Dan Paskins

Council demolishes play area after noise complaints Parents in a Derbyshire town say their children are 'devastated' they have lost the facility.

Sometimes you think 'oh it can't really be that bad can it' and then you click on the link and it turns out it is exactly that bad www.bbc.com/news/article...

Now in Yr 3 they all do exactly the same stuff British primary school children have always done - practicing the recorder, cutting up crepe paper with scissors, learning about the Egyptians for some reason, going on school trips to see the Cutty Sark. They're all becoming little Londoners. (3/end)

It's a great school! The need to support those children with limited English comes at zero cost to the education of others in the same class and, in fact, it works to their benefit because it gives all the kids exposure to children from different backgrounds. (2/)

OK so my younger son's primary has I think the highest rate of children with English as a second language in the borough (and one of the highest in the country). Biggest primary in the borough too (650 kids). There are quite a lot of kids who start reception with v little spoken English. (1/)

Policymaking - developing and agreeing policies, and then implementing them - is difficult, but plenty of people (increasingly) confuse it with "coming up with ideas for policies" which is, indeed, very easy. Same philosophy that says that announcing the thing is the same as doing the thing

I couldn't afford to fix my broken bed. People in poverty like me need help with the essentials

Gloria Odhi, a participant of Changing Realities, shared her story with the Scottish first minister with the hope of inspiring change.

My son recently found a swastika drawn on the pavement at... The Manchester attack didn't come as a shock. The only surprise is it hasn’t happened sooner

I wrote a short piece for the Observer on the attacks in Manchester.

observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Racial inclusion ‘falls off’ the education agenda, says Longfield The inclusion taskforce member calls on the DfE to make anti-racism a ‘key priority’, warning that Black children can feel ‘unsafe and over-policed’ at school

Meanwhile @annelongfield.bsky.social tells Tes reporter @ktorm-social1.bsky.social that the DfE needs to make racial inclusion “a key thematic priority” because it “too often” falls off the education agenda.

Exclusive:

To everyone in Britain's Jewish Community: you are not alone. We will not let hate or those who spread it win. We stand with you

As Yom Kippur ends, it is terrible that a holy day has seen people killed at a place of worship in Manchester

I hope many of us will express solidarity + support for Jews in Britain, and work with them + those of every faith and none to deepen our efforts to tackle antisemitism, hatred + extremism

Really important from @resfoundation.bsky.social

I have spent more hours of my life then I care to remember looking at different compromise options for the 2 child limit.

The clear conclusion is scrap it in full, no ifs, not buts and no half measures.

The two-child limit means that an additional 500,000 children are currently growing up in poverty. If current policies remained in place, we would expect one-in-three British children to be growing up in poverty by the end of the decade

immediate abolition would cost £3.5 billion per year and lift half a million children out of poverty by the end of the decade. How do less ambitious options measure up?

Other rumoured options would be less cost effective

and other options would risk creating new cliff edges.

Is there room for compromise on the two-child limit?

Entirely scrapping it would have the biggest impact on child poverty and be most cost-effective.

If you have a Jewish friend, neighbour, colleague then send them a text rather than saying something on social media.

A printed poem which reads: I hav for breakfast Weetabix I hav for lunch some meat I have for tea 2 sosajis and thats enuf to eat Peter Hazel, 5

On National Poetry Day, the greatest poem I have ever read

Rachel Reeves to lift two-child benefit cap in November budget Exclusive: Officials exploring options to change rule that affected 1.7 million children in Great Britain last year

Very encouraging to read that the Government is preparing to lift the two-child limit as part of its child poverty strategy, but it is disheartening that options short of scrapping it entirely are still being considered. Thread on why this would be the wrong choice for an ambitious strategy:

“Children’s rights were violated”: NI Commissioner speaks as Covid Inquiry Module 8 opens today The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has opened Module 8, examining the pandemic’s impact on children and young people. NICCY will ensure children’s voices and rights are heard during the hearings.

“Children’s rights were violated.”

As Module 8 of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry opens today, Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) says the voices of children must finally be heard.

(@nichildcom.bsky.social)

Read more below.

The Prime Minister’s confirmation that government is on a journey to end child poverty is welcome and this can only mean that the Budget scraps the two-child limit and benefit cap. Children and families have waited patiently and now it’s time for government to deliver.

