Free School Meals

[wiggy]

There have always been Tory and Labour followers whose blind support can make them look stupid. But fuck me there are some Tories who are outdoing themselves with this one.

[Escobarp]

5 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I see kids in central Blackpool going to school eating bags of crisps for their breakfast. Piss wet through stood out school gates without a proper coat.

Theres some horrible bastards out there. 

There is and always has been. I don’t know you but I think from what I do know if you saw a kid hungry outside of a shop you would buy them Summat. 
 

the system is fucked. 

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

For what it's worth, there have been calls to help hungry children during school holidays since before the pandemic. But perhaps just the fact the pandemic has hit, many people are having to live on two thirds of their salary or have recently lost their jobs, and the fact that the campaign has been pursued by a high profile figure has brought it into sharper focus?

I don't know if it's necessary to assume bad faith.

[London Wanderer]

1 hour ago, Escobarp said:

My anger is more at the virtue signallers and the outrage at this when it’s been going on forever. Fuck all to do with covid. Where was peoples anger?

all the people on here outraged by it where have you been hiding this outrage all this time? as I guarantee not one of you have ever even given a thought to a kid going without a meal during school holidays but now your outraged about it? 
 

this is society nowadays sadly. It’s good in one way cos it promotes some positive change. Yet when mounts or similar has a slightly differing opinion he’s a heartless cunt? Does that not then include every single one of you? Cos none of you have given a fuck before now!

 

rant over 

People have been angry about this for a while mate. Folk working with and supporting young folk have been asking for more support and trying to raise awareness for years. It was discussed a lot during the last election and it's nothing new. If you googled it you would find countless articles showing the outrage in recent years. It's just in the news at the moment so we're talking about it more. You can't just throw the virtue signalling card at everything. 

Agree that calling folk heartless isn't helping. The discussion should be about the most effective way to get food to the sproglets. Not about who does or doesn't care.

 

[Escobarp]

3 minutes ago, London Wanderer said:

People have been angry about this for a while mate. Folk working with and supporting young folk have been asking for more support and trying to raise awareness for years. It was discussed a lot during the last election and it's nothing new. If you googled it you would find countless articles showing the outrage in recent years. It's just in the news at the moment so we're talking about it more. You can't just throw the virtue signalling card at everything. 

Agree that calling folk heartless isn't helping. The discussion should be about the most effective way to get food to the sproglets. Not about who does or doesn't care.

 

Look at Twitter and this thread. Show me any of the people on there angry about this who’ve ever mentioned it?

of course there are people who work with the kids who are angry and have always wanted change. 
 

you and others are missing my point. Where have all these millions of people been before now? Before it’s fashionable? The in thing to be seen to criticize? Want to help? Want to make it better?

 

anyway it’s an emotive subject for me so I shall leave it there now on this and let folk politicise it to death 

[London Wanderer]

2 minutes ago, Escobarp said:

Look at Twitter and this thread. Show me any of the people on there angry about this who’ve ever mentioned it?

of course there are people who work with the kids who are angry and have always wanted change. 
 

you and others are missing my point. Where have all these millions of people been before now? Before it’s fashionable? The in thing to be seen to criticize? Want to help? Want to make it better?

 

anyway it’s an emotive subject for me so I shall leave it there now on this and let folk politicise it to death 

Don't think I'm missing your point. I get it. People jump on virtue signalling bandwagons all the time. 

Whilst some folk are doing it with this, I'd say it does feel different. You've got organisations and councils who've taken Rashford's campaign on board and are actually doing something positive. Not everyone is having a rant about this is trying to be fashionable. 

But yeah, this thread has ran it's course for me as well. Thought you shared a cracking post the other day and I get that it's an emotive subject for ya. It feels close to home for me an all. 

p.s - discovered a new brewery today - https://topoutbrewery.com/. Right on our doorstep, highly recommend 👍
 

[only1swanny]

Can people on furlough get job seekers ? 

Got me thinking 

[MickyD]

11 minutes ago, Escobarp said:

Not asking for an apology for it. my childhood shaped who I am today. 
I welcome The positive change that hopefully this will bring.  
 

but all this angry outrage can get to fuck. Same as Anti slavery pish can get to fuck. Nobody gave a fuck so stop pretending now cos it’s fashionable. That’s my point 

Here’s where my personal dealings come into all this and why my outrage isn’t ‘faux’.

My daughter’s boyfriend has a sister who, to cut a long story short, kicked her physical and mental abusing partner (and father of their three children) out. The kids are 10, 6 and 3 so two at school and one not yet. (Play school or pre-school 2 half-days per week)

Mum is skint. Kids don’t go without clothing or food but the oldest two get free school meals. Dad isn’t working so nothing there.

Wife and I provide support for all four of them. Emotional support where needed and feed them a couple of days a week just so that what bit of money she does have goes a little further. It’s almost like being surrogate grand parents. 
I really do get it. 

2 hours ago, wiggy said:

There have always been Tory and Labour followers whose blind support can make them look stupid. But fuck me there are some Tories who are outdoing themselves with this one.

