Dear Prime Minister, Please Don’t Starve Our Children
The Human Steam-Engine
--
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford’s appeal to the Government to extend the holiday food vouchers for school children has been rejected by the Government. Yes — you heard that right — this Government is refusing to feed children during a Pandemic, going into one of of the harshest winters Britain will have ever experienced. Rashford, who has recently received an MBE for his services to vulnerable children, initially had to force the Tory Government into making the U-Turn to feed children back in June — their reluctance to feed them is nothing new.
But why? Why would anyone refuse to put food into the stomachs of impoverished children? Well according to a № 10 Spokesperson, “We took that decision to extend free school meals during the pandemic when schools were partially closed during lockdown. We’re in a different position now with schools back open to all pupils.” The spokesman continues, “It’s not for schools to regularly provide food to pupils during the school holidays. We believe the best way to support families outside of term time is through Universal Credit rather than Government subsidising meals.” This is a strange stance to take, not only for the obviously immoral message, but because this is the same Government that just until a few months ago had a policy all about subsidising meals, the ‘Eat out to Help out’ scheme — whereby those eating in restaurants on certain days would see the price of their meals reduced — and as previously mentioned already had a scheme in place to feed hungry school kids over the holidays. One thinks that the Eat out to Help out scheme was simply to boost the economy, especially as this scheme was a key factor in the 2nd wave of Covid we are now experiencing.
Rashford was quick to respond on Twitter: “Merry Christmas kids … It’s also not for food banks to feed millions of British children but here we are. 250% increase in food poverty and rising … This is not going to go away anytime soon and neither am I …” Rashford’s agitation of the Government for such a noble course is admirable, but alas, it seems appealing to the compassion of…
