A Working class Mumsnet proposed!

[madhattershouse]

Frank Field has proposed some ideas for removing poverty by means other than just financial. One proposal is the setting up of a mumsnet type site for the working classes. Isn't mumsnet meant for all or am I missing something? Are the working classes really needing this or is it a gimmick? article [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/03/frank-field-welfare-sacred-cows
here]]

It's ridiculous.

Mumsnet is changeable. It seems more middle class in the past than it is now. But it is a nonsense.

Mumsnet is a reflection of the users who feel confident to speak and post, currently that might mean more Tories for example or it might mean more working class users or whatever. But the really important point is that Mumsnet has ALL users, working class, middle class, high fraeking upper class and it is read by many - just not all who lend their voice.

An extension of the abhorrent target setting in preschool in an answer to nothing. Better and more extensive provision for freely available classes and toddler/parent sessions would do so much better than getting busy childcare providers to assess whether your 2 year old "shared nicely with others" as according to the curriculum.

I agree there are more measures to disadvantage than income alone. That's good and i hope more widely recognised. I also agree that parenting would be useful as a background, repeated topic in schools, same as ethics. politics and form-filling!

The absurd use of "80% of the brain is formed by age of three" made me roffle. Statistics are used so stoopidly. And to evoke such absurd imagery.

His ignorance was compounded for me by the promotion of private enterprise into Surestart - because we can all recognise how well privatising precious childrens' services would work....

What an absurd suggestion! It doesn't help much with the credibility of the other proposals.

I always thought that working class meant that you had to sell your labour to live - that would make most of us working class surely unless you want to buy into some tory notion that if you read books you must be middle class and therefore have no interest in such mundane things as a living wage or education for all!

madhattershouse - think you are spot on. The govt. is utterly cynical enough, and think we are stupid enough to accpet that poverty is about lack of advice and information, not income and expenditure.

Would be nice to see MNHQ publicly rejecting the notion of this site being associated with restricting the welfare of families??

It's almost as if they're trying to seperate the classes again...
Ya know, like in the good old days.

Have mumsnet done a random survey to see what the demographic is (think that's the word)?

Mumsnet?

Maybe they did, missing me out obviously!, and it did come back 60% middle class or something. How do we define these things anyway? I remember my mum always used to fume at being asked her husbands occupation because that's what they used to use.

I know my place.

It's not a proposal for a version of Mumsnet aimied at the working class.

It's that there should be a site that serves the same function for working class people that Mumsnet does for parents.

The only thing that stuck out for me in the article was the ludicrous statement:

"By the age of three, a baby's brain is 80% formed," What the fuck is he talking about?

It's a dumb idea. Why would the government want to spend money on something that already exists in the public domain?

Can people not work out how to parent without governmental advice? I mean really, surely this is a waste of money. Do people actually want the government to tell them how to parent?

Maybe it's just me, but I'm quite sure I'm better qualified to give parenting advice than the government is.

Perhaps they should spend their money on things that are actually in their domain, like fixing the state education system. Smaller class sizes, anyone?

And, incidentally, I think the key to equal opportunity is the opportunity to equal education. Fix that one and the "working class" will have more opportunity to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

Would you be means tested to allow you to go on it. "Access denied coz you're too loaded."

Or maybe they'd do a speech test. "Access denied due to high levels of grammatical accuracy."

Tis a crap idea. If it's for money saving tips then there are loads of great places online for advice and support already.

The government's got too many ideas above its station, if you ask me.

They're no better than they should be.

(And probably quite a bit worse.)

I feel patronised.

I may sue.

So why are my needs so different from the apparent majority on Mumsnet?

Bigger letters and shorter sentences?
Tips on how to get the BBQ sauce out of my velour trackie bottoms?
How to scam get the most out of the benefit system?
How to cook? (cos we dont you know, we all live on ready meals)
How to budget (cos we cant do that neva. We spend all our money on fags and WKD)

I like MN because I can have an intelligent discussion ruck with people who have different experiences from me. I used NMs for ages but I cant bear the reactionary tone about bloody everything. I dont know if NMs is working class though. I just know I dont like it.

I used to live in a very mixed part of London. Now I live in an outer part which is far more segregated class-wise. I LIKE getting the chance to 'meet' people on here that I probably wouldnt in RL. Unless I was in court or up the social obviously

This makes me angry. Only one word springs to mind and it begins with B and ends in X.

Surely it is about all information being out there for everyone to access, not more segregation.

Plus I think the lines defining class are so skewed now anyway why do we have to be defined by class.

How bizarre.

mixedmama - why are you thinking of Botox?

Working class meaning.. what? Poor? Badly educated? Interested in whippets? Not poncy? More noble in outlook and not obsessed with paint colours and Boden? Different in what way? How is he generalising?

I love FF. I don't get this comment at all.

Thought one of the useful thing about mumsnet was it's mix of people from all walks of life. If you restrict services like surestart to one section of the population you deny them the chance to learn from each other. What's with field's photo? Is he standing outside his stately home?

Pennies - wondering if you can be working class and have botox

Why do beneifts and WC get mentioned together? If you are working class then you afre working are you not?

Oh and who mentioned WC and free computers.... is that really true? Have I missed something?

Lady Blahblah

"
"By the age of three, a baby's brain is 80% formed," What the fuck is he talking about?"

I think that means the child's brain is 80% wired up for speech and ready for literacy and maths development.

So all the pre-reading, pre-maths and basic co-ordination skills are almost in place.

However, as children vary so much at this stage - measuring this is really tough. But it was also very important to the last government - remember the introduction of early years curriculum.

Basically what everyone is [not quite] saying is - if a child has crap parents - they are f*ed, before they even get to school.

Maybe that will be one of the criteria. Do you have Botox? Yes? Access denied.

Isn't there some sort of link between the govt & NM anyway? I'm sure someone on here mentioned HV's officially direct you there. So he's proposing to invent something that already exists.

How will we be able to access it when we're all fucking homeless? Perhaps Frank will put up access points in shop doorways. What a fucking wanker he is.