Can we really Trust Teresa May with a blank cheque?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/20/jeremy-corbyn-calls-on-theresa-may-to-drop-anti-pensioner-package

But mainly about being hungry ww although the other things are important too.
As a hungry child myself I remember how ravenous I was all the long morning until lunchtime.Biscuits could be bought at break time ( 2 for an old penny!) but I rarely had any money at all.I wolfed down my free dinners and went for seconds......
The dinner ladies loved me!

I don't think we want obesity to be a priority.

That was to ww's last post, not yours roses!

I'm sorry but I can't understand how people who say they do care about the wellbeing and future of our children can then make remarks to the effect that it is the fault of neglectful or inadequate parents that children go hungry and that, that being the case, it is the responsibility of those parents alone and nobody else.

Suggesting that inadequate parenting would be better dealt with by social work intervention does not seem to take into account the current situation where child protection teams are already under-staffed and over-worked and many are at breaking point. Even in the most severe and intractable cases, care home/foster placements are very limited and very expensive.

I don't think measures, such as providing free breakfasts and lunches for young children, are an ideal or desirable state of affairs. But in the current economic climate where many families - even those with two people working - are struggling with housing costs and other basic bills and may be working irregular shifts which impact on ordinary family life - surely it is better that these sorts of measures are used to help ease the strain?

I think it is wrong to assume that all parents who are not coping well are lazy or uncaring. Some parents - for any number of reasons, including their own difficult childhoods, poverty, depression/mental health issues, lack of parenting role models, etc., - find it difficult to manage. Sure Start Centres were opened to address these issues and to help those people who were trying to be good parents but who just needed some practical guidance. Sadly, many of those centres have now been closed down.

Ana although it's a wonder I didn't get fat, scoffing all those seconds!

Maybe better dealing with housing costs, low wages, erosion of public services then.

I agree Eloethan, the comments seem to have little to do with actual care for the children's well-being or understanding of the lives of others but apparently this is the source of jokes among some GNers. I suppose we just have to accept the wide range of people we have on here.

It is hugely difficult to make good decisions when there is a scarcity in your life. It is the same for everyone, it's just that most of us don't have to experience such extreme deprivation.

I agree with you completely suzied. Dealing with the financial and societal problems would be a much better way to go than finding it amusing ... and we would all live in a better society.

Do you think Theresa May thought this one up all by herself?

"The Conservative Party manifesto contains the following chilling paragraph:

The British public deserves to have confidence in our democracy. We will legislate to ensure that a form of identification must be presented before voting, to reform postal voting and to improve other aspects of the elections process to ensure that our elections are the most secure in the world. We will retain the traditional method of voting by pencil and paper, and tackle every aspect of electoral fraud.

Three things. First there are only two forms of photo ID in the UK. They are passports and driving licences.

Second, both cost money.

Third, neither is necessary to live in the UK.

It is estimated that maybe 3.5 million people now on the electoral roll do not have photo ID. And the Tory plan is that they will not be allowed to vote as a result.

This is staggering: it is a direct attack on the universal mandate. It most certainly will mean taxation without representation. It will, unsurprisingly benefit the Tories since most of those without ID are on lower incomes.

And it won’t change electoral fraud because there is almost no recorded electoral fraud in the UK. There was in Northern Ireland, where photo ID has helped eliminate it, I agree. but there the photo ID is free. And unless that is to be replicated in the rest of the UK this is not just a non starter, it’s a full and open assault on democracy itself."

From TaxResearch.

I wonder what's going wrong here?

I thought the Tories were able to mange the economy

Well, they are good with words; it's just the numbers that differ.
Hoping that people don't notice, you know how bad the British are at maths.

When I taught at a school where there was a breakfast club it was often the children who had two parents working but who needed to leave home early who had the breakfast. It was free to all and staffed by volunteers. There was also toast available at morning playtime.

MaizieD For how long will the electorate put up with these never-ending "jam tomorrow" promises?

durhamjen I don't see a problem with people providing photo identification in order to vote BUT if they are required to produce it, then I think it should be provided and paid for by the state.

The next five years?

Postal voting needs tightening up.

Will they allow bus passes? It is the only photo ID I have.

Bus passes have photo ID and student union cards? there may well be others.

"Theresa May is, I suggest, setting out to fail. She made that clear yesterday.

She made her shadow cabinet arrive at ‘her’ manifesto launch in a bus that talked about her and not their party.

She’s chosen to ignore their collective opinion on immigration, which most think a key issue, when for once pragmatic opinion is on their side.

She’s clearly chosen hard Brexit: I predict a breakdown in all talks within nine months. Failure is written on all the cards.

Despite which she’s chosen to alienate business, which when she’s already disappointing them on Brexit is a strange strategy.

She’s alienating many in her party by hinting at tax rises, which will happen.

She’s also alienating all those who think free movement has merit.

She’s destabilising all those organisations, from farms to universities via the NHS and the building industry and banking that have relied on it.

She’s told half her MPs that their core philosophy is wrong. She may be right about right wing libertarianism, but she’s forgetting that those who believe in it have turned holding a grudge into an art form.

She’s alienated the old on pensions and social care.

The inheriting class are up in arms.

Those who appreciated a free school lunch and think breakfast is no substitute aren’t happy, although I accept that in educational terms the policy has merit.

And she’s given remarkably little to anyone, whether it be the NHS, education, investment, workers on rights, or anything else. Indeed, much of what she has said is just aspirational waffle. The discussion of R&D is an example.

And nor are there numbers: May does not want to hang herself.

She need not worry about that. She’s already made enough enemies in a day to ensure three things."

Taxresearch again. I hope he's right.

Yawn...yet another link but in words.

I'm afraid the May way of thinking believes it is totally right - rather in the tradition of the Victorians. A pat on the head and an alms house is all anyone who doesn't think as they do deserves I fear Jen. (Just wait for someone to come on and tell us why the Victorians were right)

I am sure her logic is lost on many but I do think she believes in it - rather like those cult leaders who persuade others that the end of the world is nigh and some will follow her off the end of the cliff she is heading for, sadly.

Is this stuff the sort of thing that is preparing some posters for the massive loss that awaits Corbyn and Labour? You can't honestly believe it.

Thank you for your insightful post RAR. I am sure we’re all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view.

Gracesgran, my husband's last job, before he fell off a ladder and broke his back so he couldn't work again, was refurbishing some almshouses for a housing association. Very nice they were, too, for the pensioners living in them, after refurbishment.
Flearidden deathtraps before then. Perhaps they should have been kept in their earlier state, so people could know their place. People's expectations are far too high these days.