But get off the generalisation fence and call out those you disagree with so you can argue why you’re right and the “stupid blind followers of Conservatism“ can argue back.

Just for the record, my politics lean towards Tory but fucking hell, they’ve got this call wrong.

[MickyD]

Clark David Greenhaulgh (Cons) has announced that Bolton Council will support any children in the borough in receipt of free school meals.

[Winchester White]

5 minutes ago, MickyD said:

Clark David Greenhaulgh (Cons) has announced that Bolton Council will support any children in the borough in receipt of free school meals.

Good on them, Chris Green voted against.

To be fair, I do kind of get some peoples thinking on this issue.  However, the awful things stated in the commons and written by Tory MPs on Twitter just shows that some don't give a fuck about the poor.

[birch-chorley]

1 minute ago, Winchester White said:

Good on them, Chris Green voted against.

To be fair, I do kind of get some peoples thinking on this issue.  However, the awful things stated in the commons and written by Tory MPs on Twitter just shows that some don't give a fuck about the poor.

Think that Chris Green is also of the opinion that the current restrictions aren’t the way to go and are killing the economy 

Without the restrictions we wouldn’t have forced a million extra kids into food poverty over the past few months 

Let’s see how many more millions of kids go the same way by the time this things over 

[royal white]

2 hours ago, London Wanderer said:

People have been angry about this for a while mate. Folk working with and supporting young folk have been asking for more support and trying to raise awareness for years. It was discussed a lot during the last election and it's nothing new. If you googled it you would find countless articles showing the outrage in recent years. It's just in the news at the moment so we're talking about it more. You can't just throw the virtue signalling card at everything. 

Agree that calling folk heartless isn't helping. The discussion should be about the most effective way to get food to the sproglets. Not about who does or doesn't care.

 

I have never once heard about providing kids school meals in the school holidays pre covid. 
 

 

[birch-chorley]

2 minutes ago, royal white said:

I have never once heard about providing kids school meals in the school holidays pre covid. 
 

 

Free school meals were part of the Labour manifesto last year, no mention of it during school holidays though. Not really a free school meal if it’s in school holidays, it’s just a meal surely 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/06/jeremy-corbyn-launches-labour-policy-of-free-school-meals-for-all-primary-pupils
 

Like I’ve said previously, I’d be supportive of Universal free school meals. You could fund them for over 400 years with the £400bn we have spent on Covid this fiscal 

[Escobarp]

3 minutes ago, royal white said:

I have never once heard about providing kids school meals in the school holidays pre covid. 
 

 

I know one school that does it. In a very deprived area. Which happens to be where my friend lives. But they are self funded and very few and far between. And they don’t plaster it on socials. Which will be the next big thing for schools that are doing it. Oh look at us. Aye look at you now. Where were you for the years before when the same kids were hungry 

[Escobarp]

32 minutes ago, MickyD said:

Here’s where my personal dealings come into all this and why my outrage isn’t ‘faux’.

My daughter’s boyfriend has a sister who, to cut a long story short, kicked her physical and mental abusing partner (and father of their three children) out. The kids are 10, 6 and 3 so two at school and one not yet. (Play school or pre-school 2 half-days per week)

Mum is skint. Kids don’t go without clothing or food but the oldest two get free school meals. Dad isn’t working so nothing there.

Wife and I provide support for all four of them. Emotional support where needed and feed them a couple of days a week just so that what bit of money she does have goes a little further. It’s almost like being surrogate grand parents. 
I really do get it. 

But get off the generalisation fence and call out those you disagree with so you can argue why you’re right and the “stupid blind followers of Conservatism“ can argue back.

Just for the record, my politics lean towards Tory but fucking hell, they’ve got this call wrong.

I wasn’t insinuating your outrage in particular was faux micky. But good on you for making a difference and looking out for the kiddies. As I’ve said I would hope everyone on here would do the same. 

[stevieb]

5 minutes ago, birch-chorley said:

Think that Chris Green is also of the opinion that the current restrictions aren’t the way to go and are killing the economy 

Without the restrictions we wouldn’t have forced a million extra kids into food poverty over the past few months 

Let’s see how many more millions of kids go the same way by the time this things over 

Chris Green has nailed a lot of the votes and he's my local pm and has had my vote for the last few... but free school meals is a toxic vote and he's got it wrong on this one. 

In normal pre-covid times saying all poor kids get free school meals gives free reign for feckless parents to absolve responsibility for their kids upbringing and would never be something I'd normally agree to. 

In current times with jobs situation on its arse and more and more of the population likely to be dropping into the FSM category of low income families it's a no brainer.

It may be wishful thinking but can't we implement it with a 2 year time limit on it for further review or does that not play into the everything is black and white in political debates these days. 

[Ani]

2 hours ago, Escobarp said:

Look at Twitter and this thread. Show me any of the people on there angry about this who’ve ever mentioned it?

of course there are people who work with the kids who are angry and have always wanted change. 
 

you and others are missing my point. Where have all these millions of people been before now? Before it’s fashionable? The in thing to be seen to criticize? Want to help? Want to make it better?

