US/UK trade deal?

What does this have to do with a US/UK trade deal?

Not all of my foodbank clients are unemployed.

It’s by no means only people who are unemployed who struggle to make ends meet David49?

Casdon

David49

MaizieD

A few, David? 4.5 million children living in poverty is ‘a few’?

It’s so depressing to see we”re back to the feckless parents meme.

No Maisie 4.5 m children living with a parent earning less than half the median income.

That’s around £15k a year that’s not poverty and nothing to do with giving your childs breakfast, it’s for whatever reason the parent is spending the money on higher priorities

Or are you saying that feeding children should not be first priority.

Have you heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs David49? The first priority is meeting physiological needs, which includes food, safety, and warmth. Food needs are met for many families by using a foodbank, only by doing that are they able to meet the other two needs for their children and themselves. I really dislike the way people are all tarred with the same brush when they work so hard to keep surviving.

Most of us work hard to survive, there are plenty that do the minimum or nothing, living on benefits their whole lives.

We don’t have unemployment in the UK, we do have plenty of unemployable people, those who are unwilling to do even the most basic work, not just that, many skilled jobs are done by migrants.

David49

MaizieD

A few, David? 4.5 million children living in poverty is ‘a few’?

It’s so depressing to see we”re back to the feckless parents meme.

No Maisie 4.5 m children living with a parent earning less than half the median income.

That’s around £15k a year that’s not poverty and nothing to do with giving your childs breakfast, it’s for whatever reason the parent is spending the money on higher priorities

Or are you saying that feeding children should not be first priority.

Have you heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs David49? The first priority is meeting physiological needs, which includes food, safety, and warmth. Food needs are met for many families by using a foodbank, only by doing that are they able to meet the other two needs for their children and themselves. I really dislike the way people are all tarred with the same brush when they work so hard to keep surviving.

Chlorinated chicken.

Plus the fact that nothing definite has yet to come out of the talks to report on, its a "work in progress"

although this gives an idea of the areas discussed
www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/25/reeves-highlights-importance-of-eu-trade-to-britain-before-us-tariff-talks

The trouble is with cookery lessons in schools is that they don't set tasks such as "How would you feed a family of four nutritionally balanced meals for £20 a week?"

PS. How did a thread about UK/US trade deals turn into yet another "feckless parents" thread?

I think we need to be pragmatic David and go ahead and provide this space which is not just about food but good socialising/manners and opportunities for more parents to work. Carrot not sticks.

MaizieD

A few, David? 4.5 million children living in poverty is ‘a few’?

It’s so depressing to see we”re back to the feckless parents meme.

No Maisie 4.5 m children living with a parent earning less than half the median income.

That’s around £15k a year that’s not poverty and nothing to do with giving your childs breakfast, it’s for whatever reason the parent is spending the money on higher priorities

Or are you saying that feeding children should not be first priority.

Breakfast clubs also have the benefit of enabling parents to get to work each morning. Negligent or hardworking?

A few, David? 4.5 million children living in poverty is ‘a few’?

It’s so depressing to see we”re back to the feckless parents meme.

Casdon

Sorry David49, but you are missing the point. If families are spending a higher percentage of their income on housing, council tax, energy bills etc., they have a lower percentage of their income to spend on food. It doesn’t matter how cheap it is if you have nothing less after you have paid your other essential bills.

I would have thought feeding children was the first essential.
It’s a sad reflection on our society when we accept that it’s OK to send a child to school with an empty stomach, in the same way nutrition has been sidelined in schools - it’s just not important.

So because a few negligent parents don’t feed children the solution is a breakfast club, then most parents do the same, if its free most will use it.

That sounds good Pippa but how many schools have dedicated cookery rooms these days? Given many don't even have on site catering ability for school lunches, I can't think they have fully equipped facilities for pupil cooking. It's sad, when I was at school (girl's grammar) we had a well equipped cookery class room. My brother at the boy's grammar never encountered such a beast but did have fully equipped metal and woodworking classrooms.

My grandson, here in Wales, is taking a Food and Nutrition GCSE. The syllabus includes, the nutritional value of food, menu planning and reasons for choice as well as costings Practical exam will be a planning, and cooking a three course meal, with a written explanation explaining choice, nutritional value and cost. If one comprehensive school can do this perhaps more could.

