Marus Rushford - AIBU?

[Pr1mr0se]

it's admirable that he feels he can raise the topic of school meals and poverty and the campaign seems to be growing wings with the food alliance HOWEVER AIBU to think that given that he is an extremely wealthy footballer with many footballer contacts in similar positions that they should be putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak too?

The time he has spent in this could have been spent in sponsorship deals. Some potential sponsors of him as a footballer may have decided against it due to his political work.

So he could have effectively donated a huge amount of money through simply being a spokesman for poor children, rather than for a drinks brand, for example.

I'm not going to criticise him. He's actually put more than money in or just been the poster boy on a hefty paycheque - he's actually worked and made changes.

Just wondering is it ever acceptable to live beyond one's means with an expectation that strangers will pay for your unsustainable lifestyle? Just elementary economics as there seems so many new age blended family structures and lifestyles with many supposedly not able to self fund such lifestyle choices. By all means enjoy your choice lifestyle parenting options but preferably would it not be more sustainable and humane for all involved to be able to maintain at least a self reliant lifestyle especially as Brexvid will jointly blow the UK economic outlook way of course. Hypothetically would any society survive if the population all fall into deficit financing arrangements? This is surely the basic factors as to failed nations globally and hence the movements of peoples seeking help from others elsewhere? Not judgemental but just curious as to basic economics appreciation of how things tend to work in the real world.

How about those who assume that parents who are caught in the poverty trap are there due to their bad lifestyle choices, do some maths.

Calculate minimum wage (about £320 for a 40 hour week). Add in child benefit, say £35 a week assuming 2 children. Now take off rent - even housing association or council housing isn't free, or mortgage. Take off council tax. Then take off utilities, then TV license & internet, and a cheap sim only mobile deal. Then transport costs to & from work & school, whether by car or public transport. Then clothing - children do grow & need new clothes & shoes at a rapid rate, and even the revered M&S knickers wear out after a few years. School equipment like pens & notebooks. School trips.

Then see how much is left over for food, cleaning products, any first aid or medicines.

The UK maintenance system seems heavily skewed toward non-resident parents (mostly men) and leaving all the responsibility on the resident parent (almost always women). Those that pay, pay a pittance and use so many stupid excuses to avoid paying more. Let's be honest - if the CMS system worked properly, most men could ill afford a second family until their oldest children became adults -which is actually the way it should be. I'd like to see them raise a family (rent, food, bills, transport) on £40 a week (which also suggests the resident parent should provide £40 a week as their half to cover everything. I don't know anyone who can support an entire family on £80 a week).

@Dastardlythefriendlymutt, I don't know if you recall, but Mumsnet has had a couple of government ministers on for webchats about child support who blithely insist that sanctions are being used while real, actual women are describing to them the realities of living in poverty to them and know that the minister is talking bollocks.

The govt doesn't get it. And these ministers have no details, and no coherent policy narrative on this.

And as for the child support discounts men get for moving in with new partners who already have children ... Who thought up that little gem??

I've skimmed this thread and it's just really fucking depressing.
My only contribution is to say that MarCus Rashford has donated lots of his money, as well as his time, to this cause.

@RunningAwaywiththeCircus

I think some people are putting words in your mouth, I really don't care what your political persusasions are, I genuinely think that your mum sounds like an amazing lady and glad that you have built a good life for yourself.
But this is why I think you are getting a hard time here. You seem to be suggesting that your success is all down to your own hard work and a little bit of luck.
But that's not the whole story is it?
The state is the state regardless of who the current incumbent is. It seems to me that you have had quite a bit of help from the state to get you where you are today.
Your mum received income support - a state benefit
You had free school meals - a state benefit
you went to a grammar school - state funded
You attended university and received a grant - state funded.

What makes your family more exceptional and deserving than those Marcus Rashford is trying to reach?

Yes I agree, some people probably do pursue a benefit lifestyle as a choice, but I believe most benefit claimants are just like your mum, and Marcus Rashford's mum, just people trying to do their best for their kids.
Maybe, just maybe, there are children now who have benefited from FSM who will go on to be great successes, just like you, or maybe they will be like me, educated, reasonable job, own home, but not about to rock the world.
If it was good enough and acceptable for you and your mum to receive these benefits then it's good enough and acceptable for today's children.
But you are coming across to me as wanting to pull up the drawbridge behind you, and that's why you are getting a hard time.

@ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia
Do you think kids are in poverty because of lavish spending by their parents?
How are so many women on here oblivious to the world around them?
This thread has some wonderful ppl commenting and has disappointingly too many ignorant arrogant elitists.

