Free Republic

It seems collecting empty crisp packets is quite a popular hobby. Last week Metro reported on Dave Valentine’s impressive 500-pack archive – but this obviously opened a can (well, a packet) of worms. Hannah Conduct has come forward to reveal a whopping 9,000 empty bags in her collection, which she has gathered over the past 30 years. The marketing manager, who insists she is ‘not a big crisp eater’, said her pastime began during one of her regular family holidays on a canal boat. ‘We were sitting at a pub on the canals one day and I was eating pork...

A schoolboy has been suspended for 'crisp dealing' at a school which has banned fatty drinks and snacks. In sign of pupil disgruntlement over school meal reforms spearheaded by TV chef Jamie Oliver, 12-year-old Joel Bradley was caught allegedly selling a packet of Discos at a marked-up price of 50p. He was suspended from Liverpool's Cardinal Heenan High School because it was the second time he had been caught. His father, Joe, said the boy had been 'victimised' for an enterprise which could earn him as much as £15 a day. 'I think the school has made a beeline for...

Furious Muslims have heavily criticised Walkers crisps after it emerged that certain varieties of the manufacturer's products contain trace elements of alcohol. Some crisp types use minute amounts of alcohol as a chemical agent to extract certain flavours. The report in Asian newspaper Eastern Eye, highlights concerns raised by shopkeeper Besharat Rehman, who owns a halal supermarket in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Mr Rehman told the paper: "A customer informed us that Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli and Doritos Chilli Heat Wave are not on Walkers' alcohol-free list. Our suppliers were unaware of this. "Even if it is a trace amount of...

Boris Johnson was embroiled in an astonishing row last night after he attacked the TV chef Jamie Oliver and his campaign for healthier school dinners. The shadow higher education minister criticised Oliver's crusade days after David Cameron endorsed the chef's campaign. Mr Johnson even offered support to the mothers in Yorkshire who passed fast food to their children through the school fence in protest at the introduction of "over-priced, low-fat rubbish" in the school canteen. "I say let people eat what they like. Why shouldn't they push pies through the railings?" Mr Johnson told a fringe meeting in Bournemouth. "I...

When Gina Gough was rushed into hospital in agony, with severe abdominal pains and jaundice, doctors initially suspected hepatitis and put her to an isolation ward. In fact, the 22-year-old's condition was the result of a three-year diet that consisted almost entirely of crisps. She was eating up to 15 bags a day and went into hospital weighing 14st. Her case demonstrates the potential dangers of a junk-food diet and follows last year's controversial film Super Size Me, in which a documentary-maker ate nothing but McDonald's food for a month and monitored the subsequent deterioration in his health. It is...