Can Conservatives actually tell truth?
HELP BREAK DOWN THE BARRIERS IN CHILDHOOD
IN 2019, Action for Children launched a landmark report which explored childhood across three generations.
Now, two years on from the first national lockdown, we have revisited this research to understand the worries children face growing up in the shadow of the pandemic amid a growing cost of living crisis.
As children grapple with how they fit into our increasingly complex world – navigating big issues including financial worries, climate change and the pandemic – our research shows that most North West parents (62%) and grandparents (66%) fear childhood is getting worse and over a third (36%) of children agree.
Many children, particularly those from low-income families, worry about their family’s finances. As the UK is set to face the biggest income squeeze in nearly fifty years, these worries look set to get worse.
Meanwhile, mental health is now a much bigger worry for the region’s children with less than a quarter (24%) of children seeing their own mental health as an issue in 2019, compared to 41% in 2022.
We believe there’s a star in every child. When a child is safe and happy, their star shines brightly. However, poverty, abuse and neglect, and poor mental health are robbing too many children of the bright futures they deserve.
We’re asking your readers to help us break down the barriers that stop children shining – before it’s too late. Visit actionforchildren.org.uk/star to find out how you can help.
Imran Hussain Director of policy and campaigns Action for Children
WHEN the media revealed that there had been illegal parties in Downing Street during lockdown, even on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, Boris Johnson said he was “sickened”.
But we now know that he attended some of the parties himself, and the line from his old school chum Jacob Rees-Mugg and others has changed to claiming that he didn’t know they were parties.
Boris told everyone to stay in their homes during the first lockdown and people were even forbidden to be at the bedside of dying partners.
But when Boris’s chief aide in London drove to Barnard Castle in Yorkshire, accompanied by family members who were displaying Covid symptoms, he claimed he was “testing his eyesight”. And he was allowed to keep working for the Prime Minister.
When it emerged that Boris’s Downing
Street flat had been redecorated with £800 a roll wallpaper, he claimed that he didn’t know the name of the rich Conservative supporter who had paid some of the bill (while our taxes paid the first £30,000), and therefore there was no possibility of the businessman in question receiving favours in return.
But then a WhatsApp message emerged with Boris urging his generous friend to speed up the flow of money, and other messages in which Boris urged one of his ministers to spend taxpayers’ money on a project the businessman favoured.
Then the tax avoidance of Chancellor Rishi
MAKE SURE ONLY BUNNIES YOU GIVE ARE CHOCOLATE OR TOYS
EVERYONE can help make this a happy Easter by ensuring the only bunnies they buy or give as gifts are toy ones.
Breeders are quick to churn out cute baby rabbits for profit, but four out of five bought over this period end up abandoned or dead before the next Easter rolls around.
Rabbits are not an “easy” option as a companion animal – they require a lot of time, commitment, and specialised care. They need as much love, attention, and socialising as a dog does.
As their teeth never stop growing, they chew incessantly, gnawing through shoes, cables, and even the paint on the walls, and they are so sensitive that they can become dangerously ill very easily.
Each time a rabbit is sold by a breeder or pet shop, another will be bred to replace them, so buying from these outlets worsens the animal homelessness crisis and makes for a thoroughly unhappy Easter.
Sadly, shelters will be inundated with rabbits in the coming weeks, so if you are able to care for a rabbit (ideally two, as they need companionship), wait until Easter has passed and visit your local shelter to discuss adoption.
Jennifer White PETA Media and Communications Manager GOVERNMENT ENERGY POLICY PROVES A LOST OPPORTUNITY
THIS month’s hike in the energy price cap threatens to send millions of households into fuel poverty. The increase is to rise again this autumn.
The best way to save money on energy for UK consumers is to consume less. The government’s recent energy strategy was
Sunak’s family emerged, with their lavish lifestyle supported by his wife claiming that she was based in India while actually living in 11 Downing Street and sending their children to British schools.
Conservatives popped up in the media claiming that Indian law made it illegal for Mrs Sunak to pay tax in Britain. Yet within hours that was shown to be a complete untruth, and Mrs Sunak agreed to pay tax in Britain after all (though she isn’t promising to pay back the millions she had legally avoided paying in previous years).
What is it about these Conservatives, can they ever tell the truth? In power for a decade, isn’t it they believe there is one rule for them and another rule for the rest of us?
Harry Dobson KICK IN THE TEETH FOR ALL WHO ABIDED BY THE RULES
THE issuing of £50 Covid fines to the attendees of the Partygate scandals is an insult to us all and a kick in the teeth for everyone who abided by the rules.
Many people missed visiting loved ones – even those who were dying. Is this all that is going to happen?
The blame lies with all the people who voted or lent Boris their vote to elect this circus of a government.
Sadly, the silence of Keir Starmer is another letdown in this as he should be shouting these faults in Government from the rooftops!
A Kendall Snr
shamefully remiss in not providing a massive boost to insulating our houses.
It is considered that UK has the worst insulated homes in Europe; seemingly even Spanish homes are on average better insulated. Since David Cameron’s promise in 2013 to ‘cut the green crap’ the rate of insulating homes has crashed. It has been estimated that if insulation had continued to be installed at the same rate as a decade ago, UK households could have saved £1.5bn in the next financial year.
Subsequent policy has been no better. Boris Johnson’s government’s Green Homes Grant scheme in 2020 was an administrative disaster upgrading about 8% of its target number of houses before closing in disarray.
The recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report stressed the need for decisive action to take place not in the future, but now.
Opposition parties in the UK are putting forward coherent policies to tackle climate change, including massively increasing home insulation. This creates jobs, saves energy and CO₂ emissions, but also saves us money.
It is tragic that the present government’s energy strategy represents such a lost opportunity.
Mike Baldwin