a far more impressive initiative.

Maybe it's just too obvious? Then again, accruing money, no matter what plans you have for it, is a risky business if you're running a school. The government wants to claw back between 5 and 8 per cent from any school with an annual surplus to redirect to local authorities so they can reinvest in schools. The proposal has the glint of insanity to it. But with a £1.6bn surplus just from the year 2005/6, something clearly needs to be done with the money.

Any mention of free school meals for all gets ridiculed, but in Scotland they're giving it a go. Some 37,000 of the youngest pupils in East Ayrshire, Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire are at the start of a free school meals experiment aiming to provide a healthy meal once a day for every child. It's ambitious, expensive and challenging, but just imagine if it were to become the reality across the country?

The current system segregates the haves and have-nots before they can even read and write. Poor children in a corner on what's perceived as charity rations, the more fortunate munching crisps and biscuits, while others open designer lunchboxes to reveal free-range egg sandwiches and organic apples.

Providing nutritious meals for all primary-school children could revolutionise the dietary habits of Britain's youth and potentially reduce bullying and discrimination at the same time.

Free school meals would no longer be a mark of poverty, but a monument to the magnanimity of the British taxpayer. Now that would be something to be proud of.

Cruise control falters

Watching a superstar plunging from Olympian heights has a terrible compulsion. I watched Tom Cruise's star crash to earth on Tuesday night.

At the Lions For Lambs premiere in London's Leicester Square, the hysterical crowds he once attracted were replaced by a motley crew of professional autograph-seekers and a scattering of families who seemed to have accidentally found themselves in the vicinity.

I was told that he would arrive at 4.45pm for a marathon autograph session. Judging by the number of 'fans' there when I arrived at 7.15pm, he must have shared 'quality time' with every single one of them. Instead of his trademark boyish grin, Cruise sported the bewildered look of a wounded animal and seemed poignantly aware of his fall from grace.

I hope among their many courses, Scientologists offer counselling for the fading stars of the congregation.