Marcus Rashford - School Meals Vouchers Campaign

[crankedup]

Where’s Jamie Oliver?

[s1962a]

snuffy said:

s1962a said:

crofty1984 said:

snuffy said:

t400ble said:

I dont have an issue with it, as long as we make it a one off

If it happens then it will not be a one-off. Once you have given people something like this it's almost impossible to take it away.

Can you imagine the politician willing to say "Remember how we decided to feed the kiddies? Well we're not doing that now."

Remember free milk we used to get at schools? Probably showing my age there.

Maggie Thatcher - Milk Snatcher.

And people still bang on about that, however many years ago that it happened. And there was no Facebook then, so think about what the reaction would be today ?

If kids get free school meals all year round, imagine the facebook reaction if that stopped ? "The Government is actually starving our children - they want them to die !".

if we can somehow promote healthy eating in children and tie that in with free meals we might actually save money in the long term (think NHS, obesity etc), but knowing how our government works, we'd probably end up funding peoples cigarette and booze habit.

[Bill]

untakenname said:

I may be in the minority but I don't see why parents should expect other taxpayers to support their kids?
imo if you can't afford them then don't have them it's the equivalent of buying a high maintenance car and not only expecting others to pay for the servicing but also the fuel.

Those families on free school meals will also be getting income in the form housing benefits and an assortment of other gifts as well so should be able to feed their own children

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-tax-trap-w...

No one cares if you buy a car and neglect it. And society won't have to pick up the pieces when it grows up.

The sad fact is that for some children the only decent meal they get each day is their school meal. And the parents don't suddenly become less feckless because it's the school holidays.

[anonymous-user]

I like Marcus Rashford. I remember seeing him first play for England. He just ran at the opposition, took the ball past them, no fear!
You could tell that the team was on the up with players like him around.
I respect his opinion on this matter more because he's been in that situation as a child and not through fecklessness or 'beer and ciggies' as his mum worked but just couldn't earn enough at the time.
We need more young people like him who can get a point across, in a reasoned way, about something that will make a difference to our society.

[mikal83]

crankedup said:

Where’s Jamie Oliver?

Well Linekar has jumped on the bandwagon.....what all 4 mill a year of him.

[Starfighter]

[Google search]

bhstewie said:

reverse ferret

[/Google search]
Yes.

[bitchstewie]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Quite.

I hadn't heard of his campaign until BBC Breakfast covered it yesterday and I won't lie I was half expecting "another rich footballer lectures people" but then I watched him speak and saw the letter he sent.

Can't argue with a word of what he said especially given it's from his own lived experience.

The lad sets an excellent example.

[Neonblau]

bhstewie said:

Quite.

I won't lie I hadn't heard of this until BBC Breakfast covered it yesterday and I was half expecting "another rich footballer lectures people" but then I watched him speak and saw the letter he sent.

Can't argue with a word of what he said especially given it's from his own lived experience.

The lad sets an excellent example.

+1 I saw him doing an interview a few months back on school meals and he came across really well. It's obviously a cause close to his heart. I'm not sure why anyone thinks his income is relevant to the subject either.

[crankedup]

Damaging the Government when a ‘personality’ brings a Socially unacceptable situation to wide public attention. Totally unacceptable that kids are still going hungry in our Country, one which purports to be the fifth or sixth wealthiest in the World. Shameful,

[bitchstewie]

Why do we think the Government would reject his campaign then?

I'm listening to James O'Brien who makes the obvious and excellent point that we repeatedly hear people saying we should "look after our own".

If that isn't starving children who is it?

[Digga]

Voldemort said:

jimothyc said:

Maybe I don't understand the issue properly here. But my understanding is that to qualify for free school meals you need to be in receipt of benefits.

Free school meals aren't normally supplied during the school holidays and the payment of benefits hasn't been affected by the coronavirus pandemic. So why should free school meals continue to be provided during holiday time?

While I appreciate that the cost of providing them is peanuts compared to the furlough scheme. What's the special situation that demands them in this case?

