The U.K. in 2019 -

the child poverty issues that go hand in hand with neglect.

Poverty does not go hand in hand with neglect.

Being poor does not make you an uncaring person. Being poor does not make you a bad parent. Worrying about money does not make you neglect the welfare of your children. Most parents instinctively put their children first, no matter their circumstances.

Many of us knew abject poverty as we grew up, which was fairly common after the war. Our parents had nothing, but they didn't neglect us or drag us up, the fate some wretched children suffer today.

Bad, uncaring parents exist, selfish adults who put themselves first thrive in the society in which we live now. Most may be from impoverished backgrounds, but lack of nurture is down to bad parenting.

Going without an X Box won't kill children, nor will a poor diet, or new clothes, but lack of concern from neglectful parents just might. Child neglect is a form of abuse.

Well when I was at school in the 50s school meals were provided free for poor children even in the school holidays. I remember because some of the children down our street were going in for their lunch and I asked my mum about it. As regards children not having eaten for 2 days. There have always been people who cannot budget and who struggle to manage so that over the weekend they cannot feed their children and a child will go from Friday school dinner to Monday without a real meal. There may be the remains of a packet of biscuits, some left over chips or other bits but no real meal. When I was teaching it wasn't unusual to have children who had had no breakfast or perhaps only a couple of biscuits. Many schools started breakfast clubs to help them.
It's a combination of both Joelsnan if you cannot pay your fuel bills a meter will be installed and you will be charged more, even though you couldn't afford the first price. You will be unable to access large supermarkets because you have no transport, so you will use the corner shop which will charge you more. You will probably have a loan you need to pay off and some of your income will go on that. Once you are in the vicious circle it's hard to get out.

Children are arriving at school, tired, hungry, angry and confused

And why is this?

Tired?

No bedtime routine and rules? TV time or X Box game-playing not controlled by parents?

Hungry?

Cheap food like potatoes, cereal, tinned vegetables, beans, etc are filling - IF parents can be bothered to buy and cook them. It is much easier to leave a packet of biscuits lying around, or crisps.

Angry?

Why? Are they witnessing violence at home, or on screens? Do they lack self control? Can the parents explain why?

Confused?

Bewildered because they lack good role models in their parents, whose job it is to explain confusing things to little minds? (If they can be bothered.)

We have stopped pointing fingers, and judging haven't we? However, in the case of child neglect we bloody well should do more of it rather than using the cop-out that lack of funds equates with child neglect.

"There, there." and let's throw more money at the problem parents is not the solution.

It is shameful that children are born to rotten, selfish and uncaring parents, who cannot and will not prioritise the well being, disciplining and nurturing of their children. or prioritise how their benefits are spent. We live in a welfare state and despite Tory-bashing, it still exists and there are still advocates and agencies and funds for those with least.

The children are the victims, of crap parenting. Anyone would think the government of the day is responsible for rearing every single child born in the UK.

Can we start by DEMANDING responsible parenting? I appreciate it's not that easy, but it's a start. I know life can knock us down and keep us down - been there - but we do have to take some responsibility for ourselves unless we are sick and/or disabled/old. Being poor is not an excuse for child neglect.

It might contribute but a child presenting as angry, confused, hungry and tired has problems which its parent has to explain.

Trisher
I agree with your post, but wouldnt it be better if all children received free school meals removing the stigma. If child support payments were redirected then those who didnt really need this allowance would be helping to feed nutritious meals to all children and removing the need for (often unhealthy) packed lunches. It would also teach all children what well balanced meals are. Not just Pizzas and McD's.
I do also wish domestic science/home economics was reintroduced as a mainstream subject in schools. The ability to be able to create nutritious meals from basics has for a lot of families been lost.
I cringe when I see those money saving programmes with parents who seem proud that they do not cook and spend hundreds on junk food.

Yes, it is a "Tory-bashing" thread because the Conservatives have been in power since 2010 and during that time have, asWhitewave2 and others have already detailed, done enormous damage to the material structure of the country, its social cohesion and the physical and mental health of a significant number of its inhabitants, including children.

There have been many Labour and Corbyn-bashing threads and Labour is not even in power. Why shouldn't posters direct some criticism at May and her government who are in charge andwho are responsible for the mess that this country is in and the ineffectual way in which Brexit has been dealt with.

