Victorian Poverty!

[Workingman]

Or so screams the BBC headline. It is based on the opinions of 2,500 NASUWT teachers, two thirds of whom claim to have seen pupils coming to school without having had breakfast, or not wearing socks or without winter coats.

From those observations the giant leap to levels of Victorian poverty being rife is made. There is not so much as one word about bad parenting or criticism of parents in general, poverty is the cause: obviously.

I have just been to Asda and a big box of Kellogg's cereal is £2, a Warburton's large white loaf is £1, a four pint bottle of milk is 89p and 250g block of butter is 98p. There is enough there to give a child a breakfast of cereal and toast with a nice mug of tea every day of the week. If I opted for own-brand I could cut the cost by nearly half, and if I went for porridge the total would be a third of branded goods.

I do not give a monkey's how poor someone is there is no excuse for sending a child to school on an empty stomach, it is purely down to bad parenting. Victorian poverty my rear end!

[manxie]

too true Workingman, and I bet the same kids thinks a Mc Donalds is a proper meal and most of their food is a ready meal out of a packet sat on the floor or sofa whilst watching TV or playing a computer game, what happened to sitting to the table for a family meal.

Manxie xx

[Workingman]

Our dining table was not only our dining table it was also me and my sister's homework desk, mum's sewing table, dad's DIY design and workbench, and a card table when Henry and Claire came round for a few beers.

What baffles me is the BBC's agenda. Where is the evidence for "Victorian poverty"? There isn't any, none at all, yet the BBC is making out that it is rife in every inner-cities in the UK. It is blaming government and councils, yet there is nothing about parent/guardian failures.

No other major news outlet is carrying the story, so what is the BBC trying to prove?

[cromwell]

There is not so much as one word about bad parenting or criticism of parents in general, poverty is the cause: obviously.

I have just been to Asda and a big box of Kellogg's cereal is £2, a Warburton's large white loaf is £1, a four pint bottle of milk is 89p and 250g block of butter is 98p. There is enough there to give a child a breakfast of cereal and toast with a nice mug of tea every day of the week. If I opted for own-brand I could cut the cost by nearly half, and if I went for porridge the total would be a third of branded goods.

I do not give a monkey's how poor someone is there is no excuse for sending a child to school on an empty stomach, it is purely down to bad parenting. Victorian poverty my rear end!

Hear hear.

[Osc]

Oh don't start me

[Suff]

No other major news outlet is carrying the story, so what is the BBC trying to prove?

That the Tories are bad people who steal from the poor.

It's a subtle message but one they will build on over the next few weeks. Just watch them.

It's ALL BS though. No breakfast, no decent clothes but I bet the parents are well fed, well filled with alcohol and well catered to with fags. Wide Screen TV? No issue. Sky? Of course. Clothes and food for the kids? What's that?

I don't see workhouses for the poor. I don't see 10 family children all sleeping in the same room on the same bed. In fact, if they have 10 kids, they'll get so many benefits they won't be poor until the kids leave home....

There can't be Victorian poverty because we now have a Welfare state. The BBC should be challenged and brought to book on this. Publicly.

[Kaz]

I have often said similar Frank, there is no excuse for sending children hungry to school. You can get a big tray of eggs from Iceland for a pound, 4 litres of milk for 89p and lovely seeded bread for £1 - a lovely healthy breakfast for pennies per day

[Suff]

When they show me children as young as 8 working, poor houses, debtors prison, workhouses, then they can talk to me about Victorian Poverty. Otherwise they are just having a wet dream.

The welfare state was supposed to get rid of the "Victorian Poverty" forever. Are they saying they spent enough money to keep 10 small countries going for 100 years and they failed?

Or are they just lying their asses off???

[JoM]

I have often said similar Frank, there is no excuse for sending children hungry to school. You can get a big tray of eggs from Iceland for a pound, 4 litres of milk for 89p and lovely seeded bread for £1 - a lovely healthy breakfast for pennies per day

Something I've often said too. It's down to bad parenting, as has already been said, poor budgeting and laziness.

You can go in Iceland and buy ingredients cheaply and put together several healthy meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner)...or you can go in there , be totally lazy and buy ready meals loaded with salt and sugar.
It's not going to improve either because the children in question will learn by example

[Suff]

Certainly not when there are adverts all over the TV going on about not bothering to even learn to cook. Why bother, it's all in a box ready to microwave.

For a price.

At a cost in health....

Of course if it were really "Victorian Poverty", they wouldn't have a TV, or even be able to afford a newspaper, or anywhere to live.....

I was sent to school with a cooked breakfast all my childhood and I went to school dinners unless I chose to use my dinner money on something else. But, then again, I liked school dinners most of the time and a lollipop is hardly filling. So I only did that from time to time. My parents were not rich, my father was in the Air force and didn't hit Sergeant until much later in my school life. My mother didn't work until we were old enough and then she went into teaching.

The problem today is not just about bad parenting, it is about people who choose to excuse it with stupid excuses like "Victorian Poverty", or how those who work and struggle to bring up their children should pay more taxes to help those who don't......

The lower the bar, the lower the achievement....