How long do you give Andy Burnham as PM?

[AndyBurnham2L]

Build ‘em up.
Knock ‘em down.

Short honeymoon and then the grumbling will start. It will all be over for him by Christmas.

So, who’s next?

That’s all very doubtful to say the least.

And it’s depressing to read about the need for ‘help’ all the time. Not help to, say, pay the rent or navigate bureaucracy, but help to think and act like most of humanity. It doesn’t take money or great learning to understand what children need and to have expectations of them.

Parents within societies with genuine absolute poverty and little or no general parental education manage to support children and keep them focused. We see that in this country with many poor immigrants’ attitudes to their children’s educations and futures.

No one wants coursework. It was a workload nightmare.
However, GCSE English does not work for all students. We need a functional qualification that tests, spelling, punctuation and grammar and does not require you to be able to write creatively. A practical qualification that helps you get on an apprenticeship for plumbing, motor vehicle or paint spray.

Sure start was used by middle class mummies for the activities.
The useless mums never went.
And what sort of useless person can't look after a child? There's health visitors, midwives, GPs, social workers. A plethora of people to help, if you ask.
Oh, and I had a person called mum. She was full of advice and experience. And a mother in law. And a husband. Plus friends and neighbours. And extended family.

Do these useless mothers not know one single person who knows anything about babies?

https://ifs.org.uk/news/sure-starts-wide-ranging-and-long-lasting-benefits-highlight-impact-integrated-early-years

Your mum didn't teach you much empathy, especially not for people from deprived and difficult backgrounds then?

Angela Rayner was intensely grateful to Surestart. No husband, no mother in law, a person called Mum who couldn’t read the labels on food and couldn’t look after herself let alone anyone else. Could you possibly make your sheltered middle class existence any more obvious?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/jun/16/childrensservices.earlyyearseducation

The researchers stressed that more families benefited than were negatively affected by the programme. They also warned that the results should be treated with caution and the scheme needed further evaluation.

Yeah, sure. But citing one study about a social programme is not proof of reliable truth. As that article shows. At the very least all these things are debatable. They’re not articles of faith.

It wasn't perfect but it benefited society

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/2/e089983
https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/sure-start-had-major-health-benefits-for-children-in-poorer-neighbourhood

I get the impression that some people would prefer reckless, useless mothers to fail.

And it's always mothers.

Writing them off as useless mothers and not even bothering to at least try to support them helps nobody, least of all the children.

Indeed.

I feel like some would benefit from studying the current English curriculum to learn some empathy for the poor. Perhaps A Christmas Carol and looking at how Dickens parodies Malthusian economics.

Support costs money. We are spending over 100 billion in debt repayments a year and have a debt to GDP around 100%. We can’t afford these endless handouts. The lazy feckless benefit scroungers need to work and contribute to the economy.

See how much welfare has risen since Dickens…

We as a society can't afford not to support those people.

Do you want to step over homeless people, see crime go up?

It's all a bit deserving and undeserving poor.

https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/comment/is-welfare-spending-out-of-control/

I used to teach a Christmas carol thank you very much.
The cratchit family were poor but their children were well looked after.
I have also studied philosophy and economics. So off you pop.

I’m very concerned about someone who teaches A Christmas Carol and fails to understand that Dickens’ portrait of the Cratchits was a sentimentalised parody.

Of course welfare spending has risen dramatically since Dickens. Good. So it should. But I don't like how we are conflating poverty with feckless parenting on this thread.

Left wing think tank in favour of socialism shock horror. Their timescale is selective for maximum bias…

I used Sure Start as an educated but poor mother. I rented my home, worked part time and didn't drive at the time. When I had to leave my husband I would have gone under without tax credits. Sure Start was absolutely invaluable to me at the time. It's easy to demonise the poor and it's much more difficult to look at the wider issues .

who said the feckless on welfare were poor?

https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/newsroom/welfare-pays-more

You don't need to re-post the same graph again.

We have an aging population, pensions increase the welfare budget.