The image posted on Twitter by Oxfam  Photo: @oxfamgb

It would appear that the fascist regime that is our current government is hitting a new low.  Tories are currently blasting the charity Oxfam for their current faux-movie poster highlighting British poverty under the austerity measures.  Have they lied?  No.  Are they simply pointing out facts?  Yes.  If the Government are so confident that what they do is 'right' and acceptable, why are they so slighted when it's questioned?  David Cameron insists that Britain is a Christian Country, yet where are the governments so-called Christian values?  Even as a none Christian I'm aware that Christians believe in  hope and charity yet the government are ruthlessly stripping hope from millions of people whilst plundering them in need of charity as they're incapable of displaying any charitable behaviour, other then to their corporate buddies and selfservative selves.

Ask the old, the sick and the unemployed where the government's unconditional love is and exactly where the Austerity obsessed government are practising renunciation of worldly goods.  Are the government humble? Honest? Generous with time and money? Do they respect all people and are they living a moral life? Are they none hypocritical and none self righteous; practicing what they preach?  Do they exude forgiveness?  Does this sound like the coalition to you?  Are these Christian values compatible with them and their Austerity?

Exactly how do the government represent Christianity?

They're systematically dismantling society and are intent on the destruction of our rights to a family life, insisting on both parents working longer hours and trying to place our children into the system of formal education earlier both increasing the unafforable child care costs and further increasing the unemployment numbers.  Obviously if there's not enough jobs for the unemployed, adding more people such as the sick, the elderly (through ridiculously increasing pension age) and more mothers to the pool is the answer.  Creating a latchkey generation and eradicating the rudimentary need for attachment in a child's early years will obvioulsy fix society. Forcing working people into the benefit trap is evidently a genius idea and isn't at all in any way shape or form adding to mental health problems and the breakdown of families.

Do we have a nation of hope or one of disillusionment, hopelessness, injustice and rising poverty?

Then there's the double standards, the government have stated that they believe charities shouldn't be political, yet they urge them to be political by insisting they participate in the draconian workfare/help to work programme where the unemployed are treated worse than criminals as a punishment for being unemployed.  So they're allowed to be political when it suits the government and serves their agenda.  Okay then.  Because that's not at all hypocritical.  No double standards there.  Right?

There is no freedom of speech, they're blatantly as against that as much as they are against human rights.

The government are supporting zero hours contracts.  Wages and benefits aren't rising with inflation and thus can't sustain soaring housing, utility and basic food costs and high prices.  They have cut benefits and unjustified cruel sanctions are at a ridiculous level.  Despite their attempts to juggle statistics through work programmes to temporarily reflect a misleading decrease in unemployment, unemployment is still high and there simply isn't enough jobs no matter how much they mentally torture the unemployed.  So exactly how the Oxfam poster is 'wrong' is beyond me.

Don't look in mirrors Mr Government if you don't like your reflection.

Dear Government: Leave our kids alone

Dear Government, Selfservatives, Wilshaw et al,

Recently the media has seen an influx or reports saying that parents are failing, nurseries are failing and child minders are failing our children.

You're telling us that our children aren't prepared for school by age 5.

Your solution to this?  Start them earlier so that they'll be better prepared. This is against over 200 experts in early years telling you this will have catastrophic and detrimental effects on our childrens long term development.  Your 'solution' also directly goes against recent reports suggesting that 4 in 10 under threes are missing out on bonding with their parents.

Is it any wonder?

With so many parents worrying about how to heat their house, put food in bellies and keep their homes as they face increasing conditionality and harsh sanctions in their money.  Families are dissolving under the stress of ridiculous and draconion welfare reforms and the vast pool of unemployment that you're only increasing through forcing more people into it including the sick.  The lucky ones who manage to find a job discover that despite working full time they still can't support their families financially and are still under the ruthless and barmy conditionality to have access to the much needed inwork benefits because despite rising living costs you still refuse to introduce a living wage to allow people to live independently of you.  Can't have that can we?  You'd lose some of this iron tight control you've got over us.  You want us dependent on you.  You're literally banking on us all being in your in-work benefit trap.

You're closing surestart centres.

You've taken the bookstart scheme away.

For families that want/need health visitors, there simply aren't enough of them to adequately support families.

You're constantly undermining parents and destroying families.  You ruthlessly dismantle our basic human rights to family life.  You completely dismiss the important roll of parents and the positive impact a sahp can have, if the parent chooses to be one.

You introduce earlier free childcare to the exact places you're stating are 'failing' our children, encouraging them to be apart from parents, the exact people they're supposed to be bonding with and then in the next breath announce that lone parents are going to face increased conditionality and forced into work related activity as their youngest child reaches three whilst they utilise the (apparently 'optional') free 15 hours early years preschool placements.

Not once have you addressed the glaringly obvious, that maybe so many children aren't ready at 5 because 5 is too early to start formal education.  Let our children be children.  They have a fundamental human right to childhood.  Plenty of countries such as Sweden and Finland start formal education far later then we do yet equally and indeed outperform our children throughout their school life excelling in education and life in general.

We are nurturing humans not building robots.  We're teaching them all that you lack, compassion, tolerance acceptance.  These are people.  They're precious.  These are the poor little sods that will one day have the immense and epic job of trying to piece back together the country you're destroying.  To undo the hatred and prejudice you're inciting.  These aren't your weapons nor your little employable soldiers, these are the only chance of a saviour you have.

What are you teaching them?

You're teaching them to be classist as you make ill informed sweeping judgments damning lower and working class parents as failing and make patronising statements declaring they need checklists.

Guess what?  Bad parenting knows no class.

Generally speaking, if a child isn't toilet trained or speaking in sentences by age five it is not from lack of parenting yet more often then not developmental.  It is condescending, insulting and down right moronic to cast assertions that it's down to bad financially disadvantaged parenting.  Maybe if referrals were easier to come by and waiting lists shorter these children could get assistance sooner.

Support don't hate.

Have you left your child in a pub lately?

I'm one of those parents.  You know the ones you're damning and judging.  We're financially disadvantaged. We're poor.  We're lower class.  Oh no, naughty, scummy, bad bad us.

We're so bad at parenting because we're not middle class that we have three articulate, creative, intelligent and happy children two of which are incredibly academically advanced.  Oh no.  Slap our wrists.  We're not fitting into your crass paradigms. Quick! Sanction us!

You're teaching them to vilify those who's only crime is being poor and trapped within the failing economy that you created, when the real villains are in your own quarters, yes people like Maria Miller.

You've broken our economy, our sick, our poor, our NHS and now you're trying to break our children.

You want my child in your clutches earlier?  Come and get them.  I double-fucking-dare you. You'll meet an army of me.  You will not get your grubby destructive paws on my children.  That I promise you.

It's not the parents that are failing our children, it's you.

Leave our kids alone.

Sincerely,

Mama Undone.