PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS

[Stanley]

I see that the May statement which I have criticised elsewhere has attracted others. See THIS Guardian report of reactions from police commissioners and senior officers. They are universally scathing about her response.
As if this wasn't enough, see THIS for news of education funding. The schools are struggling and in debt but the government says they are putting record amounts in. This is more weasel words, even if it is true, it isn't enough to cover rising costs.
News that the NAO has heavily criticised the roll out of the government's 'Verify' digital identification tool. Yet another IT promise bites the dust.

[Stanley]

Probably the most significant result from the current knife crime outrage is that all the responses coming in from the front line point directly to this being a complicated problem caused by government cuts in many areas of society.
One is allowed to be wise before the event and I have long argued that the policies of Austerity were not savings at all but storing problems up for further down the line and inevitably were going to damage the social fabric. what does the government do? 'a Downing Street summit', 'Having a look at', 'Wide ranging discussions', 'learning lessons'. We have heard it all before and every 'initiative' over the last 8 years has faded away into obscurity as the public furore over whatever was the cause dies away.
Jeremy Corbyn is right, you can't solve the problems by cuts and privatisation, it needs investment and taking ownership of the problems.

[Stanley]

I'm sure you have picked up the news that more than 7,000 head teachers have written to millions of parents warning that the schools have insufficient funding. They say they have made repeated efforts to get a meeting with the minister but have been told that he is too busy with other matters.
Later two head teachers were interviewed on Today and detailed what was happening including them having to clean the toilets. Damien Hind's department denies there is any shortage or that the minister is avoiding the teachers. So, who do we believe? My money is on the teachers.....

[Stanley]

See THIS for yet another fatal stabbing, it was the fourth attempt on his life according to the family.

[plaques]

PanBiker wrote in Puzzles...Our team of four won the Barlick Labour Party Quiz Night tonight which we put on to raise funds for the West Craven Food Bank Well done PanBiker. But lets think about this for a minute. A charity quiz to raise money for Food Banks. How low have we sunk that we need food banks at all? This is rapidly become a way of life, not to help those few unfortunate people who for one reason or another have dropped our of society and need charitable help but ordinary people who just can't make ends meet. The ship is sinking and all our Tory MPs can do is debate whether bigger profits can be made by abandoning the ship altogether or to anchor it up with the EU and go for a steady profit. Poor people don't come into the equation.

[PanBiker]

Indeed Plaques, Food Banks have only come into existence since the Tories chose an austerity route as fiscal policy. Liz who is one of our members and also one of the driving forces of the food bank read out the statistics last night during the thanks towards the end of the evening. I can't remember the exact figures so I won't quote but I was shocked. The West Craven Food Bank covers Barlick, Earby and district and as far out as Colne. The shocking thing is that even folk who are theoretically in full time employment according to the government have to use the service. What a lot actually have are temporary or zero hours employment contracts and they just can't manage. It's a desperate situation for some folk and entirely manufactured by chosen policy, a travesty actually for the 21st century in one of the richest countries in the world.

West Craven Food Bank

[Stanley]

You are both quite right and I have been banging on about this for almost ten years.....
Another fatal stabbing in London on Saturday......
We are watching society breaking up at all levels and to give credit where it is due, the only politician who continually brings this to the fore is Jeremy Corbyn. Austerity was as big a mistake as Brexit......
I remain convinced that this is deliberate Tory policy, to reset the clock to the golden days for the wealthy, the laisser faire of the 19th century.
See THIS BBC report on police response times to see how dire the situation is......

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of a statement issued by Dame Glenys Stacey who oversees the probation services that the partial privatisation of the services by Failing Grayling is irredeemably flawed and should be brought back under government control as a nationally funded service.
Will anyone hear her damning assessment? Watch this space.
Later news reveals that the Department of Transport didn't have a single face to face meeting with Seabourne Freight before awarding the contract. Taxed with this a DafT spokesperson said it was ridiculous to expect that to happen as multiple emails and telephone calls had been exchanged. Really...... Are these people inhabiting the same planet as the rest of us?

[Stanley]

See THIS for a BBC report on the stabbings in Edmonton. Totally random and all were attacked from behind. Words fail me.... of course it's nothing to do with cuts in police presence on the street.....

[Stanley]

Another stabbing in London has just been reported....

[plaques]

Are the children's nurseries under threat of large scale closures? This is a slow burning one that has been aggravated by the recent increase in minimum wages, The cut backs in Council funding along with increases in overheads are putting these services under stress. Giving two million people a wage rise is a good move but it has to be balanced by increases in grants where there is a direct impact on financing. Virtually every service which relies heavily on low wage employment will have to make further cut backs.

[Stanley]

I think they are P. Add in care homes and refuges for abused woman as well. Meanwhile, in Downing Street..... bugger all.

[Tizer]

`Brexit: Councils left in the dark, MPs say' LINK

[Stanley]

I introduced the ladies in ward 12 to the concept of the Mushroom Farm yesterday.....
By the way, I forgot to mention, when I got there my appointment had been changed to next Monday but a bit of smooth talking and grovelling got me in.

