“There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” or so says the proverb.  Well, there will be just that for needy children this summer  Thanks to a government u-turn.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am delighted that the government has changed its mind on this important issue, but appalled that it should have had to: it should not have got its policy direction so wrong in the first place.

The coronavirus pandemic has taught us one thing, if no other: personal relations, and other people are the most important thin in life.  The idea of our government – composed, incidentally,  of some of the richest men in the land – simply looking the other way when children are going hungry is shameful.

It is very nearly equally shameful when the only reason they change what passes for their minds is pressure from outside.

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