Much is written and said about families living in poverty, but accounts rarely draw on the experiences of these families themselves, writes Gill Main.Read the newspapers or listen to politicians, and you’d think that these “troubled families” are fundamentally different to better off people. They are presented as living in “cultures of dependency”, where no one has had a job for generations.People claiming social security benefits are portrayed as feckless scroungers.That’s why my colleagues and I spent two years with eight families in Leeds and York, developing an in-depth understanding of how they thought, talked and acted in relation to their resources.We also surveyed 1,000 parent-child pairs, with children aged ten to 17 who were representative of England in terms of gender, age and socioeconomic status, to find out how families’ different approaches to getting and sharing resources related to the well-being of children.After checking and … [Read more...] about Parents and children living in poverty have the same aspirations as those who are better off
Between parents and children
Separating parents and children will hurt Trump at ballot box
Even the US’s first lady has questioned the policy. It has caused uproar in an election year, with the midterms to be held in November, says Jennifer Epstein.US president Donald Trump’s policy of separating immigrant children from parents who illegally cross the Mexican border threatens to balloon into an election-year headache for Republicans. He is struggling to explain and defend a practice questioned even by his wife.First Lady Melania Trump, herself an immigrant, made a rare foray into policy matters, with a statement that the US must be a country that “governs with heart”.Kirstjen Nielsen, the US Homeland Security secretary, took to Twitter to clarify the administration’s handling of undocumented immigrant children.“We do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period,” Nielsen said in one tweet, a statement that contradicts the president.Trump has acknowledged the policy exists, but has refused to accept responsibility … [Read more...] about Separating parents and children will hurt Trump at ballot box
History will never let Donald Trump escape the shame of separating parents and children at the border
There is so much dust and debris flying around Washington these days, a lot of it deliberately kicked up by Donald Trump and his enablers, that sometimes we miss the things that are really important. I have a for-instance: the evaporation of all compassion at America’s borders. It has been three weeks since the president’s top law enforcer, attorney general Jeff Sessions, announced a new ‘"zero tolerance" policy for foreign nationals attempting to cross into the United States illegally. Send everyone to jail and refer them for prosecution, he cried, no exceptions. This is already happening at the southern border with Mexico which has seen a significant recent uptick in attempted crossings by citizens fleeing lives of danger and desperation in their Central American homes like Guatemala and Honduras. Many arrive with young children in tow. Because there is no provision for sending minors to jails, this has led to the routine separation of children from mothers and … [Read more...] about History will never let Donald Trump escape the shame of separating parents and children at the border
Parents and staff ‘disgusted and out of pocket’ after closure of nurseries
Parents and staff say they don't know how they're going to cope following the sudden closure of a nursery chain. Families and workers arrived at the four branches of Kiddi Days private nurseries to find them closed without warning. We revealed yesterday how a notice had been put up outside saying the company had 'ceased trading' and is taking legal advice from a licensed insolvency firm. The branches, all within easy reach of Manchester city centre, are in Pioneer Street, Clayton ; Daisy Bank Road, Longsight ; Claremont Road, Moss Side and Range Road, Whalley Range . Parents and staff say they are 'disgusted' with the way they have been treated - families claim they're out of pocket because of fees they have paid and staff still don't know whether they'll be paid their wages next week. They have had no information from the company and have no way of getting any belongings from inside the buildings because the locks have been changed. Julie Brenner has worked at the Range Road site for … [Read more...] about Parents and staff ‘disgusted and out of pocket’ after closure of nurseries
Bill Gates: Trump twice asked me the difference between HIV and HPV
Bill Gates, the billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist, has claimed Donald Trump twice asked him the difference between HIV and HPV and knew a “scary” amount about Gates’s daughter’s looks. The remarks were recorded at a recent Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation meeting, where Gates took questions from staff, according to MSNBC’s All in with Chris Hayes show, which broadcast the footage on Thursday. Gates told the audience how Trump had encountered his daughter Jennifer, now 22, at a horse show in Florida. “And then about 20 minutes later he flew in on a helicopter to the same place,” the Microsoft co-founder said. “So clearly he had been driven away but he wanted to make a grand entrance in a helicopter.” Gates himself met Trump for the first time in New York in December 2016, he recalled: “So when I first talked to him it was actually kind of scary how much he knew about my daughter’s appearance. Melinda … [Read more...] about Bill Gates: Trump twice asked me the difference between HIV and HPV