What has gone wrong?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.guardian.c...oolchildren-breakfast

This is not a story from Dickens Victorian England, it is benefit Britain of 2012.

Are there really families going hungry, if so why?

[EDDIE51]

I agree that the main problem is that kids won't get out of bed in time to eat breakfast. There is a corner shop near me and just a bit further up are 2 schools, every week day morning there is long queue of school kids buying sweets and large cans of 'energy drink' ,( not Red Bull which is too expensive but the cheap version.) For 90% of them that is breakfast !

[j4ne50]

To Duncer .....
Try to take a minute to look beyond your window.... The human beings in which you speak so negatively of are the product of the political system in which we live in and the views that you express are a reaffirmation of our social conditioning encouraged by large areas of the predominately right wing media which is a residue of Thatcher Britain . Try for a minute to take a step back and consider a society fundamentally different from the one you see now. These children in which you have written off deserve a better future in a chance to break the cycle of benefit dependency.. to give them a chance, by fundamental change in the education system, by banning private education and the wealth and resources distributed to all in society to break the chain and the offer of employment ..... amen

[j4ne50]

To Duncer ..
It's interesting how you label the labour party as elitist public school toffs ... Umm ! And as for the "lumpen proletariat" you speak of ..( not wanting to ignore an issue ) .. I are the generation created by the dis-industrialization of Thatcher Britain who created the dawning of apathetic Britain !

To Eddie51
Thanks for that .. the problems with the economical and social decline is ..... yes kids not getting out of bed and buying sweets ... and that is the MAIN problem !

[anotheoldgit]

daffy654

/// AOG most high school clothing is now school branded and can only be bought from the school or their recommended supplier. All my son's PE kit, his trousers, tie and blazer are bought this way. The only thing I can get cheaply are his shirts. ///

So what is so special about his school trousers that you have to buy school branded ones?

I would have thought that they either had to be black or grey, both of which can be purchased from supermarkets.

Also most high street school shops sell the local school's badges, and these can be attached to supermarket blazers.

[anotheoldgit]

I have seen on here mention of how expensive it is to bring up teenagers, but I have seen no mention of them acquiring part time jobs, to help pay for those teenage things .

ie A paper round, washing hair at the local hairdressers, washing cars, snow shifting in the winter, or a little gardening perhaps.

[ummmm]

My sons PE kit is embroidered with their logo. They don't have sew on labels. I said earlier a pair of school socks cost £7, school T-Sugar £10, Trackie bottoms £15, Shorts £9...then all the ties they lose at £2.50 a pop.

Times that by the amount of kids you have in school!! And that's just the PE kit.

[ummmm]

My son has 2 paper rounds that he does 7 days a week.

[rockyracoon]

Ummm, our school trackie is £61, and they barely wear it, freaks me out. Most of their uniform has to be bought from the school supplier, with the exception of shirts and trousers, my daughter skirts will have to be school supplier as well. She's just going up to secondary this sept and I've put aside £300 or her uniform, but looking at the prices and what she needs, I'll have to add about another £50 to that, I'm lucky that I can afford it but I really don't know how some would manage. Oh yeah, they all have to have the same school bag and PE bag, from school supplier naturally, £30 bloody quid, I don't spend that on my own bags.

[rockyracoon]

Getting to jobs, there's a finite amount of newspaper rounds about and the shop over the road has a middle aged gent delivering his papers. Such is H&S and insurance these days, it makes it virtually impossible to employ anyone under the age of 16.

[Duncer]

Jane

You say "It's interesting how you label the labour party as elitist public school toffs ... Umm!"

Surely you don't doubt this? They are all cut from the same cloth and there is little or no difference between the two main parties.

"And as for the "lumpen proletariat" you speak of ..( not wanting to ignore an issue ) .. I are the generation created by the dis-industrialization of Thatcher Britain who created the dawning of apathetic Britain!"

I was speaking of the lumpen proletariat that Marx spoke of, and I'm fairly sure he pre-dates Maggie. I would also like to see proof/an argument for Maggie allegedly creating the apathy that prevails today.