The Times has reported today that:
Almost 11,000 people in England were hospitalised with malnutrition last year, as doctors warned that the cost of living crisis has also led to a rise in “Victorian” illnesses such as scurvy and rickets.
Provisional data newly obtained by The Times Health Commission under freedom of information laws reveal that cases of malnutrition have more than doubled in a decade and have quadrupled since 2007/8.
From 2022 to April 2023, 10,896 NHS patients — including 312 children — were hospitalised with the condition in England.
This is what Tory austerity has done.
But, apparently, it was very nasty of someone to protest at George Osborne's wedding at the weekend.
I beg to disagree.
Worse though, Rachel Reeves is no doubt already saying that there is nothing that can be done about this - because there is no money left.
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I’ve just been looking at Starmer’s ideas for tackling the Tories deficit on education spending which appears to be down five to six billion pounds down on the EU+North American average. Starmer has said he’ll raise one billion pounds by stopping the tax break for private schools and that appears to be it!
https://uploads.schoolcuts.org.uk/uploads/2022/12/As-share-of-nations-wealth-1.png
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/09/the-guardian-view-on-schools-labours-proposals-rightly-put-the-focus-on-teachers
So small it is inconsequential and will all be required for the essntial pay rise for teachers that Starmer will no doubt say is unaffordable
Schofield
I made a number on comments on the Guardian article, one of which was a Guardian pick. I think you will recognise which one.
Well Ian I’m going to go for this section which I like because it’s succinctly worded:-
“As the article says, the Treasury will be the main challenge. Most of our journalists and politicians seem to subscribe to the concept that the national economy is like the household economy – Mrs Thatcher’s model. The idea being we first have to ‘find the money’ by taking it from somewhere. As Andrew Verity the BBC economics correspondent – and not just him – explained last autumn, there is no fund out of which the govt. spends. The Govt. tells its bankers to make a payment. The argument ‘there is no money’ is not correct. It then taxes to remove money from circulation as otherwise it would be inflationary if done in excess.”
My only quibble would be to say the last sentence needs expanding to point out the qualifiers that mitigate against automatically taking out as much as you put in otherwise inflation is inevitable. I very much think most people believe there’s automatic equivalence and there isn’t!
You are correct -on both points
Because I was teaching a Yr 11 class this morning , I was unable to do a double cover, so the teacher of one set had to double the class in the Hall (60 kids). This happens most days, since we are 25% down on staffing. At this rate there will be no teachers to pay anyway, and we will be in Gove’s Nirvana with programmed learning patrolled by trainers (though if this morning’s Yr 10 were anything to go by, armed with tasers). Beneficiaries? Predominantly US educational companies including Gove’s old sponsor, Pearsons.
Labour? Phoooey.
Richard,
Regrettably the state primary and secondary education system is in crisis.
Very poor buildings, causing fatal respiratory illnesses.
30% of primary pupils not able to read, write for their age groups.
13 years of teaching staff being under paid and told that you are useless. Then they leave in droves suffering from what is politely known as “moral injury”.
Central government control of funding cuts for academies, and those schools still in local authority control, plus the curriculum.
To make sure our young people are properly prepared for the very uncertain future the UK needs to spend £bns.
This is a national emergency that needs £bns raised using QE as you recommend.
Of course it’s highly unlikely that the Tory lite labour party will take any notice.
@ John Fairhall. Starmer is busy closing down debate in the Labour Party and to the country at large. Undoubtedly this feels like a Rupert Murdoch recommendation. Most of his media is behind a paywall. Murdoch of course knows which way the wind is blowing which is why he switched support to Blair. In the United States Murdoch was all for Trump and got his fingers burnt with a big award against him for libelling/slandering the company that makes computerised voting machines. The Guardian also sickens me because it’s two-faced pretending that facts matter but deliberately slewing its content or rather lack of content to support Starmer. This probably has something to do with maintaining its advertising revenue which is also true for Murdoch.
Could this be a change in the way of recording malnutrition?
I’m not definite, there are experts who may be, but I recall reading that eating too much can now get a label of being a malnutrition admission at the hospital, whereas previously that wouldn’t have been coded as such, just the underweight ones.
It really is not…..
They are diagnised with morbid obesity (I just asked a doctor)
The authors of the article asked a doctor who is quoted as saying “the obesity epidemic was another indicator of malnutrition, with most children who are obese more likely to be vitamin D deficient “because they’re not getting the right calories”.”
The key thing that I was enquiring about was whether the criteria had changed, with obesity-related being added. Some-one may know.
Obesity is coded as obesity
Either way it’s poverty / deprivation related.
Osbourne is a despicable human being but what’s worse is the orthodoxy of hopelessness emanating from our politicians. It means that Osbourne has effectively won – and it sticks in my craw somewhat. It’s an insult really.
