Let Them Eat...?

[allenlondon]

MPs rejected the plea for free school meals to be given during holidays.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/oct/21/marcus-rashford-in-despair-as-mps-reject-free-school-meal-plan

Should be very good news for all the Answerbanks who think poor families spend too much on smoking, gambling, etc, so should get NO more handouts!

Let them eat cake! Or nothing.

Charles Dickens would not believe it.


A

[Mozz71]

//If I called myself The New Queen of Sheba would your attitude to me be more ‘umble?//

Unlikely Allen, Sheba hasn't existed for nigh on 2000 years.

[allenlondon]

Jim, I think this whole debate polarizes our thinking.

Compassion? Or, like the self-styled Judge, rather not help those in need.

Everything else revolves round this pole. Do you believe in helping the needy, or do you think they should go to hell.

A

[ummmm]

Local pubs round here are also doing their bit. They are even willing to deliver.

[Old_Geezer]

I suspect, rather than that, it's whether the needy are already helped by society, so demanding they get more again is simply virtue signalling, even if one justifies it to oneself otherwise; or whether the needy are not already officially helped by welfare that ensures they are no longer as needy, or that the responsibility does not lie with the parents' to manage the little they have properly but for society to continually increase aid whenever it is called for. One lot seems to rely on the heart where the other prefers the head.

[gulliver1]

Tory MP SELINE Saxby (north Devon) who voted against free meals for poorest kids. Says,
"I hope businesses who feed hungry kids will not be seeking any Government support........
Is this why the Tories a known as "The Nasty Party " ?

[Mozz71]

Alternatively, this ***...

"Meanwhile, Mr Bradley’s Conservative colleague Mark Jenkinson accused people of attempting to “score political points” as he claimed that in his constituency of Workington in a “tiny” minority of cases food parcels – not vouchers – are “sold or traded for drugs”"

Of course, as we all know, Gully doesn't do links, so here are all the lovely Tories. Wonderful folk, one and all...

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/tory-mps-ben-bradley-crack-den-brothel-free-school-meal-vouchers-a4572832.html

[Mamyalynne]

As usual the cries go up 'my remarks were taken out of context' - sigh.

As someone said earlier, we will never all agree about this and a degree of accepting to differ is all we'll achieve.

The most important issue is the children.

[ynnafymmi]

"The most important issue is the children".A pity their own parents dont seem to share your concerns,Mamy.

[allenlondon]

“demanding they get more again is simply virtue signalling” -

Am I the only one who finds the phrase ‘virtue signalling’ a VERY lazy cliche?

[ummmm]

It's very annoying, Allen.

[Mamyalynne]

Not a big fan of a catch phrase but they're very popular.

[Chinajan]

// A pity their own parents dont seem to share your concerns //

It is exactly because parents are concerned that there's such an outcry.

[allenlondon]

It’s also, Chinajan, the fact that what is being demanded is SO DARNED SMALL!

Not foreign holidays, not free ‘designer’ rubbish, but a handful of chips and a couple of sausages!

I’m sure many here (and on the government benches) simply DON’T get the allusion behind the question.

For those who don’t, this is Wikipedia’s explanation:

"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche", spoken in the 17th century by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread. [...] The quotation is taken to reflect either the princess's frivolous disregard for the starving peasants or her poor understanding of their plight.

The answerbanker’s frivolous disregard maybe?

[bednobs]

i dont really understand why it seems to be 15 ppw.
I could and do! spend much less than that on 7 lunches for my daughter

[ynnafymmi]

Fine words butter no parsnips,Allen(err)London.What are you doing to alleviate these poor starving kiddies plight?

[Peter Pedant]

// Compassion? Or, like the Judge, rather not help those in need.//

nay nay my lord - the judge DOES help - by giving them nice long sentences at her Majesty's pleasure. There is largesse for you - any other view is obvious contempt of court !

[bednobs]

and by saying i could di it for less, i was saying it because i wondered if it'd be more palatable if it was cheaper

[AuntPollyGrey]

'let them eat cake' -the most misquoted ever. Brioche is not cake.

[gulliver1]

Is it true that MPs get a working lunch, subsidised by the Tax payer ,when they are in the Commons.?