I am a Labour voter, a Labour supporter and I do not regret my vote.

[CurlewKate]

However, I think that Starmer has been incredibly stupid and/or very badly advised over this expenses issue. He has done nothing wrong, but his behaviour is not what he led us to believe he would do, and I am incredibly exasperated and disappointed.

In my opinion, he should admit that he made a massive misjudgement, and agree to take no more freebies from now on.

Apart from anything else anything which allows people to say "They are all as bad as each other" (they aren't) is a distraction from the real issues the country faces. He should be laser focussed on repairing the damage caused by 14 years of Tory misrule. Not scrambling around dealing with peripheral stuff.
Starmer-say sorry. Don't do it again. And get back to work.

There were definitely a lot of Range Rovers and large 4x4 cars at the Kent grammar test we attended a week ago. But again, I would not assume that that is universal and it was just the one school we were allocated to. Had we gone to Gravesend or Dartford rather than West Kent it might have been completely different!
There is no generalising, and definitely not for grammar schools. At the Sutton test, there were largely Asian parents, especially Indian. It really all depends on the area and exact demographic.
People’s old fashioned notions of what is happening in their own backyard, are just that!

Well actually some of the builder parents at my DC’s private school do have Bentleys and Ferraris. I’m a twenty years qualified solicitor. A recruiter sent me a job vacancy last week for a role that was paying £40k. Don’t think I will be getting a Ferrari on that!

That is an incredibly snobby comment to make. Are you aware of how much tradespeople can earn? Why do you think that they wouldn't use money to pay for education for their DC? Or do you just equate trades with people living in terraced houses or council estates? Certainly the parents of DDs friends who are trades earn considerably more money than DH and I do!

Of course the British middle class lefties are going to be inverted snobs @twistyizzy This is the raison d’etre of this policy - try and keep the working classes down and make sure there is less competition for their own DC by ensuring the rest of the middle class goes state as well.
The problem is it does not account for SEND and it does not account for all the internationals.

It really is. I think people need to readjust their thinking there.

We know plenty who do well

So not only are PS packed full of SENs, their parents are all Roofers and Plumbers.... and all live in the NE...

Who knew!!!

The First Woman Chancellor has just been on the radio. She always sounds rather aggressive to me. I want to ask about these free breakfast clubs. Are the breakfasts going to be free to every pupil, regardless of the income/s of the parents? Did the manifesto say?

Who knew that schools are diverse and reflect the local communities. One might have been under the illusion that they were a homogenous group of institutions with a homogenous group of students and parents.

First batch is 750 primaries in the most deprived areas, all children will be offered breakfast, malnourished children do not learn and are often badly behaved.

Excellent idea and win win.

Google is your friend, the manifesto is online.

It's odd people have trouble envisaging it tbh and not sure about that phrasing around SENs in pp

No, I’m in the SE. Hope that helps. But the general public have an impression that private school equals Eton and the Labour Party plays on that. The reality is that private school parents are far more diverse and are not full of the DC of middle class professionals. Now, my DC’s state grammar is full of the DC of middle class professionals.

It’s fascinating but not surprising to me. My cousin is an electrician and he has pretty much out earned me (solicitor) for most of our working lives.

I knew an education lecturer more than fifty years ago, who had strong views about the nourishment of children and their performances at school.

If an area is designated as 'deprived' I expect there'll be a range of incomes. I was wondering if the free breakfasts are going to be a 'universal benefit', without any means-testing. I've been put down to go to the google.

One of the saddest things I heard during Covid lock-down was a Scottish teacher who pointed out that, for some children, school was the only place where they got a conversation with an adult and one decent meal.

“First batch is 750 primaries in the most deprived areas, all children will be offered breakfast, malnourished children do not learn and are often badly behaved.
Excellent idea and win win.”

@iwishihadknownmore - as long as it is not compulsory. I would not have sent mine in every day. We do reading, 2 sets of instruments, maths all in the morning whilst they are fresh, then school run on foot/bicycle, then I work and they go to after school club on the days I work.
There is no way I would want them to start the school day every day at 7,30 and go until 6pm and be fed porridge made with water, when they have eggs/avocado/fruit at home and we do the work for the day. So it is a no thanks from me.
It is trying to bully poorer people to get to school earlier with a view to getting them back into jobs and cutting their benefits.

But it is okay for you to offensively refer to people as ‘country chavs’ only yesterday? Do you instantly forget what you write in posts?

I forgot to mention that the parrot had already mastered 'pensioners freezing to death this winter' but I've told him to shelve it for a while.

If it means people have more time to go out to work, whats wrong with that? far cheaper than FCC.

Funny no one says Free childcare places for all isn't a means to bully people into going back to work.

My father is a toolmaker?

Any airtime there

“If it means people have more time to go out to work, whats wrong with that? far cheaper than FCC.”

Like I said, as long as it is not compulsory! DH and I always shared the work load so we could spend time with our kids and give them 1:1 attention and healthy food and eat meals together and read together. That is far better than any school can ever do. And I would never want my DC in school every day 7.30-6pm. It would have been too much for them. So we chose to work part time over the years, adjusting to their needs. We are not slaves who have to work full time so Rachel Reeves can meet her budget requirements.

Had a few dates with a communist toolmaker a long time ago, but not Keir's Dad. I am so old I lived through the fifties and I realise that Keir and Rishi are just old boys who weren't even born when we lived through the Suez crisis or the three-day week.

@iwishihadknownmore - and I am sorry if I am cynical but in the past when they came up with big ideas like this, it is schools who weren’t given enough cash to actually provide a proper service. Our school currently makes money on breakfast and after school club that it then uses towards the general school budget including SEND. So now what? How much are they going to give schools for free breakfast clubs exactly?
Or is it going to go like the Tories free universal childcare where nurseries were given far too little money for the funded hours? The devil is in the detail.

This 100%!

Starmer was born in 1962. He was 11 during the three day week.

Good challenge, bad choice of words and sentiment on my part. I own that!

Well yes it has to be funded correctly.

FCC is problematic because there isn't enough nursery workers either.

Breakfast clubs are a little different because the children already go there and fully trained teachers wont be required.