 

anyway it’s an emotive subject for me so I shall leave it there now on this and let folk politicise it to death 

The issue has come up as when schools closed for the pandemic FSM continued. 

[birch-chorley]

8 minutes ago, stevieb said:

Chris Green has nailed a lot of the votes and he's my local pm and has had my vote for the last few... but free school meals is a toxic vote and he's got it wrong on this one. 

In normal pre-covid times saying all poor kids get free school meals gives free reign for feckless parents to absolve responsibility for their kids upbringing and would never be something I'd normally agree to. 

In current times with jobs situation on its arse and more and more of the population likely to be dropping into the FSM category of low income families it's a no brainer.

It may be wishful thinking but can't we implement it with a 2 year time limit on it for further review or does that not play into the everything is black and white in political debates these days. 

I get all that, but I was of the impression that he resigned from his ministerial post as he wasn’t supportive of the way the government was again restricting the economy? if your of the opinion that the government shouldn’t be restricting the economy and denying millions of people their chance to work then I can understand opposing this 

If it wasn’t for the restrictions then this wouldn’t be an issue, the restrictions are leading to millions more kids in food poverty 

They need to put the economy first, get people back into work so they can feed their own kids 

I appreciate you can reject the restrictions and support this, but fuck the restrictions off and you don’t need this 

Edited October 24, 2020 by birch-chorley

[stevieb]

Just now, birch-chorley said:

 

If it wasn’t for the restrictions then this wouldn’t be an issue, the restrictions are leading to millions more kids in food poverty 

If it wasn't for the restrictions it'd be the status quo... Which both parties have agreed on for years and years. 

But its not the status quo. 

 

[Escobarp]

5 minutes ago, birch-chorley said:

I get all that, but if your of the opinion that the government shouldn’t be restricting the economy and denying millions of people their chance to work 

If it wasn’t for the restrictions then this wouldn’t be an issue, the restrictions are leading to millions more kids in food poverty 

I was of the impression that he resigned from his ministerial post as he wasn’t supportive of the way the government was again restricting the economy 

They need to put the economy first, get people back into work so they can feed their own kids 

I appreciate you can reject the restrictions and support this, but fuck the restrictions off and you don’t need this 

This is my whole point in what is so wrong about this. Of course we need it. This was an issue before covid. Sorry you’re way way off the Mark here with this one. 
 

this time last year there were kids going hungry in school holidays. What youre saying is they don’t count. Just cos there is a million extra now its a problem. No no no. 

Edited October 24, 2020 by Escobarp

[Escobarp]

Mods can you make this thread unviewable to me please 😂

[birch-chorley]

1 minute ago, Escobarp said:

This is my whole point in what is do wrong about this. Of course we need it. This was an issue before covid. Sorry you’re way way off the Mark here with this one. 
 

this time last year there were kids going hungry in school holidays. What youre saying is they don’t count. Just cos there is a million extra now its a problem. No no no. 

I’m not saying ‘they don’t count’ at all 

I’m saying it wasn’t a political issue, it certainly wasn’t part of the Labour Manifesto on free school meals 

This has only become a political issue since the Covid restrictions came in 

I was on the other thread this week highlighting that 2.5m African kids die each year as they don’t have clean water. It’s a major issue, but it isn’t a political issue in our politics (at the moment). That may change down the line, who knows 

[stevieb]

6 minutes ago, Escobarp said:

This is my whole point in what is so wrong about this. Of course we need it. This was an issue before covid. Sorry you’re way way off the Mark here with this one. 
 

this time last year there were kids going hungry in school holidays. What youre saying is they don’t count. Just cos there is a million extra now its a problem. No no no. 

I'm also not saying it was never an issue. 

It wasn't an issue for me growing up as I wasn't on school meals but my Conservative views would probably always have fell on 'not our job to feed kids in the holidays'. 

I'd still probably be the same now if covid hadn't come along and fucked millions of hard working people over in previously viable jobs who are now fucked. 

For the record I've only ever voted tory up to now and I think in the current climate they've got this one wrong.

[London Wanderer]

35 minutes ago, royal white said:

I have never once heard about providing kids school meals in the school holidays pre covid. 
 

 

I was talking about child hunger/poverty in general. Not just this policy. 

[Escobarp]

2 minutes ago, stevieb said:

I'm also not saying it was never an issue. 

It wasn't an issue for me growing up as I wasn't on school meals but my Conservative views would probably always have fell on 'not our job to feed kids in the holidays'. 

I'd still probably be the same now if covid hadn't come along and fucked millions of hard working people over in previously viable jobs who are now fucked. 

For the record I've only ever voted tory up to now and I think in the current climate they've got this one wrong.

Hard working people couldn’t feed their kids properly before covid. not all people on free school meals come from a family of layabouts mate!! 
 

The fact people have suddenly become switched onto this problem is great.  But the fact it is often accompanied with a comment about covid is my issue. Covid didn’t create the problem. It worsened it. The problem existed. People are looking to provide temporary support til the pandemic is over. 
 

then the same kids from the same poor backgrounds are left to fend for themselves cos covid is gone and all “the hardworking people” can go back to feeding their kids again?