IF you believe what you read in the newspapers, the General Election is a mere two months away.

Of course, Tony Blair becomes as coy as a schoolgirl when asked to confirm the day New Labour seeks to win an historic third consecutive term in power will be May 5.

But there are clues that this is when the people will go to the polls.

One, it is the day of the local elections, saving the Government the hassle of breaking out the ballot boxes twice.

Two, Labour would benefit from any feel-good factor generated by Prince Charles' wedding to Camilla.

And three, The Sun has named May 5 on its front page - and would Downing Street really wish to rile powerful, opinion-forming proprietor Rupert Murdoch by leaking the wrong date?

Propping up these pointers is the sudden surge in rhetoric coming from the Government.

Ministers are beginning to subtly (and sometimes not so subtlety) manipulate a potentially pliable public using the lure of a carrot - and the threat of a stick.

Mr Blair's 'stick' is to continually flag up catastrophes which could engulf Britain - for instance, terrorism and bird flu. He says the Conservatives could never deal effectively with these life-threatening perils.

The 'carrot' is the good stuff you'll get under Labour: more cash for

working mums, flexible opening hours for pubs, bars and nightclubs, and more say on what your child eats at school.

Recently, the latter has become especially topical.

Last month, hundreds of processed foods were removed from supermarket shelves amid fears they contained Sudan 1, a cancer-causing dye.

Now celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is using his ground-breaking hit Channel 4 television show, Jamie's School Dinners, to highlight how much rubbish is served up to children at lunchtimes.

In the show, he oversees kitchens at primary schools in Greenwich, south London, and Peterlee, one of the most shockingly deprived towns in the decimated County Durham coalfield.

With a mixture of astonishment and despair, Oliver discovered most pupils ate Pot Noodles or chips for their evening meal - and could not tell the difference between rhubarb and onions.

So he is trying to change their eating habits by replacing unappetising pre-packed foods, such as turkey twizzlers and cheese slices, with freshly prepared and cooked grub - fish pie, roast chicken and vegetables.

But he must do this on a budget of some 45p per meal - a quarter of the cost of prison dinners.

Central to Oliver's experiment is his belief that if children enjoy a healthy, well-balanced diet, you can reverse the increase in child obesity and, at the same time, improve pupils' concentration, behaviour and social skills.

His crusade to improve school meals has been welcomed by hundreds of parents - and now Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate, and John Grogan, Labour MP for Selby, have offered their support.

Oliver has also got the ear of Education Secretary Ruth Kelly, who last month promised that processed foods, such as beefburgers, sausages and chicken nuggets, would be removed from school canteens unless they hit tough nutritional standards.

Tougher minimum standards would be introduced in September to ensure there was less sugar, fat and salt in meals, she said.

All good stuff, you may think. But whether the Government will genuinely crack down on the multi-million pound firms who dish up unhealthy, unappetising processed meals to pupils is another matter.

Ministers are desperate to avoid the tag of "nanny state-ism". And if that means children can choose to nosh on hot-dogs, french fries, beans and doughnuts, well, that's up to them.

But with choice comes responsibility. No Government could justify letting kids feast on whatever their hearts desired while sweeping under the carpet the fact that it is creating a health timebomb.

So it must work out how to invest more money in schools wishing to cook healthy meals while getting tough with companies growing fat on the back of processed meals.

A case, one might say, of more carrot and less (chicken drum) stick.

Updated: 08:34 Friday, March 04, 2005