There are often people on these type of threads who like to present themselves as fairly politically neutral. However, they invariably seem to be very favourably disposed towards the policies of parties on the right whilst being highly critical of parties on the left.

I have always stated my political leanings are to the left and I support Labour. I don't present myself as "neutral" but I do try and back up my opinions with facts.

As for the Tommy Robinson-loving UKIP and the new Brexit party - if the British people see this as the answer to our problems, heaven help us.

Some good news this morning this morning for those private tenants who can be evicted at 2 months notice with no appeal..

The government is recognising the fact that people are unable to build family life because the severe instability section 21 notices - allowing no appeal by renters - bring to families and so intend to consult on getting rid of this and replace it with a section 8 eviction notice which does allow appeal.
More than 4 million households - 11 million people- should benefit from this if they eventually come into law.

Let’s hope the government expedites this.

The citizens advice research shows that 46% of tenants who have made a formal complaint about poor or dangerous condition of their rented property, found themselves on the street with a section 21 notice within 6 months of th3 complaint.

This change comes at the back of a major campaign by Generation Rent which is backed by the Labour Party, the Greens, a 50000 strong petition and the backing of 13 LAs.

I do not accept - children have not eaten for two days, if true the parents should be held guilty of child neglect .

I agree with Day6 about bad parenting

Some more worries about the U.K. in 2019.

This is a letter from a long time employee of the bbc - Patrick Howse

pbs.twimg.com/media/D4K3nlQWsAEo4-g?format=jpg&name=large

Micheal Hestletine has warned of a chilling similarity between the political climate in the U.K. today and that of the 1930s.

There is mounting evidence of this phenomenon and many examples can be found with depressing regularity.

Are you referring to David Lammy MP who on Marr yesterday actually called the ERG and right of the Conservative Party “worse than Nazis”.

Or is this acceptable?

It isn’t acceptable GrannyGravy , he needs to look at his own party with anti semites being protected

GG13 I am sorry, but I didn’t see the Andrew Marr show, so I am afraid I can’t comment.

Whitewavemark2. It’s simple to find on the Internet #Marr

I would though like to quote from an article written by Matthew d’Ancona, as an example of the sort of rhetoric I am finding worrying.

“In what moral universe is the statement “I wouldn’t even rape you” categorised as satire? “
This was a tweet sent to Jess Philips by Carl Benjamin. Carl Benjamin’s is now a candidate for the EU election standing on UKIPs ticket.
Gerard Batten described Benjamin as a proponent of free speech “a classical liberal” and who wasnt actually making a literal speech.

“And there we were thinking that Benjamin was just a vile mysogenist.”

Last week we became aware that the press regulator had ruled against Johnson, for his inaccuracy that had breached press guidelines.
“The Telegraphs defence was that “ Johnson’s comment were clearly comical polemical, and could not be reasonably read as a serious, empirical, in depth analysis of hard factual matters”

Given that ther3 is a very good chance that Johnson will go for leadership and might even be successful it will be useful to know which of his statements are comically polemical or sweeping generalisations or even serious and empirical..These things matter quite a lot when you are running a country”
Remember Peter Thiels statement about Trump? That we should take Trump seriously but not literally. In other words we should acknowledge his political impact, but nothing he says is necessarily true, or a statement if fact.

In my view that is true of Johnson.

Farage pledged “to pick up a rifle and head to the front lines” if Brexit didn’t happen.
Farages “fear of god” speech has caused widespread condemnation.

Predictably the charge that this language is inflammatory has been met with scornfall denunciations of liberal snowflake ray. But it is appalling to chart the increase of death threats sent to Abbott, Soubry, Lammy, Creasy, Berger and many others.
Jo Cox still looms large over Westminster and so it should.

So, beware politicians who trumpet free speech and confuse it with civic recklessness.
Beware too, those who excuse lies, or threats or hatred as satire, and posture the victims as po-faced “political correctness” even as they stoke up more trouble”

So much is at stake here.

