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Fantastic comment piece from the Times on the giveaway to mortgage holders
Comments
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Families are classed as being in poverty if they have a level of income below 60 per cent of the median household income. For example a family with two adults and two children needs to have £346 each week in order to be above the poverty line
3.9 million children - one in three - are currently living in poverty in the UK, one of the highest rates in the industrialised world.
The material deprivation indicators used to assess child poverty are;- Go to a playgroup at least once a week?
- Go on a school trip at least once a term?
- Have friends round for tea or a snack once a fortnight?
- Swimming at least once a month?
- Hobby or leisure activity?
- At least one week’s holiday away from home with family?
- Leisure equipment such as sports equipment or a bicycle?
- Celebrations on special occasions?
- Enough bedrooms for every child 10 years or over and of a different gender?
- Outdoor space/facilities to play?
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Families are classed as being in poverty if they have a level of income below 60 per cent of the median household income. For example a family with two adults and two children needs to have £346 each week in order to be above the poverty line
3.9 million children - one in three - are currently living in poverty in the UK, one of the highest rates in the industrialised world.
The material deprivation indicators used to assess child poverty are;- Go to a playgroup at least once a week?
- Go on a school trip at least once a term?
- Have friends round for tea or a snack once a fortnight?
- Swimming at least once a month?
- Hobby or leisure activity?
- At least one week’s holiday away from home with family?
- Leisure equipment such as sports equipment or a bicycle?
- Celebrations on special occasions?
- Enough bedrooms for every child 10 years or over and of a different gender?
- Outdoor space/facilities to play?
Fascinating, thank you for the information.0 -
kennyboy66 wrote: »"Year by year, Oxford admits more applicants
from the independent sector than from the
maintained, although the latter group contains
approximately two thirds of those school leavers
who obtain the highest A-level grades.
Two things strike me about that - surely the state sector's not doing well, if so few top A level students are from their schools, given that I think more than 2/3 rds of pupils attend state schools?
There is also a cause and effect issue, here, in that it's not clear what % of state school pupils apply there and are properly prepared. That suggests, again, a problem with the schools rather than the unis....much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.0 -
I think the top universitys put it down to the interviews, not background. Of course.;) (Sure I saw a documentry on it)
Depends - I got my place at UCL without an interview, and was also offered places at LSE and Kings without an interview, but I was applying post-A levels with actual results, not predictions....much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.0 -
DirectDebacle wrote: »Problem is we live in an elitist society and not a meritocrosy. The system is geared to ensure that the ruling classes remain there. This is refelected in our two tier education system. The wealthy 'buy' their children an education and ensure the 'jobs for the boys' culture is continued.
I don't think there is any such design.
In effect, the education system appears to me to have become less meritocratic over the last few decades.
My parents, for example, were from different backgrounds. My Dad was from a working-class Merseyside family, and went to a grammar school. He got a full grant for uni, and a grant to pay his bar school fees, and a scholarship to pay for pupillage. So he was pretty broke all the time, but not much debt.
My mother was a bank manager's daughter, and went to a grant-maintained school; they haven't existed for a while, but were part-way between state and private.
I went to a very academic London girls' school. A third of the pupils there were on assisted places, another scheme which has now gone. My uni education was free. My flatmate for 5 years, from a working-class family near Stockport, got a small grant and some student loans. That was only 10 years ago - graduating now, we'd have even more debt.
Someone in my Dad's position, if they survived a crap comprehensive, wouldn't get a grant to live on, but would run up nice student loans. He'd have to pay his bar school fees (£11,000 for the year, plus living costs) and then survive, with the mountain of debt, through pupillage and (if he's lucky, most people don't get this far) the early years of tenancy, earning maybe £11k a year in London, delayed payment, travel costs and smart clothes, and all that debt.
It's harder now than it was in the 1960s or the 1980s to come from a poor background and become a barrister, or doctor. Not exactly a step forward....much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.0 -
DirectDebacle wrote: »If you think we have a true meritocracy when do you think we will have an Asian Prime Minister. I do not want to divert the thread to a race issue. I give this example as one that would be difficult to envisage with our current 'system'.
Who knows? I don't think it's much of a benchmark. If people of Asian descent account for, say, 5% of the British population, and therefore 1 in 20 people, and the average Prime Minister is PM for 10 years, you'd expect to have an Asian PM only once in every 2 centuries.
Britain has a PM of Jewish origin 140 years ago, and a woman PM 30 years ago, so it's ahead in many respects....much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.0 -
lostinrates wrote: »But what is poverty now? (again a genuine question). Surely povrty includes a higher standard of living than might have been considered so in say, the 1940s?
It's often now quoted as being below X % of average earnings, so a moveable feast. Perhaps 60%?
If, say, 100 people in the UK suddenly became multi-billionaires out of nowhere (discovery and ownership of some rare widget or chemical) more families would suddenly be "poor"....much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.0 -
- Go to a playgroup at least once a week?
- Go on a school trip at least once a term?
- Have friends round for tea or a snack once a fortnight?
- Swimming at least once a month?
- Hobby or leisure activity?
- At least one week’s holiday away from home with family?
- Leisure equipment such as sports equipment or a bicycle?
- Celebrations on special occasions?
- Enough bedrooms for every child 10 years or over and of a different gender?
- Outdoor space/facilities to play?
Oh dear, according to that lot, Isaac's poor in some respects....much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.0 -
neverdespairgirl wrote: »Oh dear, according to that lot, Isaac's poor in some respects.
As are some of the most privilidged children I have known. Nonetheless, fascinating method of evaluation.0 -
Households are generally understood to be materially deprived if they cannot AFFORD and therefore go without necessities that other households might take for granted. A measure of income does not always reflect living standards; this is why the measure of child poverty includes material deprivation combined with a measure of low-income. Taken together these indicators provide a better indication of living standards and highlight the practical effects of living on a low income.0
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