I'd be more impressed if he'd confirm that he isn't using any tax avoidance schemes or "image rights" limited companies to avoid paying income tax/nic on his full income. Professional footballers are well known for tax avoidance. If he and the other highly paid footballers paid the right amount of tax based on his full earnings, the Govt would have more money for benefits.

@HoneysuckIejasmine

It is not the responsibility of wealthy individuals to pay for food programmes for children, it is the responsibility of the government.

There was me thinking that it was the responsibility of parents to feed their kids...

What helped me escape poverty was grammar schools (hated by the left)

The current grammar school system is dominated by parents who know "the tricks" like getting a tutor, which books to teach etc The test assumes knowledge of the maths syllabus that state schools won't have covered on the test day so the children who need and could benefit from it most end up being excluded by sharp elbowed middle class parents hoping to avoid private school fees.
If selection could happen by some way that money couldn't buy an advantage in the test then I think that grammar schools would be better supported. The same goes for Faith schools. There will be "poor" kids losing out because their parents didn't know that they needed their child christened by X months old which ends up excluding some who would benefit like you.

Yep MarCus RAshford should be responsible for more charity work and not just as a PR stunt ... oh wait hes always been supportive of homegrown Manchester charities supporting those less fortunate

It's not the governments responsibility to feed anyone. Marcus, Rashford went to every Manchester United game from age 8 is if he really was starving as a child that was down to his parents management of their finances.

But surely it is the responsibility of wealthy people to fund these programmes by paying more tax?
Otherwise where does the money come from?

Marcus Rashford is pretty inspiring and I am glad he's speaking up.

Those who blame the poor alone for their poverty are simply nasty. I am lucky because I don't know anyone who thinks that way in real life! Maybe I live in a bubble but it is a kind one.

There was me thinking that it was the responsibility of parents to feed their kids...

Why do people keep saying this? Surely the context of the post you're responding to is obvious?

OP Is that you Jack Monroe? She seems determined to drag him down and get some attention on the back of what he is doing.

What he is doing is fantastic.

@Kazzyhoward

I'd be more impressed if he'd confirm that he isn't using any tax avoidance schemes or "image rights" limited companies to avoid paying income tax/nic on his full income. Professional footballers are well known for tax avoidance. If he and the other highly paid footballers paid the right amount of tax based on his full earnings, the Govt would have more money for benefits.

Well it's an interesting question I can't answer, but one thing I do know is that a vocal critic of Marcus Rashford's campaign has himself written a book about tax avoidance. See the final para below in particular.

Source: FT. www.ft.com/content/35a37378-0347-483b-b3e3-365cebbe8be8

Off the pitch, Mr Rashford has gained a far wider following by supporting good causes.Last Christmas, he started a project encouraging people to donate essential items to charities that work with the homeless. During the pandemic, he also donated £100,000 to FareShare, a charity that provides food to vulnerable people across the UK and sought donations to raise another £20m for the cause.

His philanthropic spirit stands in contrast to the common depiction of elite sportspeople as feckless dilettantes unworthy of their sudden wealth.

A case in point is the row that erupted at the start of the coronavirus crisis over Premier League footballers’ pay, collectively estimated at £2.9bn a year. Club owners sought a 30 per cent cut; players resisted, arguing it meant less tax revenues for the NHS.The impasse led Julian Knight, chair of parliament’s digital, culture, media and sport committee, to decry the sport’s “moral vacuum”. Prior to going into politics, Mr Knight wrote a book providing tips on tax avoidance

I guess you could ask Marcus Rashford - he's on public Twitter.

@bp300
As he joined the Man U academy at age 7, it's unlikely that he had to pay for tickets

[quote Ted27]@bp300
As he joined the Man U academy at age 7, it's unlikely that he had to pay for tickets[/quote]
He also said in an interview they joined him up early to ensure he got the required nutrition.

Do you think kids are in poverty because of lavish spending by their parents?

I know they're not. I'm a benefits adviser and I every working day I see what a struggle it is for families on benefits. The failure to raise the benefit cap in line with rents is crippling.

A client with 2 children, living in an "affordable" HA house, is left with less than £110pw to feed and clothe the three of them and pay all her bills. She has to pay 20% of her council tax, so £10 a week and her house, despite being only a few years old, is horrendously expensive to heat.

I was doing a home visit when her teenage son came home from school with the sole hanging off his school shoes. She was distraught, she had no idea how she was going to afford a new pair.

Taking about inequality - why haven't BTEC students received their results yet? How are they supposed to go onto further education or training without crucial results? Why aren't the media as outraged by this as the A-level and GCSE fiasco?

@bp300

It's not the governments responsibility to feed anyone. Marcus, Rashford went to every Manchester United game from age 8 is if he really was starving as a child that was down to his parents management of their finances.

Children on the development squad do not pay to attend games. He joined the development squad when he was 7.