From September 2026 children whose parents/carers receive universal credit will be eligible for free school meals. This is obviously a welcome change which will impact almost 500,000 children. The Food Foundation called it ‘a bold and brilliant’ step forward, and highlighted that the changes go beyond saving families money to supporting child health and…boosting the economy (👀). On the flip side, food insecurity campaigners Mother’s Manifesto pointed out that there are currently 900,000 children who are below the poverty line who are not eligible for free school meals, far more than the 500,000 who will benefit from this change. And September 2026 is a long time to wait if you’re a hungry child now. Labour have also been criticised for not removing the two-child benefit cap which means that families with three or more children don’t qualify for additional financial support. It’s clear Starmer is trying to shake off his image of being a ‘kid starver’, but will he go far enough? Let’s see what the Child Poverty strategy offers up when it’s published in the Autumn.
It seems like RFK Jr. might have been shootin’ from the hip when he claimed that medical schools without mandatory nutrition education for future physicians would lose federal funding; it’s not clear that there’s any official policy or legislation to back it up. But the question of how much nutrition training should a doctor have is interesting. Currently in the US they receive 19 hours, which is a lot more than I’d have thought (the stat floating around when I was a student was 2 hours but I have no evidence for this). I think it’s really important for doctors to have a good foundation of nutrition. But I also need doctors to do, I don’t know, actual medicine??? Most doctors do not have the time to do a thorough nutrition and dietary assessment, to properly take the time to understand someone’s living circumstances and accessibility needs and the impact that has on their capacity to make change. To follow-up and support change. It also does nothing to address structural barriers to good nutrition – not lack of motivation and willpower as the MAGA crew would have you believe – but insecure housing, precarious work, lack of social care for people with disabilities and other needs, privatised healthcare and so on.
Anyone searching the hashtag ‘skinnytok’ will be redirected to mental health support. Which is… a move, I guess. But as Alex Light pointed out, banning the hashtag does sweet FA when the ‘skinny girl aesthetic’ is trending. What we are seeing is a manifestation of fascist politics being transmuted into body fascism. It goes way deeper than a hashtag.
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