A thread about #FreeSchoolMeals, @MarcusRashford and campaigning for public and political will:
1) The papers are packed, feeds are full and Ministers are being ‘Marred’ on prime time political programmes. This footballer fired up the public...

2) and made it impossible for politicians to escape. Some people will say that the debate rumbles on, but the truth is...Rashford has removed the ‘need’ for any debate at all. Should we feed hungry kids? Who says no to that? It’s a matter of morals.

3) Rashford has conducted a choir of compassion, and everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. He has whipped up such agreement to the unarguable truth that our children should have access to a decent meal in and out of term time, that the voting down of the policy in Eng...

4) now looks out of tune with the public mood and has led to action from allies in local authorities and businesses. What sticks out further is any attempt to defend the policy position with wicked words aimed at struggling families. That now feels unjust to the public.

5) Rashford and the taskforce haven’t had to dignify the old poverty tropes with a counter-argument as there is now such a groundswell of support, any commentary going in the opposite direction gets drowned out.

6) All of this shows the underestimated power of public will and opinion to make change happen and stick. Anti-poverty policies have fallen in the past due to a lack of public understanding and backing of the solutions. Calls for compassion and justice can lead to policy change.

7/7) Campaigners must muse over Marcus.

I wrote a blog at the point of the summer u-turn. Although the story has moved on, many of the lessons remain.

https://link.medium.com/NjXRCnJISab 

#ENDCHILDFOODPOVERTY

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