A loaf and a block of cheese is not lunch for ten days THREAD 2

[ZazieSheHer]

A loaf and a block of cheese is not lunch for ten days ORIGINAL THREAD

Posted by a friend.

@Gilead what's in the packets? What's the rolled up thing top left? It does not look like lunch for five days!

The £30 vouchers may possibly have been excessive. It doesn't cost that much to feed one child lunch, unless you are counting catering overheads. They are not getting £30 worth of food at school.

However, if given a choice between handing a £30 food voucher to a low-income family or handing the same sum to a well-connected private company so that it can retain most as profit while handing two potatoes, three yoghurts and some other measly items to said family - I'd say let's cut out the middleman.

@vinyldetective

*1 The food parcel was supposed to contain £30 of food
2 The food parcel was to last 10 days
3 The tin of tuna was really divided into money bags by the caterer

The vouchers these parcels replaced were for £30 and ten days duration. There is pictorial evidence from several sources of the bagged tuna. HTH.*

Not really, no.

That is all hearsay, not evidence.

It’s hearsay endorsed by the government @Katyppp

inews.co.uk/news/education/number-10-free-school-meal-parcels-marcus-rashford-unacceptable-827112

I'm sorry I haven't been able to read this thread properly, and sorry if this is already posted, I've just seen this on twitter, and I know people are allowed to spend money to buy better quality but it's still hard to look at
Chartwells UK has a sister company called Chartwells Independent. This is what they serve to rich children

Well, attitudes on this thread and on its fellows do explain so very well why this country has the government that it has.

People want poor people to be treated like this is the bottom line.

Yup, that's the sad truth of it pointythings.

@inquietant

There isnt a clear answer to this. On the one hand it doesnt seem right that society foot the bill for people who decided to have children.

This attitude is completely wrong-headed. A society is exactly that - a society - an interdependent community.

We subsidise poorer pensioners for example, through Pension Tax Credit. They had a whole life to save. Maybe we shouldn't 'foot the bill' for them either.

Anyone who thinks a civilised society shouldn't feed hungry children needs to brick themselves in and think things through some more.

Great post 👏👏👏

Yes. People want poor people treated poorly.

That's the bottom line .

I had hoped this pandemic might be the great leveller, but obviously not.

@makingmammaries

It’s £30 for 2 weeks. If my ds was at school he would get £2.50 per day towards lunch and that includes him being able to access hot meal however the government realised that making a hot meal, with a pudding/yoghurt and some fruit was going to cost more than £2.50 per day as it’s not being bought in bulk so they upped the voucher to £3 per day... the problem is most of those getting the hampers aren’t getting £5 a week worth of food let alone £15.

Chartwell are part of the compass group. Apparently according to MSM folklore, the chairman was a conservative party donor and the current CEO gets paid about £4.5m pa.

Did chartwell just get gifted this contract or was there an element of competition?

Also how much are chartwell being paid by the taxpayer?

If we are to fritter state cash like this then the least i would expect is a high level of return on investment,not a box full of crap.

How low can you get when profit is gained from depriving hungry children?

This ^^

Compass Group made close to £2billion profit last year. Would it really have ruined them to not have made a profit on delivering a food hamper to hungry children?

Did chartwell just get gifted this contract or was there an element of competition?

They were awarded it without tendering from what I've read.

@Katyppp you are completely right and especially now !

FSM were for those receiving certain benefits including working parents.
Many of those can afford those feed their children and some of them can’t die to diff circumstances.
However in the mist of a pandemic and parents not being able to work - universal credit wait times etc
A lot of parents not entitled to free school meals are struggling to feed their kids.
I agree with you there needs to be things out in place though for the ones who need it Current FSM children or not.
There also has to be some sort of self discipline here also and those who are entitled but don’t need them should just apply for the vouchers / food because they can.

And I love the 'really deserve (help)' line. Not only do you have to qualify for FSM but you must look and act poor at all times so we (the great tax paying public) can be constantly reassured that that half a tomato is going to the most in need of help. Because we are the best judge of real poverty.

@Bookworming, pasta, tuna, bread rolls, apparently.

Who do you think are entitled to these lunches?
I wonder how many people that are entitled to them 'dont really need them'.
Ive been a single parent for 11 years, I work and get some UC.
Im not entitled and I dont need them.
You have to have a houshold income of less then £7400 a year, or be on income support or jsa to be entitled.
Im guessing 99% of the people entitled need all the help they can get.

Thanks @Gilead ! You'd need some special skills to make five lunches from that!

@katyppp
www.theguardian.com/education/2021/jan/12/not-good-enough-marcus-rashford-condemns-free-school-meal-packages

£10.50 for one week, not as currently claimed £30 for 2 weeks

The thing that depresses me is that our benefits system is not fit for purpose if we need schools to feed children. Why can't we provide the sort of safety net where people have sufficient means to keep their families warm and fed?

For kids in abusive homes where the money wouldn't have been spent on them regardless of how it was distributed there's no way round this but the concerns are being raised by parents shocked at what they're expected to feed their kids on. Yes it's disgusting what they're expected to make do with but it's also disgusting that we have a benefits system which doesnt provide enough to keep the lights on and the kids fed.

@vinyldetective

I have read the article and it still does not evidence the facts i was looking for.
I think we are in agreement that some of the food hampers are meagre, i said that originally. This is what the Government have agreed with in that article.
However, the majority of the outrage seems to be based on the following two 'facts' :

1. The food hampers were supposed to contain £30 worth of food. As far as i can see, this seems to have stemmed from an assumption that, because the vouchers given out last time were worth £30, the food given out this time would match this value. I can't see any evidence that this has been communicated by any official source. Indeed, the cateter in the article you linked to said the boxes cost £10.
2. The food photographed was supposed to last 10 days. Again, lots of outrage but no official source. The caterer said 5 days but this seems to have brushed aside in favour of drama snd hyperbole.

So everyone is getting all self-righteous and angry based on nothing more than hearsay and their own agendas. Nothing new there then.

[quote Katyppp]@vinyldetective

I have read the article and it still does not evidence the facts i was looking for.
I think we are in agreement that some of the food hampers are meagre, i said that originally. This is what the Government have agreed with in that article.
However, the majority of the outrage seems to be based on the following two 'facts' :

1. The food hampers were supposed to contain £30 worth of food. As far as i can see, this seems to have stemmed from an assumption that, because the vouchers given out last time were worth £30, the food given out this time would match this value. I can't see any evidence that this has been communicated by any official source. Indeed, the cateter in the article you linked to said the boxes cost £10.
2. The food photographed was supposed to last 10 days. Again, lots of outrage but no official source. The caterer said 5 days but this seems to have brushed aside in favour of drama snd hyperbole.

So everyone is getting all self-righteous and angry based on nothing more than hearsay and their own agendas. Nothing new there then.[/quote] Yet the prime minister says those food packs are “Disgraceful”. Congratulations on having values lower than Boris Johnson. I bet you ran a workhouse in a previous incarnation.

The caterer themselves originally said 10 days abd changed this to 5 days when challenged.

@vinyldetective
As i said on the old thread, it's easier to name call and throw insults at people than engage in discussions.
You have just proved my point.