Free fruit and veg for toddlers/

[Hulababy]

linknews.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3492939.stm\free vouchers{} for fruit and veggies for low income familes. What do you think?

Okay Lavender1 I think I get your point of view now.

Sure, when I was working I hated the thought my taxes were keeping scroungers (and I know some myself so have personalised it to - I hated the thought I was keeping them.) Case in point DH's old schoolfriend spends the £300 a month he gets for his sons disability on drugs - the disability was caused by the mother using drugs during pregnancy. Now, both he and DH came from the same background but while this man has never worked a day in his life, DH has always worked and never thought not too. Both children are school age and they both attend school so there is no reason for this couple to be sat at home. They chose the drug route rather than real life.

While the governments attempts are another spin I will gladly accept the vouchers and buy fresh instead of tinned etc. But I do think that perhaps nutrition lessons during antenatel class would be a good idea.

I still don't know how to peel a butternut squash properly!

Hey, you lot! this is lavenders' bloke. I have GOT to have a say. I feel that in a democratic and caring society anyone who is genuinely 'on their uppers' should rightly be cared for by the rest of the community; I am more than willing to pay my share. However: Let us look at a few pertinent scenarios.

Matey boy lives in a council house; messed about at school (whether that was his fault, or his parents' is another question)and gained no qualifications. He subsequently, either becomes some kind of a criminal, gets the next door neighbour's daughter up the duff, or becomes a really sensible member of society. If the latter, he ends up like me, with a career and a pension.

Now, I have dragged myself from the blasted GUTTER in the last 30 years and have watched various 'matey boys'. Many of them have really made good; But I have also seen a lot act like complete cretins. I am very proud that my father is now a millionaire and was born in a council house. What really grips me, and has been a source of discussion between my wife and I over the last couple of days, is this incessant nonsense over the 'free fruit and veg' thing. Lavender has argued that if you have the where-withall, go out and get a better job in order to fund all your interests, pastimes, hobies etc; I would offer my opinion by suggesting people remember that:

Benefits should not be a right, they should be earned. (A very senior member of society once told me 'youngsters of today know all of their entitlements, but none of their responsibilities)

If you drink or smoke, STOP;

A motor car is not a neccesity, it is a luxury, as is:

A fridge-freezer, Microwave oven, Television set, Video, HI-FI, COMPUTER etc. I could go on and on about this, but we spent years without luxuries.

How much does a family worth of fruit and veg cost? A weeks' worth is a couple of packets of fags and/or a few pints of beer. As a final Reposte; There is a lot of time being spent on the internet on all of these subjects. We obviously all have enough disposable income to finance this stuff. (computers are not cheap to buy or run).

sorry, but i am pissed off.
my car is a nesscesity as we have hospital appointments to attend over the county for my dd's and my dh. to get a bus or train is out of the question as dh wouldnt be able to stand the journey and then to get a cab would probably kill him and drain out finances even more. i have also been homeless, in the gutter as it were, no roof over my head, no real place to call home. but unfortunatly i have been unable to get off the benefits as atm it is impossible to be able to hold down a job and care for my family. well done for your dad for bcoming a millionaire after coming from a 'coubcil estate'. so bloody what if he comes from a council estate. dont mean a thing to most people if u own your own home or if your council/ha etc, doesnt make u a better person having money. some of the nicest people i know come from council estates.
i have a pc, big deal. its actually about 5yrs old and was purchased from my hard earned cash, from when i did own a house, and yes i lost that house, but not due to overspending, but due to ill health.
suirprisingl i am not actually bitter about how my life has panned out, what does annpoy me is this whole attitide of 'u must better yourself'. well basically if i could i would, but surely its better for me to be able to function, to care for my family and give them the best i can without going to work, because i can assure u if i did work all the hours i could (and i have done 70 hour weeks in my life before kids), then my family would fall apart and more than one would fall ill. why should i sacrifice my family to keep people from looking down their noses at me.

and yes i do buy fruit ahd veg. we dont drink but smoke occasionally. does that really make me such a bad person.

I have just read this discussion and have every sympathy with stupidgirl, missdee and co.

Not going to get into a long conversation about pulling yourself up from the gutter, so I am going back to the voucher thing.

I think it's a good idea - but take the point that it can be insulting to be told by the government how to eat, with the implication that you don't eat well.

