Where do we go after Sure Start ?

Lovely isn`t he , some thoughts on the demise of Sure Start

Sure Start is due to be wound up in March and its services will be much missed by the large numbers of Islington parents who appreciate the superb staff and nurturing facilities. Paradoxically it is generally reckoned to have been a failure. It t was supposed to patch the patches of misguided benefits and housing policy ,which have undermined working class communities and families. With disgraceful presumption , it was envisioned as part of a state replacement for the two parent family and a safety net for girls who were tempted into early pregnancy by the promise of independence. Points awarded to for needy lifestyles of all sorts have been exactly the disaster that Frank Field predicted when he was charged to, “think the unthinkable.”
“ No free society can function when very large sections of the working population are so imprisoned by the welfare system that their own efforts can make little difference to their income”. Gordon Brown was prominent amongst those who stopped this admirable Labour politician giving the country a firm basis for the future. The tax payer has increasingly been treated like a medieval serf ever since.
The allegation made of Sure Start has been , that underprivileged parents have stayed away and it has instead become a meeting place for the “middle classes”. There is something in this . At the Mitford centre I met a few other local fathers this morning at the aptly named “fathers only morning”. There are usually a couple of solicitors ,an architect ,and a most engaging alternative comedian. I chalked it up as yet another failed Labour policy. Good riddance
My good lady wife was unimpressed. As she pointed out ,we have had to move for work and training and like a lot of people in Islington have become isolated from our families and neighbours. Women at home in particular have no supporting community in a Borough where ,“community”, is a myth ,repeated out of mere habit. For these reasons, the Sure Start and other post natal supports have been vital in establishing new links between ourselves.
Sure Start may not be filling the need that New labour intended it to but it has been a solution to a real problem . It was entirely by accident but they got something right . Alternative facilities are likely to be arranged but is rumoured that they will not be as well funded or staffed. The Council will have amore important role and I think we would all like to be reassured that this wonderful service will be adequately maintained. .

I am a very bad person . It turns out that in addition to accusing Croydonian of being a Socialist I pursued along line of enquiry as to his sexual predilections . Oh dear oh dear ..its lucky he has an imperturbable sense of humour . ..phew.
Additional evidence of my dreadful morals came when I got to the father’s morning at the local Mitford Centre. This is a wonderful facility where they provide a creative and safe environment for toddlers and babies which little Elliot adores. It will be closing soon I `m afraid as part of the demise of Sure Start .
I was so hung over that I was obliged to drink the entire carton of Strawberry and Banana smoothy that Ruben , the kindly helper, had set out for the children. I also scoffed quite a bit of their food . Pretty evil eh.

Well Mrs . N has finally put her foot down and there is now written constitution in place in the household.

Blogging Constitution.
Saturday
Two hours Blogging on Saturday Morning after spending at least two hours with your son
A further two hours in the evening
None of these time periods to be carried over. Its use it or lose it .
Sunday
As above
Weekdays
Anytime after “I” am in bed ( nice of her)
Weekdays two full evenings but absolutely no other computer time at all.
Elliot duties to be shared equally at the weekends only

I think thats pretty fair really and in this new spirit of accord a mug of soup and a peice of chocalate cake has just arrived. I still have half an hour to go .....life is sweet

Working Class ? Whats That

Mmmm, went out for a few beers with Croydonian last night , I seem to recall threatening to out him as a socialist..well it seemed funny ( to me ) at the time .He is not , of course , a socialist but he is quite creative and thats always suspicious.I `ll be watching


Sent this in to the Gazette with my new snazzy title the other day.

