Let Them Eat...?

[allenlondon]

MPs rejected the plea for free school meals to be given during holidays.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/21/marcus-rashford-in-despair-as-mps-reject-free-school-meal-plan

Should be very good news for all the Answerbanks who think poor families spend too much on smoking, gambling, etc, so should get NO more handouts!

Let them eat cake! Or nothing.

Charles Dickens would not believe it.


A

[TrevorThePug]

“ some people will not cope whatever help you give them and as a society we deal with the collateral damage.”

True that. Boris Johnson has complained endlessly about his inability to survive on his PM salary.

Even Nigel Farij has supported the need for extending FSM over the Christmas hols and called opposers mean and wrong. Nigel!!

[burlyshirley]

Lol at 11:31 ..

[rowanwitch]

I don't think we should ignore it but we should be far braver in how we deal with such problems. If we go on as we have done nothing will change, perhaps those who don't cope need different forms of support, education and at times penalties. No one should starve, but neither should those receiving help be able to rely on it long term, when I was a lot younger I helped out in a family centre in East London, the young children were there to play and learn, their mothers were there too, in a room being given help and advice about things like budgeting, and education. In the afternoon there was a young fathers group that covered similar ground . All attendees had a lunch, and/or an afternoon snack a chance to be with others in the same situation and help if they were ready to change things. I wasn't there long but I am sure something similar must exist today if not I can see it working again. Perhaps that would be one way to invest in those children,

[ummmm]

What I dislike more than anything is the assumption by so many that parents who are struggling can't cope, can't cook...etc

Life might just have dealt them a bad deal completely out of their control.

[Sqad]

Pasta is as cheap as chips.
Tomatoes....cheap.
Pumpkins are vegetables and do not have candles inthe centre when growing and makes fabulous soup.
What has happened to beans on toast?
How about an egg?

Don't blame the Government's policies but blame the parents.

[ToraToraTora]

BA ^^^

[Apc2604]

agreed ^

[Arksided]

What happens if you don't like beans... Magic or otherwise?

[ummmm]

Yes...it's cheaper than chips. Unless you have no money!

I've been in an awful financial situation through no fault of my own. I worked full time, I can cook, I can house-keep, but my wages only just covered my overheads. My kids didn't go hungry....but I did.

[TrevorThePug]

“Don't blame the Government's policies but blame the parents”

Again, what is it you have against underpriveleged white kids? Yes sure blame parents (easy cop out) but hungry white kids in the UK in the 21st C. That’s the society you want?

[ummmm]

What has the colour of the kids got to do with anything?

[Apc2604]

If parents are genuinely in trouble and literally can't afford food, then I feel for them and they need help. But I doubt very much that a lot a parents who plead poverty fall into this category. Feeding my child would have priority over everything. I do not think that children who arrive at school hungry and whose parents expect them to be fed by the state, is acceptable. A packet of cereal and milk is not expensive.

[Sqad]

Trevor

////That’s the society you want?12:59 Fri 23rd Oct 2020////

No, but that is the society that we got.....the question is,who's fault?

[ummmm]

That's my point, Apc, you pay you bills and do a shop and hope that it lasts. Sometimes it doesn't because kids are unpredictable.

I was lucky because I had family but not everyone does.

[LadyCG]

I've said this before and I'll say it again:

My mother survived on £55 a week + £10 child benefit. Out of that she managed to pay for heating / hot water, electricity, gas, food, clothes and additional expenses. Money was tight, yes, but I always had at least a dozen presents on Christmas Day, I never missed a meal EVER and I went on every school trip going, including France.

There were no food banks in those days, people just budgeted better and didn't see something like an iPhone as an entitlement.

I would sell the clothes off my back to feed my child.

[Chinajan]

Gawd. Not that old 'They waste it on iPhones!' chestnut again.

[ummmm]

How did your mother pay her rent/mortgage?

It doesn't matter how much you have coming in. It depends on how much has to be paid out.

[LadyCG]

Yes, "that old chestnut", Chinajan.

And as quite rightly pointed out (can't remember by whom and CBA to read back through this thread) a good number of those pleading poverty and claiming their children are hungry are obese.

My child has a freezer full of home-cooked meals - fish pie, cottage pie, chicken casserole, bolognese ... all chock-full of healthy ingredients. We worked out the overall cost and number of portions - each meal came out around the 30p mark. You don't have to spend £5 on a family pizza to feed your children.

[youngmafbog]

Easy for someone earning 200K a week to spend other peoples money. Where does he think this money comes from? Does he not understand that if we pay for everything then taxes have to go up and even more people enter poverty.

As usual I see the socialists on here reverting to name calling, no change there then.

[allenlondon]

There is a huge and deep debate about what has gone wrong with our society, and why - and whose fault it is.

But this thread is about one thing.

Hungry children.

Do you let them go hungry, or do you feed them?