She who smelt it dealt it

A typically shit-stirring article in the Daily Mail caught my attention this morning:

Not a particularly alarming headline to me, since (i) I don’t have kids and (ii) I spend more than that on booze and pizza.

Moreover, the figure refers, in the main, to the cost of childcare for working mothers.

Then my interest was piqued:

The report, from the Family and Parenting Institute, highlights the spiralling cost of childcare in Britain, which is pushing many families into poverty.

Hmmm.. the Family and Parenting Institute. Rings a bell… It’ll come to me…

The report, due to be released tomorrow at a Westminster conference addressed by the Children’s Minister Sarah Teather, said that increasingly it was grandparents who were being hit with the burden of caring for youngster while the children’s parents go out to work.

Ugh, Teather. Okay, what else?

The institute said maternity and paternity pay in Britain is ‘ inadequately low’.

The market dictates the rates. If you want small and medium businesses to go tits-up every time one of their employees has a child (or a partner who has a child), press on. Then wonder where your next pay cheque is going to come from. And where the tax revenue for your handouts is going to come from.

It warned that the Coalition’s decision to abolish child trust funds, cut child tax credits and freeze child benefit had left parents fearing they were on the ‘frontline’ for economic cuts.

Ahhh.. now I get it.  And that reminds me; The Family and Parenting Institute.

Ah yes. A fake charity chaired by Alastair Campbell’s Mrs, Fiona Millar.

And ‘like that’ with Harriet Harman.

Dr Katherine Rake, the institute’s chief executive, said: ‘The cost of raising a child has a lot to do with the cost of childcare.

‘The amount of affordable childcare is still limited and as a result people have to significantly adjust their working patterns.

‘So the cost in terms of lost earnings is even bigger, especially for women.’

Yeah – and until men are biologically capable – and willing – to spawn children, THAT’S THE WAY IT GOES.

Dr Katherine Rake, by the way, is a long standing contributor to the Guardian and former head of the Fawcett society.

It’s the “Old Girls’ Network.”

My point though, is this. These are Labour Stooges, once again completely neglecting to acknowledge that their beloved party has been in charge for 13 years, during which NOTHING WAS FIXED.

The report includes a school report card-style grading system, with A being the highest grade and D the lowest, for ten factors that the institute believes show the level of Britain’s ‘family friendliness’.

No factors were awarded an A grade and overall the institute concluded that Britain would gain no more than a C minus for family friendliness.

Hmm family friendliness. Let me have a quick think about this. Ah yes. Until 1997, ‘families’ rubbed along just fine with everyone else.

Then came New Labour. Who played the same trick as they did with every segment of society – divide & rule.

The state took an un-natural interest in ‘hard working families’, lavishing ever more benefits and tax credits on them. To be paid for by avowed non-breeders like me. You know – the ones who take our holidays at the convenience of the business, pick up the slack when maternity or paternity leave interferes with our ability to deliver for our customers. The ones who work late while you go and collect Tiffany and Jamie from their swimming lessons.

Paedogeddon was institutionalised by New Labour, spreading fear and mistrust throughout any part of society that fell within a country mile of any children.

Restaurants and ‘pubs’ have become a haven for families, while drinkers and smokers have little choice but to stay at home if they are to enjoy their peccadilloes in peace.

These things bred resentment where before there was none. We all pretty much rubbed along together until New Labour came along.

On top of this is a culture of laissez faire or ‘child-centric’ parenting, where kids run riot and go undisciplined. Thus everyone who isn’t of that mindset is irritated by selfish idiot parents who either don’t realise or don’t care that most people think their children are a noisy, messy, inconsiderate pain in the arse. Which all children will be unless they are properly parented.

And while we’re here, and the article highlights the problem of childcare costs, shall we rehearse, once again, the argument that gender feminists have forced mothers into the workplace and, ipso facto, forced house prices up to a point where both parents HAVE to work, if they are to have an adequate standard of living?

And that Labour intentionally allowed house prices to inflate, in order to create an illusion of wealth and consumer-driven growth during 10 years of real-terms stagnation?

So, in summary, the Family and Parenting Institute can put their report where the sun don’t shine – Scotland.

AJ

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