Chris Graham, and others, persist in telling us that money can be created from nothing.” Council Rents are a Third of Private …because private landlords exploit a shortage. ”.By “exploit a shortage”, he means, “The price set by the market “. His choice of words tells all you need to know about the antiquated Socialism he believes in. The absence of a direct, “Subsidy”, is irrelevant.
He is counting the wrong way .There is no value except that set by the market .By withholding large tracts of hot-spot inner City housing, the price everyone else pays for property is inflated. This works by a mechanism called, “scarcity”. When some pay less the rest pay more; its that simple. To add insult to injury I notice Sharon Hayward from the local hard left claiming that the treasury benefits from the government’s having wisely investing the country’s wealth in property .The bricks and mortar are almost valueless. “We” create the value by borrowing up to five times our salaries and slaving like dogs to keep pace. The same is true of the £45,000,000 Islington Council are raising from selling property assets
Leaseholders are property owners and mortgage payers; they are almost universally working people making no claims on the tax payer. In fact they are often in the relatively low income brackets suffering 70 % marginal taxation form the vicious Brownite tax and spend government. Uniquely they pay twice, in the form of absurdly inflated Service charges that disappear into the general waste of the state
Pat Wagland smugly refers to “Working Class Tenants”.70% of Council tenants are on benefits whereas almost all leaseholders work. It is a bitter irony that she excludes these ordinarily heroic people from the, “Working “class.



Interesting that we are always supposed to be worrying about the so called, "working class", isn`t it. In fact, generally speaking, non membership of this mythical communion is defined by working . They are closing down Sure Start because it wasn`t reaching the parts other state nurturing schemes cannot reach..ie the "working class". I am going in a second with my son . Marian , my wife , made a good point . I said well you can see why, when I go there are two sollicitors an architect and an alternative comedian. She said yes and these are exactly the people who have had to move for work or training that have no support.In other words , entirely by accident the governement filled need that was very much felt by those who actually work. It is no suprise then that it has weeks to live.

Typical!!

Feeling fat anyone?

Sent into the Gazette. ( Written with a little help from me )

Poor Achilles ,the adorable Spaniel, ( Sarah Harvey’s article ), was left alone with a box of Choccies and scoffed the lot. I `m so glad he recovered ,but regrettably Achilles wasn’t the only one who over indulged recently. Unaccountably all our clothes seem to have shrunk over Christmas , does anyone recognise the problem? There is a new wonder diet pill , called Slendrol on the market. Unfortunately its for dogs.
For we non-canines the fun is over , and while we feel our sensitive bank accounts gingerly, the self loathing really kicks in .Gosh isn’t everyone queuing up to make you feel even worse? A day doesn’t` pass without our being told that weight problems are a plague of biblical proportions. Dark rumours circulate of the NHS refusing treatment unless you are thin , the fat tax looks set to become a reality ,and they will soon be labelling Mars bars, “Death dealing poison”.
We can’t even be nice to ourselves. In a recent survey 97 % of women admitted to looking at other women and thinking , “Goodness she’s fat” .A woman of 31 has been on an average of 38 diets ! Then the panic really sets in. We read that 23 people were trapped behind a particularly large lady who got stuck on a tour of the Cango caves of South Africa .She was freed by greasing the cave walls with liquid paraffin and some sturdy pulleys . Put the sausage roll down and back slowly away !
What are we to do ? Well the only answer is to eat sensibly , take some exercise and find someone , or something , even more bloated and disgusting than you .I have a suggestion. The grotesquely swollen State .
Gordon Brown has created a “target a day” since arriving in Government including a target for the Cabinet office to provide more targets. The cost of all this is estimated at £15 billion .After 2001,vast amounts have been spent on the public sector, spiralling public finances into deficit .As services are ,if anything ,worse ,they presumably ate the money. Mrs. Taylor said Achilles ,”hadn’t learnt his lesson“, and I `m afraid Mr. Brown never will.
So cheer up everyone , we might be on a gruel and guilt for a month, but we are Kate Moss look-alikes compared to the morbidly obese Government .
Marian Newman

The story

http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/content/islington/gazette/news/story.aspx?brand=ISLGOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsislg&itemid=WeED03%20Jan%202007%2012%3A52%3A35%3A343