It’s tough to know where to stand on 5 A DAY.

The vast majority of us must, I would imagine, believe it is a good, solid message to be spreading. But equally, it has now been around for some time and it doesn’t appear to be setting the consumer’s world alight.

Consumption has risen slightly in the last couple of years - but when the cash poured into 5 A DAY is combined with the money spent on free fresh produce for schools, the return on investment to date is meagre.

Perhaps 5 A DAY for all consumers is a pipe-dream, so maybe we shouldn’t measure its success on consumption figures alone. But what we hear this week is that the influx of a few hundred million quid into the school-meal system has resulted in a drop in the number of kids eating their supposedly healthier fare.

The obvious conclusion is that this government is great at throwing money - not that much money, but enough to sound impressive - at problems. But it does not have the wherewithal or back-up network to carry its objectives through to the achievements stage.

Appropriately, the issue is that too many cooks spoil the broth. Too many government representatives are listening to too wide a cross-section of one-eyed experts, with a plethora of self-serving agenda. We end up with a hotch-potch of approaches which leave consumers none the wiser. It also hinders rather than helps trade.