The wording of the headline strongly suggests that, according to the Star, 'Brit kids' are not Muslims', and that Muslims aren't really British. The Star have often made this point about 'us and them', with 'them' being Muslims:
or immigrants:
Anyway, back to the - ahem - meat of today's story:
Brit kids forced to eat halal school dinners
Furious parents last night hit out at plans to serve halal-only school dinners.
Pupils will have no option but to eat meat slaughtered following Islamic teachings specifically for Muslims.
Use of words such as 'forced' and 'have no option' feed into the tabloid narrative about 'Britain' changing only because of them Muslims.
But the BBC version of the same story has a rather different take on how much this is going to be 'forced' on people:
A north London council is offering its primary schools the chance to serve only halal meat on its menus.
Nine Harrow secondary schools already provide pupils with meat prepared according to Islamic law in a scheme that has been running for two years.
Harrow Council said it had received "no complaints" about serving halal-only meat, with vegetarian and fish options.
Now 52 primary schools in the area will have the option of taking part in the same programme.
Harrow councillor Brian Gate said it would be the choice of individual schools as to whether or not they chose to use catering firm Harrison Catering Services, which serves halal-only meat.
"The decision about whether to use an individual provider is for schools to make, as the funding is delegated to them," Councillor Gate said.
So the schools can use a catering company that provides halal meat if they want or they can choose another firm altogether. (And presumably, kids still have the option of taking packed lunches.)
Yet the Star maintains:
all high schools in the London borough of Harrow have been told to provide only halal meat on menus.
Even the Mail, after covering all the usual 'fury' and 'outrage', admits:
The contract for providing meals to Harrow primaries is up for renewal and the council is planning to bring in Harrison's.
The council says primaries do not have to use its preferred caterer and governors are free to negotiate their own deals if they wish. Only two primaries have so far signed up.
And the local Harrow Observer, which originally broke the story, said:
Harrow Council has employed a catering company to only prepare Halal meat – to serve youngsters in Harrow.
Primary schools are free to opt in to the programme or look elsewhere for their meals
Star hack Gary Nicks fails to mention that it is optional anywhere in the article, thus leaving the completely false impression that it is being 'forced' on pupils.
It doesn't take much to work out why, especially coming so soon after false stories about 'Muslim-only toilets' and the swimming pool 'blacked out' for Muslims.
UPDATE: Harrow Council have issued a statement, in order to counter the false stories. They say:
It is simply not correct that Harrow Council is insisting that its schools serve only Halal meat.
The schools are in full control of decisions relating to school meals and are free to choose who provides this service.
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