Funding cuts threaten project in Newham, east London, that feeds thousands of children
A pioneering scheme providing free school meals to all primary school pupils in one of the UK’s poorest boroughs faces the axe as a result of funding cuts, leaving thousands of deprived youngsters at risk of missing out on a nutritious dinner.
On the same day that Jacob Rees-Mogg came under fire for accusing Unicef of a “political stunt” for stepping in to help feed hungry children in the UK, Newham council said its universal free school meals (USFM) scheme was no longer affordable.
The USFM, which has run for 11 years, guarantees all three- to 11-year-olds in the east London borough a free dinner during term time.
Local MPs and school leaders praised the scheme as “life-changing” and said they were worried about the impact the proposed cut would have on the health and educational development of thousands of children whose families are struggling financially, particularly in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The issue of growing child hunger and food insecurity has repeatedly flared up owing to Marcus Rashford’s high-profile holiday hunger campaigns, record food bank demand and spiralling poverty and destitution.
Wednesday’s announcement that the UN humanitarian aid agency Unicef was to fund emergency food packages to south London schools – the first time it had intervened in the UK in its 70-history – has caused further controversy.
Moggy could pay for the whole scheme out of back pocket.
Moggy thinks children should starve to teach their parents about responsibility, and that the threat and experience of abject poverty is character building. Those who remain poor therefore are of low character and inferior morals.
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here. .
"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
Frank Zappa
"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
Judges have insisted that freedom of speech includes the 'right to offend' in a landmark ruling which could help to turn the tide on 'woke' intolerance after a feminist who called a transgender woman a 'pig in a wig' and a 'man' was cleared.
Presiding over a case in the Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Warby said: 'Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having.'
It seems that these justices have more of an understanding of he value of free speech than most.
Police faced a backlash for phoning a 74-year-old woman to warn her that her online posts about gender identity had offended transgender people.
Former local journalist Margaret Nelson wrote in her blog that if a transgender person's body was dissected post-mortem, 'his or her sex would be obvious to a student or pathologist'.
But she was later contacted by Suffolk Police, who woke her with a morning phone call, telling her the comments had provoked complaints from members of the trans community.
Now, which group wants to call the old lady some kind of 'science-denier', or 'violent right-wing extremist'?
Shit, Piss, Cock, Cunt, Motherfucker, Cocksucker and Tits.
-various artists
Uniserve is largest recipient of pandemic deals handed out by DHSC under emergency regulations
A British logistics company has received almost £800m of Covid-19-related contracts, making it the largest recipient of pandemic deals handed out by the Department of Health and Social Care without an open tender.
Uniserve, an Essex-based transport firm that last reported annual sales of £243m, says it will make tens of millions of pounds profit from £779m of contracts to supply the government with personal protective equipment (PPE) and logistics services during the coronavirus crisis.
The huge scale of the contracts awarded to Uniserve without a tender has raised questions over whether the DHSC achieved the best value for the taxpayer, even within the context of the country scrambling for PPE during the height of the pandemic.
The PPE contracts were awarded directly, without an open competitive tender between potential suppliers, under regulations that bypassed normal processes due to the Covid-19 emergency.
Fleetwood Strategy, co-founded by Isaac Levido, was given £124,000 contract without competitive tender
A political consultancy co-founded by the pollster who headed the Conservative party’s general election campaign was given a contract by the government without a competitive tender during the pandemic.
Fleetwood Strategy, which was co-founded this year by Isaac Levido, was given the £124,000 contract by the Cabinet Office in April. The 37-year-old has been credited with playing a large part in securing Boris Johnson his landslide victory.
The government has been accused of giving contracts to companies with links to the Conservative party during the pandemic, drawing criticisms that it has created a “chumocracy”.
The government has also been accused of being unnecessarily secretive after refusing to say which companies have been awarded multi-million-pound Covid-19 contracts after being processed in a high-priority channel for firms with political connections.
Official guidelines stipulate that government contracts should be published 30 days after being awarded. But details of the contract given to Fleetwood were only published on a government website on Friday, six months later than they should have been.
In addition, the Cabinet Office delayed responding to a freedom of information request by the Guardian for a list of contracts that it has given to Fleetwood, claiming that publishing the information could damage commercial interests.