All infants at our school get fruit - a very good thing IMO.

Also, on a very large estate nearby, a fruit and veg co op has been created. It is organised by the residents. They run a stall on the estate selling very cheap fruit and veg. This seems to me to be a great scheme and could work nationally hand in hand with a voucher scheme.

Álso carrying lots of fruit and veg home is not easy if you don't have a car or are disabled. And there's a high proportion of people on the estate in this situation.

it is very insulting the proposed vouchers scheme. it bad enough handing over milk tokens, which btw do go one week, they only last around 2 weeks as my kids love milk. the rest of the month i but 12pints of milk every couple of days. i also make my own bread at times to cut on costs (85p for a decent loaf, no ta!!), i love fresh veggies, but finding good quality fresh veggies that will keep is hard. so i do have a drawer in my freezer full of frozen veggies.

anyway, getting too het up.

misdee

Have you ever seen a gutter? Try a railway carriage near the beach, with your only possesions in 2 carrier bags and snow on your sleeping bag. I am now paying a fortune every month in income tax and am really fed up with my hard earned money being wasted. Free fruit and veg is another way this bastard government is going to get the whole damn population dependant on them. Once they have done that, they will be in power forever. It is all political and if you cannot see that, well you and your ilk deserve everything you get.

Can someone please contact the MN team or moderators to get that offensive post by Lavender1 (or her husband) removed?

that is one of the most ignorant posts I have ever had the misfortune to read on MN.

What's ignorant about it, please could you explain?

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Agreed twiglett, but I do think that it is offensive to attack misdee personally, and I personally think that a personal attack (not just a point of view) warrants removal. JMO.

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I guess so twiglett

how dare you?

Who do you think you people are. My thoughts are VERY WELL thought out. I have had to live with socialists all my life and am fed up with it. I think the idea of this 'Net'is to discuss topical issues, not ram your ideas down everyone's throat. We all have our axes to grind, it just appears to me in the limited time that I have been reading this nonsense, that you are all agreeing with each other and cannot accept someone may have another point of view.

I have had enough. I will leave you all to tell each other what rotten sods your husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, partners or whatever are. It seems to me, this is all you really have to talk about. Cynical or what?

lavendar, regarding your last paragraph, I am puzzled to say the least how you can say that. I am choosing my words carefully here.

I think that was L1's dp - which is pretty ironic really when you read that last paragraph!

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actually yes i have slept at a tyrainstation trying to keep warm but is that really any of your business. i do see that as a personal attack on me, but tbh i dont really care. i will swap the contects of my medical cabinet for your 'perfect' life. u can also have the hospital appointments, the being up several times a night for medical things and the emergency gp appointments that have to made. u can try and figure out the best way to live on govt money (which btw i paid my taxes since i was 16 so go figure), the putting up with sbide comments if u ever have to go the benrifts office. in fact i would love to work again., but i am not doing it to keep smug gits happy.

and as for saying we deserve everything we get, grow up ffs. i wouldnt wish heart failure on anyone as that is what i am delaing eith, and the quite lielky probability that by the dh reaches his mid 30's he will be critical and needing a heart transplant. oh and he has also worked since he was 16 and paid taxes. u will probably be incensed that his perscriptions alone cost in the region of £100.

flame me all u want for this, i am very disgusted by your attitude.

"my thoughts are VERY WELL thought out" ?

"Once they have done that, they will be in power forever"

Hmmmm.... I'm sure they will be.

oh and you clearly have not visited some of the very heated threads such as 'Hutton report' etc.

No we don't all agree with each other by any means but it's about intelligent argument not ignorant comment.

anyway getting back on subject...........

anyone got a recipie for cauliflower cheese

it would be so much easier to get fresh fruit and veg if all the local greengrocers hadnt have been forced out of business by the supermarket. my local corner shops has such a small selection of fruit and veg that its not worth me getting it from there. tescos have a good selection but doesnt always look that nice plus far too many people handling the loose fruit and veg.

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and about income tax, my dh just got a wageslip thro, he got a bonus of 93p, but was taxed 49p plus NI left him with a bonus of 7p. guess he is still employed ooooo how can i waste the 7p, might actually be able to get a small apple for that!!

Really misdee? I thought you'd have been straight down the offie with your 7 p.