Hearing Jonny speak was one of my highlights of Labour Party conference - do read his piece

I go on about two-child, but it is the ur-example. Labour were always going to have to do it, the decision to defer and delay it has just ended up being expensive in both internal political costs and also they have actually just wasted money on things that do not really move the dial.

The UK Government has got the opportunity to do this at the upcoming Autumn Budget - they must take it.

Tell your MP to act now to reduce child poverty.

3/3

As they arrive at the Labour Party Conference, we're greeting Keir Starmer and his MPs with a message that demands a screen bigger than 21,000 mobile phones*:

"What was the point of winning the general election if not to lift kids out of poverty?"

1/3

Future Jobs Fund impact: 2 years after the programme, participants were 11 ppts more likely to be in unsubsidised work. 7 ppts less likely to be on benefits.

An 'unqualified success'

Cost £1 billion.

Useful @NIESRorg blog: niesr.ac.uk/blog/future-...

When we make a big donation we're always like "we give unrestricted or not at all" and it's wild how surprised people are. Like if you don't trust them to make good decisions why are you giving them money at all

Want to co-sign this as someone who works in philanthropy. Conservative donors and foundations have been willing to invest huge sums for general support, correctly assuming that it would produce long-term gains. The liberal approach to philanthropy has been pretty much the exact opposite.

Lucy Powell calls for scrapping of two-child benefit cap The deputy Labour leadership contender urges the chancellor to remove the restriction as Sir Keir Starmer faces a budget dilemma

Great from Meg Hillier on why it's urgent, right & realistic to lift two child limit:
“In a country where life chances vary so starkly, lifting the two-child cap is the quickest, smartest and most effective to enable every child to fulfil their potential... 1/2
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Imagine a world where we spend as much on books as we do on bombs. Imagine a world where every child is able to go to school & reach their full potential. Imagine a world without war.

That world is possible starting with #EducationForAll.

#PeaceDay👇
www.educationcannotwait.org/news-stories...

Amid reports that MPs and an advisory taskforce will recommend scrapping the two-child limit on benefits, it's worth noting that this step would be the most targeted and cost-effective way for the Government to meet its aim of reducing child poverty ⤵️

Comment: Why are we going backwards on racism in Britain? Black and Asian people have increasingly equal opportunities to reach the top, but a viscerally and unacceptably unequal experience of public space

This country made significant progress against racism in my lifetime - but we did not do so by chance. There is a visible visceral regression in experiencing of overt racism because the toxic fringe with the most extreme views have a sense of permission & impunity
www.easterneye.biz/racism-in-uk...

Sir Keir Starmer will be told by senior cabinet ministers that lifting the two-child cap is the most effective way of alleviating child poverty amid mounting pressure from ministers and backbenchers. The Times has been told that a body of ministers and officials set up to tackle child poverty will recommend lifting the cap after concluding it is the best way to alleviate the problem. The recommendations from the child poverty taskforce are expected before the autumn budget on November 26, although it has been repeatedly delayed.

Excellent news.

Lifting the two-child cap won't end child poverty - but every expert in this area agrees that it is by far the single most important and effective thing the government could do.

archive.ph/g7Snp

Footnote from a book: Elsie de Wolfe was sixty when she accepted a proposal of marriage from Mendl, a handsome and well-connected attaché at the British Embassy in Paris. He apparently liked the kudos of being married to a rich woman who could act as his hostess without any strings; she just wanted a title. On 9 March 1926 the New York Times ran a banner headline, 'Elsie de Wolfe to Wed Sir Charles Mend!'. The piece was full of innuendo since Elsie had lived openly and happily for over thirty years with the masculine-looking Bessy Marbury. 'The marriage comes as a great surprise to her friends,' it read. 'When in New York she makes her home with Miss Elisabeth Marbury at 13 Sutton Place.’ Gossips had long referred to them as 'the bachelors’. The Mendls agreed in advance on a mariage blanc. They each maintained their own apartment in Paris and lived separate lives, though sharing the Villa Trianon whenever they wished. This arrangement was completely accepted in their circles; the couple liked each other and were a wonderful foil at parties, so the unusual partnership worked well. Elsie, who now styled herself Lady Mendl, continued to live with Bessy Marbury until Bessy's death in 1933, and in her 1935 autobiography After All, Elsie entirely forgot to mention her husband.

Oh, I like Elsie. She sounds fun