Editor’s blog Sunday 19 September 2010: Closing down The Ministry

Today's Observerdepicts a bleak-looking future for Jamie Oliver's Ministry Of Food project in Rotherham.

You may remember the Channel 4 'Ministry Of Food' TV series: Oliver's ongoing efforts to bring about local philanthropic social reform (no, I'm not taking the mick here) tried to bring a culture of cooking to a deprived region via the 'pass it on' approach.

The funding from local government appears to be on its way out come the next financial year. (In a bitter irony, Rotherham was the site of the original 'Can Gerry Robinson Fix The NHS?' TV series, where an ISTC was set to compete with the local FT which Robinson was advising. Rotherham FT's CE Brian James has also been in the news for rejecting the Connecting For Health patient administration systems, instead choosing to commission and fund a bespoke system from FileTek).

So Oliver has written about his intention to work with businesses (or anyone, it seems) to ensure that the project continues and spreads.

Oliver's determination is admirable. The fact he has to grub around for funding for these self-evidently worthwhile projects is shameful. Let's hope he succeeds.