you know...i've never voted tory, and dave...well, jury's out....BUT

[Heathcliffscathy]

am i the only one on here that feels as sense of jubilation that at last a political party seems to really be courting the woman's family vote?

like wake up guys, there are lots of us, and no one really pitches to us until now...and i'm GLAD!

he might even sway me, you never know...i'm so fuckingcheesedoff disillusioned with new labour.

"middle class" mums though can have problems - PND/domestic violence/children with special needs that mean they would get worthwhile benefits from Surestart. E.g. in my area pre-school SALT is very underfunded - but the local Surestart centre makes an attempt to plug the gap by putting on a Hanen course with creche to help parents help their kids learn to communicate.

surestart was about lifting children out of the worst effects of poverty. at it's heart that is what it was meant to do.

fantastic that in some areas it is working, but absolutely unforgiveable that that badly needed money is so wasted....so many mums like me making the most out of wonderful playcentre....no one there that it was targetting.

just been looking at the surestart website sophable, and you are right, it is about focussing on helping disadvantaged communities.

i'm so glad that it does something good....but it feels like a huge PR job gone wrong in terms of it's stated aims round here.

our babysitter sat in a creche in asda and it was empty. 3 staff being paid double rate on a saturday and NO ONE came. and that wasn't the only example...

anyway. that's just one thing.

I don't want to be courted. I want politicians with their own ideas and ideals and principles, not ones who think they can buy sections of the electorate.

In any case I think it's about as sincere as DC's environmental credentials.

How will he fund it? If I believed it would actually happen in the form he wants us to believe, I would be massively enthusiastic, but I think they'd weasel out of it if they got into power.

DC is fresh blood, but a sheep in wolves clothing. Look at how he has voted in parliament and what he has supported in the past. I remember reading an article about it once. I think it was either in the times or guardian. Shame I can't find the article now.
And the Tories would definatly had gone to war in Iraq too. Oh yes!

My council became Tory about 2 years ago. Since then, all they have done is slashed anything to do with care in the community, initiatives to support youth clubs and recently, the funding to provide low income families with support to buy school uniforms.

Leopards never change their spots. Cameron is a wolf in sheep clothing and if he gets in, you can kiss good buy to things like child vouchers (he voted against them in the first place), Sure Start, improved maternity/paternity leave, and the minimum wage. As part of his manifesto, Boris Johnson, who is campaigning to be London Mayor, will scrap all obligations on councils to ensure affordable homes are built!

Too many people in this country sadly still think me, me, me rather than we, we, we.

My last job was sponsored by surestart and it made huge differences to those who needed it- was as a co-ordinator for Home Start, which most poeple would agree with I think. Sometimes surestart is spent in less observable ways such as funding charity posts that DO make a difference. I know for a fact I kept 3 kids out of care (and put another 2 in but hey trust me they needed it or I suspect they would be dead by now).

A lot of things were accessed by the non target group its true, the agrdening scheme being a particular one, and the nursery, but the criteria was geographiocal- I lived within the area but wouldn't then have considered myself 'target'. When you got to know the families though there was always a reason they used the groups and it was never because it was cheap- there was far more kudos (and basic choice!) in using other placements- the families had multiple births, Dad was ill, famile were isolated rom relatives- all equally deserving of support.

Part of that reason may have been the locality I ws in of course- the surestart was situated on a deprived estate where frankly the average MC Mum wasn't going without a cause. It was also in a town that, whilst having 'nice' areas, had an awful lot of deprivation including hidden.

Oh the targets can involve MC (and I suppose UC!) Mums / Dads ? Guardians too- SN parents and parents of SN kids had special resources in our group, with (shock) a surestart SALT assistant! The family groups were run by homestart staff so they coud achieve wider access- we ahd a few mums of ASD / ADHD kids come along as a result, becasue through our work we had a wider remit. Sure Start itself is fabulous- like anything it can be wrongly applied, but when used imaginatively in conjunction with what already exists esp. in the charity sector(for example- we ran semniars on ASD / ADHD / diet with trainers from BIBIC as we were in their neighbourhood, which were free, available to all and had a creche provided) then its a great thing.