Because 1 starving child is too many.

But 1 fat kid is too many.

Not to get too Jamie Oliver about it, but what will they be fed? Sometimes, believe it or not, nothing is better (for you) than something (unhealthy).

[itcaptainslow]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Very much this.

There’s an awful lot of bitterness in this thread about how much footballers earn. Apart from anything-they get criticised for not doing anything (allegedly), then when this lad does something positive (about trying to ensure kids don’t go hungry FFS) , he gets criticised, and only on PH it seems. This says an awful lot about the mentality of some on here quite frankly.

[Noodle1982]

I applaud what he's doing but the parents shouldn't be having kids if they can't afford to feed them.

[V88Dicky]

s1962a said:

Remember free milk we used to get at schools? Probably showing my age there.

Yep. In 1/3 Pint bottles, silver top too. Mmmm

[s1962a]

V88Dicky said:

s1962a said:

Remember free milk we used to get at schools? Probably showing my age there.

Yep. In 1/3 Pint bottles, silver top too. Mmmm

Yeah the little glass bottles with plastic straws. They used to come into the classroom in their own little crates too. Good times!

[V88Dicky]

s1962a said:

V88Dicky said:

s1962a said:

Remember free milk we used to get at schools? Probably showing my age there.

Yep. In 1/3 Pint bottles, silver top too. Mmmm

Yeah the little glass bottles with plastic straws. They used to come into the classroom in their own little crates too. Good times!

They weren't much fun on a boiling hot June day in the late 70's though!

[untakenname]

itcaptainslow said:

Very much this.

There’s an awful lot of bitterness in this thread about how much footballers earn. Apart from anything-they get criticised for not doing anything (allegedly), then when this lad does something positive (about trying to ensure kids don’t go hungry FFS) , he gets criticised, and only on PH it seems. This says an awful lot about the mentality of some on here quite frankly.

It's not so much what footballers earn it's footballers in general and how they are made into saint like 'role models', most sportsmen at the top earn quite a bit (if not as much) but it's the fact that by making them role models football is held up as a viable career path for millions of kids despite only 1 in 10000 (if that) making it to major leagues.
Even in my school which was relatively middle class plenty didn't bother learning in class as instead thought they will be playing for England in ten years which invariably leads to the 'promising young footballer' career criminal when it doesn't work out.

Edited by untakenname on Tuesday 16th June 10:51

[rustyuk]

Noodle1982 said:

I applaud what he's doing but the parents shouldn't be having kids if they can't afford to feed them.

Unfortunately they do and it's not the kids fault.

[dodgyviper]

Kudos to Rashford for this - good work.

It is an uphill battle, which will be abused, however, we cannot tolerate a situation whereby some children go hungry because others abuse the system.

The fault here is in the policing of it - an area which is woeful.

A school locally stopped giving out vouchers when it was found (on Facebook) that some parents were describing how they were saving up the vouchers for Christmas. That school stopped the vouchers and simply fed the kids direct - essentially giving the vouchers to themselves.

What they should have done, is report it to the authorities and leave it at that. Unfortunately the authorities were useless and so the school had to act on it themselves.

Apparently the head got a load of abuse from parents for it.

Scum is scum, but never is that an excuse to not feed a hungry child

[rscott]

untakenname said:

I may be in the minority but I don't see why parents should expect other taxpayers to support their kids?
imo if you can't afford them then don't have them it's the equivalent of buying a high maintenance car and not only expecting others to pay for the servicing but also the fuel.

Those families on free school meals will also be getting income in the form housing benefits and an assortment of other gifts as well so should be able to feed their own children

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-tax-trap-w...

Noodle1982 said:

I applaud what he's doing but the parents shouldn't be having kids if they can't afford to feed them.

In many of the cases, when the parents had their kids, they could afford to feed them. However, they've seen household incomes drop considerably over the last few months as they've either been furloughed, made redundant or had hours greatly reduced.

That's why he's asking for the scheme to be extended over this summer's school holiday only.