Labour seem to think that balancing the budget comes first over repairing the damage – I’m sure they think it’s taken 13/14 years to get this way and it will take just as long to put right (because they are scared of inflation and do not understand the role of tax in an investment economy to temper it).
Having said that, since they seem to agree a lot with the Tories anyway it’s debateable if they will change very much.
Can I just say that whenever I see Osbourne’s name I just want swear a lot and have violent thoughts. Can we just not talk about him anymore?
I have to admit that he just makes me lose control, the fuc………………….sorry – you see!!
Understood, PSR. I have a similar tendency re Reeves and Starmered.
London Sunday 2015. In a taxi. 20 minute ride. Got talking to driver (my partner was with me & can confirm the story). His wife worked in a London hospital. He said that there was an up-tick in women being brought into A&E having collapsed AT WORK (note those two words). Turned out that the women were suffering from MALNUTRITION. The explanation: in most cases both people in the family were working, but not making enough to pay the rent and feed the children – so the women went without.
Taxi driver went on to say that he had a tory MP in his taxi and mentioned this to the tory MP. The tory MP point blank refused to believe him.
The vileness of this is almost beyond my comprehension. The shamefulness of it likewise – in a country that can “afford” Trident – but can’t ensure that people earn a living wage.
I wholly believe it
Austerity’s lasting legacy
We are a shrinking nation.
Kids aged five in Britain have come up short against their peers in an international height league.
An expert warned poverty and poor diets linked to Tory austerity policies has led to them being up to seven centimetres smaller than those in comparable nations.
The average five-year-old boy in the UK is 112.5cm (3.69ft) compared to 119.6cm (3.92ft) in the Netherlands, which has the tallest children.
The average British girl is 111.7cm (3.66ft) while her Dutch counterpart is 118.4cm (3.88ft).
British children are up to seven centimetres smaller than kids in comparable nations (stock image) ( Image:
British boys are now 102nd and girls 96th, said the Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factor Collaboration, a global network of health scientists.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/poor-diet-sparked-tory-austerity-30290943
Staggering
….and that’s before we even start to take the cognitive development of malnourished children into account. They Tories can’t claim that they are unaware of the impact.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839299/
The Effects of Nutritional Interventions on the Cognitive Development of Preschool-Age Children: A Systematic Review
The developing human brain requires all essential nutrients to form and to maintain its structure. Infant and child cognitive development is dependent on adequate nutrition. Children who do not receive sufficient nutrition are at high risk of exhibiting impaired cognitive skills.
….and that’s before we even start to take the cognitive development of malnourished children into account.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839299/
The Effects of Nutritional Interventions on the Cognitive Development of Preschool-Age Children: A Systematic Review
The developing human brain requires all essential nutrients to form and to maintain its structure. Infant and child cognitive development is dependent on adequate nutrition. Children who do not receive sufficient nutrition are at high risk of exhibiting impaired cognitive skills.
Just like the Girst World War! That was the time when the State realised malnutrition was having bad consequences… incredible that we are back to that state….
Vast amounts of the population have been suffering a nutrient famine in the UK for many years. Lower income families eating cheap high calorific foods. Now many can not afford cheap food and as a result are suffering a calory famine. A terrible situation for a so called “Wealthy State”. We are reduced to helping socially via charities with governments past and present propped up by an elitist establishment that does not care and stigmatises those with no options or alternatives. We need change but our system will not allow it.
I agree
We live in a world where sugar, glucose and fructose provide calories with massive resulting health risks and now some can’t afford them
Malnourished, educationally and physically stunted children will no doubt be far easier to deal with than well fed, well informed and well educated ones. I’m sure that those of Boris’s ilk will no doubt think this is the inevitable and wholly self-inflicted and deserved fate of the plebs with of course no recognition that the inevitability of that fate was driven solely by the choices they made when in power…
The Boer War 1899-1902
Reasons why the Liberal Government passed reforms
The Second Boer War began in 1899 in the south of Africa. It was fought between the two Boer Republicsand the British Empire, which held lands in the area.
Britain only had a small, though well-trained regular army. The Second Boer War lasted three years and the British needed to enlist more recruits. Many British men volunteered.
Problems highlighted by the war
During the war, the British army experienced great difficulty in finding fit young men to recruit as soldiers. Before men could join the army, they had to pass a medical inspection.
It was discovered, through these medical inspections, that one third of volunteers was unfit for military service. It appeared that the physical condition of the working class male prevented him from fighting, as well as working effectively in his job.
Results of the war
There was growing concern for national security (the safety of Britain). Many believed that the British army was not powerful enough. If there was difficulty recruiting for a small-scale war, then it would be even more difficult to enlist a large number of able soldiers for a large-scale war.
This meant that Britain may be easily defeated by a strong, industrialised nation with a large army. Germany was such a nation which seemed to be challenging Britain for international supremacy.
BBC History
Fascinating ….