Just plain corruption. Who is getting the brown envelopes?
Marina Hyde wrote:From the tier system to the Brexit deal or no deal, Tory MPs have an incredibly busy schedule of self-deception to juggle
My favourite ever political doorstep question came from Michael Crick, who greeted a certain New Labour figure with the early morning salutation: “Will you be telling any LIES today, Mr Mandelson?” It only needs light repurposing to apply currently to almost every Conservative MP, who should really spend Christmas being greeted by their spouse at the breakfast table with the inquiry: “Good morning, dear. Will you be telling any lies to yourself today?”
The answer, as it was with Peter Mandelson, is a decided: yes. Yes, very much so. I will be leading myself right up the garden path this morning, then taking myself for a ride this afternoon.
The sheer volume of bullshit that Tory MPs are currently required to feed themselves and swallow includes the notion that they’re getting out of tier 3 soon;
that they’re getting out of tier 3 in February;
that they’re getting out of tier 3 in March (wake up, guys!);
that there isn’t effectively going to be a tier 4 AND another national lockdown;
that Rishi Sunak is extending the furlough scheme to the end of April but tiers are going to be just a distant memory by April;
that this lot aren’t likely to significantly cock up the vaccine rollout;
that any Brexit deal Boris Johnson may or may not deliver imminently is good;
that said deal or no deal will address all their concerns and demands;
that it will address even ANY of their concerns and demands;
that it is absolutely the best thing for Britain to be doing;
that it is absolutely the best thing for Britain to be doing right now in the middle of all this;
and that Johnson gives one hundredth of a toss about a single one of them.
It is, let’s face it, an incredibly busy schedule of self-deception to juggle. Ultimately, though, you’d have to think some of the complete balls are going to get dropped in the next couple of months. Even Boris Johnson, the nation’s leading liar, simply couldn’t maintain that level of full-spectrum mendacity for an entire winter without coming a cropper.
Moggy thinks children should starve to teach their parents about responsibility, and that the threat and experience of abject poverty is character building. Those who remain poor therefore are of low character and inferior morals.
He can think anything, he has never known such situations, and knows precisely zilch on the subject... maybe he should use his fortune for the poor and live himself as a mendicant?
Rees-Mogg was born into a wealthy family and educated to a position of authirity, which is a testament to his noble lineage, high character and superior morals.
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here. .
"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
Frank Zappa
"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
Still, I've known alley cats with more sense, honesty, and integrity than moggie, to say he's unsuitable for his post is gross undestatement... then again, what can you expect for somebody working for a puddle of slime like bojo?
Exclusive: It’s unclear how PPE Medpro’s bids were processed through channel for firms referred by MPs and senior officials
A company with mystery investors and links to the Isle of Man was awarded government contracts worth £200m to supply the UK with personal protective equipment (PPE) after it was placed in a “high-priority lane” for well-connected firms, the Guardian can reveal.
PPE Medpro has not revealed the identities of the financiers and businessmen behind the venture, and it remains unclear how its offer to supply PPE came to be processed through a channel created for companies referred by politicians and senior officials.
PPE Medpro was awarded its first contract, for £80.85m to supply 210m face masks, on 12 June. The company secured its second contract two weeks later, for £122m, to supply 25m surgical gowns. Both contracts were awarded directly by the government without competitive tenders under Covid-19 emergency regulations that have waived normal requirements.
Two of the company’s three directors, Anthony Page and Voirrey Coole, are also directors of Knox House Trust, which is part of the Knox Group in the Isle of Man, a tax advisory and wealth management firm run by the businessman Douglas Barrowman.
The government has rejected accusations that it has operated a “chumocracy” in its award of contracts during the pandemic. The Cabinet Office minister Julia Lopez said last week that the high-priority lane was “a separate mailbox” set up to assess the influx of offers to triage credible leads. “All PPE offers went through the same eight stage checks. This was not a case of special treatment for friends of ministers.”
Jolyon Maugham QC, director of the Good Law Project, said the government should disclose all the companies that came through the high-priority lane. “Slowly it is going to emerge which companies won highly lucrative public contracts having been ushered through the VIP lane,” he said. “There is a serious public interest in the government explaining precisely who was put in that lane, and why.”
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here. .
"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
Frank Zappa
"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
