I would bet if the same question on "how likely do you think you or one of your family will be involved in an air crash or car crash or robbery it would give a result way higher than the statistical or realistic probability.
While she is wrong in saying that there isn't a parent in the country that can;t afford to give their kids breakfast, when there obviously are parents that can't, the policy of giving all kids free meals is not one I agree with. I can afford quite easily to feed my kids yet my youngest gets a free taxpayer funded hot lunch everyday. It is a waste of money. Free school meals should be like it used to be. Targetted where it is needed rather than a wholesale cash splurge to make a good soundbite.
This 'balancing the budget' the conservatives are promising to do by 2025 is the same 'balancing the books' the conservatives promised to have already done by 2015 in 2010, right? Shouldn't we be getting closer to doing this, not further away?
the interesting bits from this article: the top tax rate under Thatcher was 60%, Jez wants 50% Maggie brought Corporation tax down from 52% to 34%. Jez wants 26% (this proves Maggie was actually a communist and was elected with the help of the USSR!)
You do realise the free school meal scheme being basically scrapped will see loads lose their jobs? Also I bet it won't be carried out right and many poor will suffer like always.
Seems to me the key message from the Tories is...You're on Your Own, Pal. Especially if you are elderly, disabled, sick, homeless or in any form of need. Let us all go backward to the workhouse together.
As I remember, back in the 60s / 70%, when only the poor kids were given free meals, there were stuck on a different table and everybody knew they were the free meals kids. Through no fault of their own they started life as second class citizens. Appalling.
Are you suggesting that we should never change anything IF it will lose jobs? Is the point of the free school meals to employ people because I thought they were trying to sell it as being a policy to help poor kids not provide employment!!! free school meals for the needy I most definitely agree with. Free school meals across the board I don't. Jobs doesn't (or shouldn't) come into play here. The waste of tax funds improving council homes that don't need improving obviously provides jobs however that is not what the policy is supposed to be doing. It is supposed to be to bring below standard homes up to a decent standard. Not just improving all houses across the board while many that do need improving aren;t because the money has been spent elsewhere. What you are implying is that another reason that the unemployment figures are so favourable (as well as divvying up jobs into hours and zero hour contracts) is that policy has been sold under one guise to employ people. i.e. Lots of jobs that were created with no need which now make it look like we are doing great? Would you rather be paying people to make meals for kids that don't need meals or that money going into the NHS or social care or mental health? Do you not think we should be targeting state funds at those that need them rather than just some wholesale policy that targets no-one?
Blimey what school did you go to? It never happened in mine nobody knew who had free meals. That's terrible.
If Mrs May was the strong leader she pretends to be, she would drop Brexit soon after the election, have the Conservatives sitting with the EPP group in the EU Parliament and take measures for the UK to join the euro. That is what a proper Conservative would be doing and wanting. Brexit is just a Chav policy designed by the Sun newspaper.
Before they brought this hot meal policy in the primary my kids went to put their lunch boxes on a trolley when they enter the school. These were then wheeled out at Lunch with the free school meals on the same trolley, names on them just like names on those whose parents make pack lunches. All spread over tables. I remember like you when I was at primary in the 80s and the free school meals were all on a table at the side and those who "qualified" queued up to get them while kids like me would just go to a table with our lunches in our school bags. We weren't seperated on different tables though. Free school meal kids would collect their meal after queuing and sit with their mates as you would expect. Are you seriously thinking that kids under the age of 7 really pick up on who is a free mealer and who isn't? Because the free meals are only KS1 (infants) and from there it is back to those who qualify and those who don't!!!! So while they don't notice or pick up on this difference they are all given the meals so by the time they get to a point where you describe they might pick up and tease about it they are back on that system anyway. Maybe the state should provide Nike bags and footie boots so that poor kids don't get teased if they are wearing Lidl Crivit or Tesco F&F? Maybe provide new cars to all parents so that no-one teases the kids whose parents have old bangers?
honestly, now you're just being a twat, no need for that. I was talking about secondary school, where yes kids do know when they are being classified. Maybe I'm just older than you and remember secondary school earlier than you
The annoying thing I remember from free school meals was I had to queue up for 10 minutes to actually get in to the cafeteria and get my lunch while my mates just had their parents buy them lunch so never went into the packed cafeteria and just ate it outside, so it effectively meant I never ate lunch with my close mates. Anyway, Imp, the cost of taxing to buy a meal and having the parents buy the meal is the same(for the same meal). It's the control of whether they can bring in their own lunch that is lost. As they will be paying for a meal they don't use if they bring one in. I like uniformity in early schooling but I can see the benefits for parents of controlling the meals so I'm fine either way. Edit: and we do pay for vehicles for everyone. It's called public transport subsidies. We just don't do it to such an extreme amount that everyone gets their own car.
