Breakfast and lunch for a year

[AlizarinRed]

So the SNP are promising that all school children will get breakfast and lunch for a year for free if they get lots of seats in the next election.
Is it because I haven't read the detail that I think this is not a great reflection on the SNP main party in the country that children need fed daily despite them being in power since 2007.
I have also read half of Shuggy Bain, the booker prize winner, and after much of the world have read the book, then read the headline that our children need fed by the state they will think Scotland is a bit of a third world disaster? I've only read half of Shuggy Bain because it is so dispiriting and miserable, think Trainspotting or Angela's Ashes but worse, that I can't face the rest.
What am I missing here? Are the SNP our saviours?

Maybe someone should point out to the SNP how fundamentally Scottish porridge is 😆

Hugely intrusive and named person all over again this - never happy unless they are meddling

New school menu.

Porridge
Scottish morning roll with square sausage
Haggis
Stovies
Clootie dumpling
Tablet
Irn Bru

If we can't manage to feed our own kids why would anyone invest in Scotland or want to set up a new start up business if the population were that han'less.
I can't believe this happens in other countries, that children are fed by the state.

@WaxOnFeckOff I'm massively pregnant and that menu looks amazing right now 🤣🤣🤣
Needs a wee cup of tea though

[quote 40weekswithno2]@WaxOnFeckOff I'm massively pregnant and that menu looks amazing right now 🤣🤣🤣
Needs a wee cup of tea though [/quote]
it so does!

I don't drink tea but i'll fire the kettle on and brew up.

If the majority of Scottish children are hungry and need this, then surely we need to look at the Government over recent years and their policies..that would be the SNP then.

It’s another sugar coated carrot which most people don’t need or want - baby boxes anyone?

@dementedma,
baby boxes anyone?
you mean the best thing EVER after sliced bread?

I'd forgotten about baby boxes.

We also have the hate speech law coming up now.
Can't help feeling that if you are a very religious person and say you don't like/ accept / approve whoever or whatever then it's not hate speech you are voicing your religious beliefs.
If you are not religious and you say you don't like / accept/ approve then you are risking a knock on the door from the police.

I'd forgotten about baby boxes.

Bloody baby boxes. I haven't applied for one as I don't need one. I think they're ridiculous and would rather twice as much was given to babies who actually need it instead of pretending that giving every baby the same box of stuff means they have

An equal start in life.

My midwives have asked several times if I've done my application

Yes, giving people a voucher and freedom of choice to spend on what they actually need, now there's an idea...as with so many policies, the free breakfast childcare/meals, I don't think the main target is the people in most need, so much as it's about fostering the idea of Scottish society as separate and branding.

It's another way to control what people spend and how.

The psychology of the baby boxes is wrong - if I was hard up, I'd especially want to prove I could look after my baby. People happy/delighted to dress them in generic govt clothes people know you've got for free generally are the people that don't worry about being perceived as poor or unable to get their baby what it needs.

I actually like the baby box idea (I had my babies way before they came in). I was a really materialistic first time mum with no family to knock sense into me so I spent lots of money on things like a stokke cot which I know now is ridiculous. A baby box may have helped me see sense. Anyway, breakfast and lunch is a massive waste of money. I’m all for hungry children being fed. Even if their parents are feckless or whatever, I don’t think the children should suffer. But don’t waste (taxpayers? borrowed money?) on food for everyone. We can and do feed our own kids. If there’s so much money available, a textbook for each child in secondary so they don’t have to share would be a start.

I think that’s my problem with it too - it sounds great, who doesn’t want to feed hungry kids, but there are fundamental cracks in the system which aren’t being addressed. Rearranging deck chairs on the titanic comes to mind. If we do free breakfast and lunch at school maybe folk will forget that those same children can’t access CAMHS help for mental illness, or ED Psych support for learning difficulties, or that their parents are in need of a decent income, or help with addictions. What are people moaning about - we feed their kids, shut up and vote for us.

Like giving all health staff a £500 bonus - well that’s lovely but I’d still love to know when my daughter will actually be seen for assessments that have been pending since January. And maybe pay our nurses properly to begin with and more would stay in the job.

It’s populist, sticking plaster politics at best.

Additional support for learning, child mental health, community outreach, all better places to spend money.

Why are we so poor - expectant mothers need baby boxes, parents can't afford a breakfast for our DCs?
SNP have been the major party in our Gov since 2007 but we need babyboxes AND our children fed.
Are they still claiming it's Westminster to blame? It just seems shambolic. We;re a third world country.

And free period products - it’s all looks very third world . How have we got to this ?