Sarnia

When I read posts like this, I feel there is a real need to resurrect better teaching of cookery in secondary schools.

In my day (early 1960's) Domestic Science was a weekly double lesson teaching a wide range of recipes. By the time I left Grammar School I was able to cook a range of meals, bread and cakes.

My 13 year old GD has Food Tech very occasionally. Her last lesson was to make a pizza. She had to take in a ready made pizza base, a tube of tomato puree and her choice of 3 toppings. The lesson before that was to make a sandwich. No wonder these youngsters leave school reliant on ready meals and takeaways which are far more expensive and often unhealthier than home cooking.

I do agree about the teaching of cooking and of course going along with it showing the value of fresh foods and price etc.
For boys and girls, when I was at school only girls did it, (tho frankly we didnt learn about healthy eating very much)
but my son - that would have been early 1990's loved cooking GSCE and its become a lifelong passion.

But....it's probably very costly now to have a cookery room and all the equipment and who gets to pay and bring ingredients and so many wouldnt turn up with them so lessons become less hands on and more theory which doesnt really do the job.

Something else for schools to have to do? Using ready made materials which re available in the shops is surely a good thing? How do Home Economics squeeze it all into their curriculum which will be given to them? An hour a week isn't going to make a difference, I don't think. Of course, parents and grandparents should teach children how to cook, but many are working full time.

When I read posts like this, I feel there is a real need to resurrect better teaching of cookery in secondary schools.

In my day (early 1960's) Domestic Science was a weekly double lesson teaching a wide range of recipes. By the time I left Grammar School I was able to cook a range of meals, bread and cakes.

My 13 year old GD has Food Tech very occasionally. Her last lesson was to make a pizza. She had to take in a ready made pizza base, a tube of tomato puree and her choice of 3 toppings. The lesson before that was to make a sandwich. No wonder these youngsters leave school reliant on ready meals and takeaways which are far more expensive and often unhealthier than home cooking.

Sorry David49, but you are missing the point. If families are spending a higher percentage of their income on housing, council tax, energy bills etc., they have a lower percentage of their income to spend on food. It doesn’t matter how cheap it is if you have nothing less after you have paid your other essential bills.

NotSpaghetti

David I think you are a bit sneery about people who are struggling. Too many don't even have milk and bread available all the time.

This is not new, sadly.

I’m sure there are “some” that don’t have enough, 60yrs ago we had children who had free school meals, I will guarantee those families that had less than the poorest today.

I state again, food cost is not the issue, food cost was much more expensive in proportion to income years ago. In the 1950s 30% of income was spent on food, today less than 10% is spent.
Feeding children should be is first priority perhaps someone can justify why that is not given by some families.

(from todays BBC I player report)

What RR actually has said - she has major talks today with her counterparts -

"Despite the chancellor's focus on talks with the US, she suggested that moving closer to the EU on trade was a bigger priority. The UK is preparing for a summit with the EU in May in an attempt to "reset" the relationship between the two.
I understand why there's so much focus on our trading relationship with the US but actually our trading relationship with Europe is arguably even more important, because they're our nearest neighbours and trading partners," she said.

"Obviously I've been meeting Scott Bessent this week whilst I'm in Washington, but I've also this week met the French, the German, the Spanish, the Polish, the Swedish, the Finnish finance ministers - because it is so important that we rebuild those trading relationships with our nearest neighbours in Europe, and we're going to do that in a way that is good for British jobs and British consumers."

nanna8

I must be dumb ( likely) but I can’t see any victim blaming.

Well, you said it, nanna8...

Just look at David's post. It says the stereotypical middle class platitudes about 'poor' people...

They don't budget properly, they eat the wrong foods which make them fat, anyone can survive on very little money if they put some thought into it. ergo, it's their fault that they're struggling...

It's all been said loads of times before and it gets the debate no further forward.

Perhaps David, (and all the other judgey folk) would like to try feeding a family on a severely curtailed food budget for several weeks and see if they could do better. Perhaps with a restricted energy budget, too, which would limit their ability to cook hot nourishing meals...

I must be dumb ( likely) but I can’t see any victim blaming.

David I think you are a bit sneery about people who are struggling. Too many don't even have milk and bread available all the time.

This is not new, sadly.

And it's not housing versus food. That's a very simplistic view