Thought David Lammy was great on Andrew Marr and the reason he called the ERG worse than the Nazis was because they embrace such right wing policies whilst pretending to be part of a democratic Party. He also condemned anti-semitism which he said was to be found on the far right and the far left of political parties.
Day 6 are you saying we should not support children who have inadequate parents or disfunctional families? The welfare state has been steadily eroded in my lifetime and it isn't just money which helps, it's the proper provision of caring services, which nurture and teach children there are other ways to live. It requires professionals in every field from nurseries and GPs through school meals, counselling and mental health services all of which have seen their funding cut.
Joelsnan yes school meals should be free to all and some provision should be made in school holidays.
You may not accept it Anniebach unfortunately it is true and it may be neglect but who do you think is going to do anything? Social services are stretched to their limits and couldn't cope with the numbers of children not fed properly.

Oh I expect Lammy was talking about instances like Rees Mogg who was supporting his argument about leaving the EU by using a quote by the neoNazi party in Germany the AfD. Which has been described as racist, islamaphobic and anti-Semitic. In other words all round good eggs???.

There has been a general trend by the ERG, towards supporting neo-nazi parties in Europe. Hannan, has endorsed the FvD in the Netherlands.

History seems to becoming full circle with politicians supporting these political parties.
Moseley supported the Nazi party in the 1930s I seem to remember.

Unfortunately both parties are moving to the extremes.

As a Conservative I can see this, but have never seen a post from a Labour voter admitting there is anything wrong within their party ( apart from one that is)

GG13 If you would like to provide an example of "far left" policies I'd be happy to debate it with you None of the Labour party policies are far left. No one is proposing to nationalise everything or suggesting that ordinary people should not own property.

Day 6 are you saying we should not support children who have inadequate parents or disfunctional families?

I have no idea what you mean. I haven't written that.

I think I made it clear that neglectful parents, from whatever strata of society, need a finger pointing at them. Yes, those inadequate parents will need support but those children who are the true victims would hopefully be better off if their circumstances (which leave them 'hungry, angry, tired and confused') were noted earlier.

Poverty doesn't leave children in this state. It leaves them without a games machine and the latest expensive trainers, given their household will have a regular income. It shouldn't leave them with selfish, neglectful parents. Many - no most - parents on benefits are aware of their responsibilities towards their children and do their best by them.

Sometimes the tough LOVE these neglectful parents should have had has been missing from their lives and they have no idea how to adequately parent children, As most of us know and learned, from the shock of the first baby coming into our lives, it requires a lot of self-sacrifice, long hours, enormous effort and an ability to put the little ones needs before our own.

We have to stop blaming politicians and policies for people who are abusive, because child neglect (and hungry, tired, angry and confused children) should trigger alarm bells, not sympathy for adults who don't give a damn about the vulnerable children they have spawned.

Lets sympathise with murderers, paedophiles and all sorts of law-breaking criminals too and blame the Tories for that too, shall we?

The far left script is becoming annoyingly tedious. It seems to imagine people have no responsibility for their own lives, support should be there for people at every turn and everything should be made easy for them.

Get real. Cuts to services have happened for decades and new services and methods have been implemented. All governments make cuts. Taxpayers money pays for most of the elfare state. Brown in his Labour tenure savagely cut NHS budgets. Look it up.

Lack of services is cause for concern when the most vulnerable, like the sick, disabled, frail suffer.

Lack of services is not to blame for child poverty and neglect. Feckless and cruel parents are.

trisher I have just looked up “Labour Party Nationalisation”.......far too many links to post on here.

I suggest you might like to do the same.

If a mother neglects her children ,no matter, let the state make life easier for her.

I care about children but am fed up of poverty being used as an excuse for not feeding a child for two days. I knew poverty bringing up two children on my own. They certainly didn’t know hunger .

I feel that some people’s priorities are wrong.

With all the bargain supermarkets around food has never been cheaper.

A “best of both” loaf in Aldi’s is 50p, bags of pasta 49p or less (depends on shape). Fruit and veggies from 59p a bag/pack.

Not feeding your child is negligent and should be classed as neglect. As should over feeding on rubbish and consequently your child is obese and will/ could have life long health problems.

OK parents neglect children, they arrive at school wearing inadequate clothing, pale faced, great grey rings under their eyes.
They have not eaten or drink anything since the bag of chips they had last night.

A for too real and common scene.......how to stop it happening? How on earth can services begin to tackle this?

"Lack of services is not to blame for child poverty and neglect. Feckless and cruel parents are"

Could it, infact be both?

GG13 - the Labour Party is proposing to nationalize energy, water, rail and post. What's not to like about that?

Dinahmo.......everything!!!!!