[Stanley]

See THIS Sun report on a cut of a third in funding for Child Mental Health. As usual the government response is to say that funding is being increased.
I do get fed up with this standard response, often with selective quotations of favourable statistics. The bottom line is that we are failing our children.....

[Stanley]

What strikes me at the moment is that we get almost daily reports of one public service or another being run down due mainly to cuts in funding, especially by Local Authorities. A good example yesterday was the closing of community centres, often the only facility open to kids. If they can't hang out there they do it unsupervised on the streets and this is seen as a major factor in the rise in carrying knives for protection. Makes sense to me!
All we get from Government is anodyne defensive statements saying that funding is being put in but no mention of the cuts. The estimate is that funding has fallen overall by a third and what are the government doing? Brexit is strangling the country. (Then there is the small matter of the problems the armed forces are facing.....)
Government can't just be suspended for over two years with no action or responsibility.....
Later.... See the latest report on the treatment of children excluded from main stream schools. The inspectors say they have been shocked by the conditions they have found,

[Stanley]

The National Education Union have issued a statement saying that poverty is a factor affecting children's education. See THIS BBC report on the results of a poll conducted by the Union. 91% of 8,600 teachers who responded agreed that it was a factor.
See THIS BBC report also into sprinklers in schools. Only 15% of new schools being built include sprinkler systems. These are universally regarded by fire brigades as an essential for any public building. The Factory Acts make them mandatory, why not schools also? I think it's a national disgrace. Relatively small amounts of money saved are more important than children's lives. It is as simple as that.

[Stanley]

Nothing specific but I note that accounts of deterioration in all services due mainly to cuts to funding of local authorities are getting more frequent. There is a slow but steady build-up of opinion and the government would do well to take notice. They have reached the limit of anodyne repetition of bogus statistics on funding, it is time to take their heads out of the sand.
(I am reminded of George Herbert in his collection of proverbs entitled Jacula Prudentum (1652), "Though the mills of God grind slowly; Yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, With exactness grinds He all." The public is slow to rise to anger but once they have reached tipping point they are more powerful than any bunch of manipulative politicians with personal agendas.)

[Stanley]

I can't find any web article on it but questions are being raised about a 50% cut over the last ten years in English language teaching for immigrants. This at a time when integration is more badly needed than ever. This is not the most obvious public service cut but is definitely important.

[plaques]

Headlines today recording that almost 1.6 million emergency three day food packs have been handed out. Food Packs. Something is going sadly wrong in our society but with Universal Credits set to make 1.9 million claimants up to £1000 a year worse off this figure is sure to climb. Universal Credit
As the Trust says..
"This is not right - enough is enough.
"Our benefits system is supposed to protect us all from being swept into poverty."

[Stanley]

Dead right P. It is an absolute disgrace. Add the warnings from teachers of hungry kids in schools. We are one of the richest countries on earth and squander millions every day on advisers and consultants for our incompetent politicians. Just think what that could mean for free school meals for all and school milk. We did it in the depths of WW2 so why not now? It's simply that the poor, disadvantaged and hungry are not a Tory priority.
I wonder if Moonface mentioned to LINO yesterday that Pendle has some of the most deprived children in the country and some of the highest Infant Mortality figures as well?

[Tripps]

Just think what that could mean for free school meals for all and school milk

I don't remember every child getting 'free dinners'. The Monday morning ritual involved paying for a week's dinners at 5d a day which cost 2s 1d per week. I payed, and by today's standards I'd say we were in poverty. There were free dinners for some though - goodness knows what state their family finances were in. Their tickets were a different colour though, so everyone knew who was on free dinners.

I doubt they would reintroduce free milk - too many lactose intolerant and vegan children.

[Tizer]

Coincidentally I've just read that the Han people in China are lactose intolerant and that the idea of eating cheese is revolting because to them it's `rotten milk'.

[Stanley]

David, I don't remember ever paying but that could be just my memory, I don't remember tickets either. As for 'lactose intolerant and Vegans', they could just opt out.....Anything to avoid hungry kids and teachers feeding kids in need out of their own pockets (and that is happening today!). I still think it's disgraceful....
Tiz, I first discovered lactose intolerance when I came into contact with a Japanese professor at Carleton who was my partner teaching the Carleton students one year, they had a different staff member every year it wasn't always Martha but she and I made all the arrangements and I did the leg work and bookings.
The Japanese Professor educated me about his condition as I knew nothing about it. As far as I can see it is the races who live in colder climates who remain lactose tolerant after infancy because we need the calories. The others lose the ability to digest milk when weaned as a baby. Some are partially tolerant but not many. I don't know what the proportion is but us Northerners might even be a minority. (SHOCK HORROR!)

[Tizer]

Before 10,000 years ago human adults couldn't digest lactose but they were using milk as a food - it was digestible once the lactose had been fermented out. Presumably they found that milk left lying around for long enough was OK. Eventually they would deliberately ferment it. Even in recent times the Cossacks carried animal skin bags full of milk on their horses - it got a good shaking and natural fermenation turned it into yoghurt. Once a human mutation gave our digestive system a lactase enzyme it would have been a benefit, especially in times of famine.