Has the Conservative Party lost all sense of competence

Eloethan this sentence every indicator shows that any cuts in historical debt have been at the expense of many things vital to a modern nation but especially to our infrastructure, education/training and research and development - all vital components of a forward-looking and successful economy., sums up so well exactly what has been done to our economy under this government and we will take decades recovering from it unless a different government makes turning it round the centre of their policies.

whitewave thank you for the facts re Norway and tax. They, it appears, are happy to pay for a less socially divisive, more socially mobile, more humane society.

I think it is the only way the dreadful divisions in this country will ever be resolved.

The problem is the strangle hold the media has in the U.K. I do think it is getting less though, but compared the U.K. media to the Nordic countries where self regulation really does work and they are consistently ranked as the highest in the world for press freedom and participatory democracy.

I know which model I prefer.

I agree about the media and would add the influence of the amoral businesses on that.

Justine Greening on Marr, said this morning that what the government are doing is a transformational series of policies across government to drive equality of opportunity. This, to me, shows their inability to think big on anything because, I believe, they want the status quo but want to look like nice human beings at the same time. They are not.

Tomorrow the JRT is going to say tomorrow that in terms of poverty, for both pensioners and for children, things have got worse in a way that hasn't happened for 20 years.

Brown made it a target to lift 3million children out of poverty.

Remember Sure Start- something my dil was involved with, and proving to be very successful.

This rabble got rid of it on the altar of austerity, whilst at the same time giving untold millions to the bankers and very wealthy.

I remember Cameron saying his government was increasing the number of family centres at exactly the same time that figures confirmed they were closing them. Anyone working with children and families will confirm that preventative and support services are continually being closed as a direct result of government policy.

The family centres do not address the central problem relating to the child’s life chances. We know that the child’s social mobility is generally fixed by the time she reaches 2.5
Sure Start which took children from birth was charged with changing this throughout their early years education. Family centres do not address this issue.

whitewave, the family centres I worked in over many years did exactly that. Our town had a 'centre of excellence' working with families during and following pregnancy. I'm not decrying the excellent Sure Start family centres I worked in and I don't see it as some kind of us and them competition either.

Yes of course that was a particular remit they worked to but I am talking about education, which the family centres cannot address. Sure Start recognised that education from a very early age was the best way to give these children any chance. Parent centres whilst doing sterling work, my dil managed one at one stage, can never fill the gap left by Sure Start - they can work in random which would be ideal, but quite honestly until huge strides in reducing inequality are made, we are all crying in the wilderness.

I don't think they achieved any goals with respect to education ww - there was lots of research and measurement of outcomes and they found very little difference, despite all the resources. I totally agree with you that education is the best way to give all children a chance, I don't have any answers on the best way to make that happen.

I think you are wrong primrose. It was decided and agreed from the outset that no results could be established one way or another for 20 years.

I didn't know that ww - makes all those studies pretty irrelevant then! Bit rubbish that none of them mentions it. Can you point me to where I can find the 20-year timescale documented?

I am sorry not to be able to help you primrose I simply can’t remember the documents but do remember reading the appropriate stuff when sure Start was introduced. If you think about it, it makes absolute sense.
I read extensively at the time, and firmly agreed with the aims of the idea.

Surestart was based on a model from the USA called Head Start which started in the 1960s and produced evidence that children from poor backgrounds who received high quality nursery education had lower levels of crime and higher aspirations in later life
Launched in 1965[2] by its creator and first director Jule Sugarman, Head Start was originally conceived as a catch-up summer school program that would teach low-income children in a few weeks what they needed to know to start elementary school. The Head Start Act of 1981[3] expanded the program.[4] The program was revised when it was reauthorized in December 2007. Head Start is one of the longest-running programs attempting to address the effects of systemic poverty in the United States by intervening to aid children. As of late 2005, more than 22 million children had participated. The current director of Head Start is Blanca Enriquez, who was appointed in 2015.
What a pity we couldn't even keep a program running long enough to collect our own data.

Cheers trisher I begin to doubt myself at times

I still remember how hopeful we were that this would change things and pave the way for a brighter future for children from poor families. Seems like a fool's dream now.

Thanks whitewave, I agree with your comments about early years education.
The Blair government was instrumental in extending SureStart and other family support provision. Mostly gone now and its unsurprising that we have an increase in concerns about child development and safeguarding. All of course compounded by the bedroom tax and benefit cuts. Here's hoping for an early election and success for the LP

iam

My grandson's autism was picked up whem his parents moved into a Sure Start area in Norwich. Before that there was nothing. He was on a list to be seen eventually.
We have Sure Start to be grateful for.

As far as Nordic taxes, etc., are concerned, my daughter in law's retired parents always complained about the amount of tax they paid.
When taxes and benefits were compared, they realised what a good deal they got both in health services, unemployment and retirement.

I wonder how many of us have found ourselves with little or no choice but to pay for physiotherapy, dental care, cataract operations, podiatry etc, as a direct result of the austerity agenda and privatisation.
I expect a tidy sum has been spent which could have gone into increased taxes so everyone gets could services.

Me for one. £40 a week for physio when I broke my wrist last year.

What would have happened if you could not afford a physio? dj

What a bloody country we are becoming

I only had six weeks. My wrist is still bent.

I paid for a cataract op because I was left with no choice. I also paid for podiatry because despite being in a category that means I'm eligible for NHS podiatry services, its only available every 4 months. I need it every 5 or 6 weeks to prevent further problems and lots of discomfort, followed after 6weeks by pain. I supplement the NHS availability by going privately in between.
I'm fortunate in having a works as well as state pension but I'm so aware what happens to those who don't have the finances. Even more significantly, what about people who have learning difficulties or those who, like me, have to hold on for 20 minutes to speak to podiatry but can't afford to run up a huge mobile bill. I still have a landline but that's increasingly rare . Makes me so cross!

If people don't have the money, they die.