“I had noticed that both in the very poor and very rich extremes of society the mad were often allowed to mingle freely.”
Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye.
Sometimes an article in the local rag just gets me going.
In today’s Bradford T&A my MP spouts yet more drivel, this time jumping on the free school meals bus. Now I have to confess that I am still not clear who is right or wrong here, but I do suspect kids are simply the ball in the middle of a dirty game.
The article is ‘Time for Government to live up to ‘we’re all in this together’ promise’ and it really takes some reading.
This is the very same MP who claimed it “abhorrent” that child benefit be restricted to the first two kids. I find it abhorrent that I have not been rewarded for not breeding but doubt the T&A would be interested in my views here.
Give Me The Money
In Parliament recently, Hotair Hussain made the claim that Bradford (population 530k) needed £75m – as a starting point – on the basis that Greater Manchester (population 2.7m) had received £60m (after seeking £65m) to fund Tier 3 status.
According to Hotair: “…before this crisis, Bradford faced Dickensian levels of poverty with around half of the children across the district growing up in households on the breadline…with economic challenges that mean more people are trapped in precarious employment and working in low-paid roles.”
To use the term Dickensian is a nonsense. Of course, there are people struggling but Hotair’s only response seems to be to hold out the begging bowl. Where are his initiatives to sell Bradford to future employers? What is he doing for the city that might change its fortunes?
What can Bradford do to attract better jobs?
Growing Up
As a reader comments: “I was brought up in the 70s/80s with no car, central heating, shower, double glazing but my mum ensured food on the table.”
Likewise, my parents slogged all their working lives to give us a better chance. My Dad took every bit of overtime going – two nights and weekend mornings – in a noisy, oppressive factory environment.
My Mum, a highly intelligent woman, was a career mum. So she took on jobs that would be considered “low paid” by Hotair to be a mum. She worked at the local chippie and came back after work with leftovers; we were like a pack of lion cubs ripping open the hot papers before she could get her shoes off.
I did not step on a plane until I was eighteen and was none the worse for it. Our family cars were kept going – just – by the old man’s cussing, effort, knowledge and a fair bit of filler. I remember ice on the inside of my bedroom windows but I was never cold nor hungry.
Stuck In The Middle
Hotair is a populist chancer appealing to his block vote. As a resident of Bradford East, its composition means I am unlikely to ever again have anything other than a Labour MP.
Don’t get me wrong; I do not think Boris the Blusterer will be judged kindly by history here too. However, Labour, with the chance of a fresh start, just look like the same old bunch of no-hopers.
Covid has brought many things into sharp focus. How we have been living on credit for decades. The deep divisions between the spectacularly rich and Ordinary Joe. And how politicians of all sides have finally been exposed.
They cannot answer any question “off message”. As a consequence, the public have developed a loathing of them; how refreshing would it be for one to say “you know what, we got that wrong!”
Instead we just get posturing and counter-posturing which helps nobody, least of all the people Hotair claims to represent but ultimately fails.
Footnote
This was sent by a friend who works in a school in an area of the country you would describe as affluent. It makes for compelling reading.
All children in key stage one get universal free school meals: Reception, year 1 and year 2. That is another dumb scheme designed by Nick Clegg under the coalition govt. Most of the food goes in the bin. It all used to go to pig farmers for their feed, but the EU ended that. A far better system would be free meals across all age groups for all families in hardship. Far less wasteful, both for the tax payer and the caterers.
In key stage two, in my school, only 13 kids (out of 200) qualify. The great majority of them don’t want them and bring a packed lunch anyway. That is because most of them are not actually poor and can easily afford to feed their kids. When universal credit began to be rolled out, the govt made such a hash of it that they brought in this blanket rule that any child who qualified for free school meals as at 31/3/19 would remain eligible until 31/12/23! Can you believe that?
At that time, we had quite a few families where one of the parents was a student, often doing a PhD, and the other was a housewife/husband, so they had very little income and they qualified. That was fair enough then. However, those same families are now in a position where the former student is in a highly paid post but their kids still qualify for FSM.
Meanwhile, families who did not qualify during 2018, but are now desperately struggling because the main breadwinner has lost his/her job due to covid, find they cannot get FSM because the one parent who is still working earns over £16.19K per year…it barely covers a year’s rent.
Now, we have situations like this (names changed but genuine cases):
Example 1. John has lost his job as a chef in a restaurant because the restaurant has gone bust. His wife Mary works in a supermarket and earns £20k. Their three children do not qualify as she earns too much. The kids bring their own packed lunches. Often jam sandwiches in cheapest bread and a packet of crisps. It is all they can afford.
Example 2. Roger was a law student in 2018 and his wife Sally was a stay at home mum as their youngest child was 3. They qualified for free school meals then and still do now under the 2023 rule – even though Roger is now in a very senior position in public service and Sally is a senior administrator. They could easily pay for their kids meals but they don’t have to.
Example 3. Linda was a childminder. Her husband was an engineer. He had a heart attack and died in 2016. Mum dug deep, did more child minding and looked after her three sons alone. Now all her boys are old enough to be a bit more independent, the youngest one is 10, so she has decided to retrain as a nurse. She assumed that she would qualify for FSM as a student.
However, students no longer qualify. The government has moved the goalposts and to qualify for FSM parents now have to be actively seeking employment. Students are not actively seeking employment, they are actively seeking to better their employment prospects in the future but currently cannot work. So they don’t get FSM.
The whole thing is a farce. We actually feed half a dozen children in term time in my school because we know the parents are struggling but do not get state aid. Yes, there are scroungers and tossers out there and always will be, but knowing that does not help the children. My school is very middle class but at my last one over 70% of families qualified.
We had one mum with four kids who only got one meal a day and that was the meal at school. She spent her benefits on cigarettes, tattoos and bingo whilst her kids starved.
FSM are really important for the poorest of children although I would be the first to say the system needs overhauling, and the former students who are now working need to be booted off the payroll, it is a joke that MPs continue to have everything subsidised whilst they sit in judgment about everyone else.
For them to claim – is it £25 per day? – for meals if they stay away from their constituencies, and yet object to giving a hungry child £2.30 per day, is hypocrisy on a grand scale.
What a world.
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