All’s fair in love and spending cuts

October 16, 2010 at 11:04 am | Posted in Daily Life, Work & Life | 11 Comments
Tags: Cameron, child benefit, Clegg, family matters, Spending review

As I sit and enjoy my Finest preserve on multiseed wholemeal whole grain good for you batch loaf and pour over the Saturdayweekend papers, the spending review of the coming week threatens to interrupt a sunny morning, reminding us that actually you better wake up and smell the (freshly brewed) coffee – this means you too mucker.  It might be dry white bread and water before long.

Whether it’s Bognor’s finest or the whiter than white shores of the Azores, there’s not really much point in burying ones head in the proverbial sand any longer.

Rodin’s Mother & Child courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons.

If you have a family, despite Clegg’s ‘children come first despite tough times’ statement, it’s really up to us as parent’s to ensure that happens.

The baby bond? C’est la vie.  Child benefits?  So long, nice knowing you; for many.  Children’s Centres?  One in five more than likely to close, and the possibility of those not cut needing voluntary staffing to survive.  Com ci com ca.

And, on top of that if you’re not married, you may as well just go and stick your head in the oven (which by now should be full of Bernard Matthews turkey drummers rather than Tesco finest prawn skewers with lime chilli marinade).  Reported recently in the FT (from the copy on my bureau harumph found via Google search), Cameron hinted at softening the child benefit cut blow by looking to a tax break for married couples.

So, if you’re co-habiting, a stay at home mum with a partner earning £44,000, are passionate about the welfare of your children, then all you’re really getting for your troubles right now is a little wet fish in the face.

Children’s Centres of the future…bringing in a few extra pennies.

And that wet fish is a wake up call for us all.  It aint pretty, and it aint getting any better right now.  I don’t profess to be an avid follower of politics but I do take it seriously now that I have a family that it will affect it many, many ways.

These are tough times, but we’re not softies are we?  Ok I’m a Southerner but I’m a glass half full type (usually of the red and fruity variety; and I’m not talking the small bottles of ridiculously high in sugar yet convenient kids drinks).

Time will tell.