Who could have imagined that when David Cameron launched his vision for a Big Society, he would end up making one key part of that society feel utterly excluded?
Not the feckless, not the dole scroungers, not illegal immigrants, not bankers . . . but mums who have decided, along with their husbands, that the best way of raising their children is to stay at home.
Since Cameron came to office, he and Nick Clegg have not only failed to support these mothers, they have penalised them through the tax system.
The fury of such women came to the fore this week when 32-year-old mother-of-two Laura Perrins tackled Clegg on his radio show. She voiced what millions of other stay-at-home mothers feel — that this Government regards their role as ‘worthless’.
She feels women like her are being insulted and discriminated against after it was announced that new childcare subsidies, announced in the Budget, were available to help families only where both parents work.
Clearly, our leaders believe women who don’t put their kids in nurseries from the earliest possible age, and who don’t employ nannies or childminders to raise them, are not worth supporting.
Once again our political masters are completely out of touch with the real world — and who can be surprised, given their highly-indulged circumstances and the choices their own privileged wives have made?
More... BUDGET 2013: Double blow for middle class mothers who opt to stay at home: Meet the £90,000 couple who will be even better off... and the £50,000 family who won't Stay-at-home mother mauls Clegg: One woman speaks up for mums who stop work to raise a family and tells Deputy PM that ministers think they're 'worthless' An insult to stay at home mothers: Backlash grows over Budget plan to penalise mothers who don't workSamantha Cameron is a well-paid consultant for Smythson of Bond Street — and used to be its even better paid creative director — where a packet of thank-you cards costs £30 and handbags range up to £18,000.
Miriam Gonzalez Durantez — Clegg’s wife — is a high-flying partner of the international legal practice Dechert.
Ed Balls’s wife, Yvette Cooper, is the Shadow Home Secretary while Ed Miliband’s wife, Justine Thornton, is a barrister.
Samantha Cameron is a well-paid consultant for Smythson of Bond Street - and used to be its even better paid creative director - where a packet of thank-you cards costs £30 and handbags range up to £18,000Miriam Gonzalez Durantez - Clegg's wife - is a high-flying partner of the international legal practice Dechert
Ed Balls's wife, Yvette Cooper (pictured), is the Shadow Home Secretary while Ed Miliband's wife, Justine Thornton, is a barrister
They have 11 children between them, yet I’ll wager not a shred of understanding for the many mothers and fathers who decide the best way to raise well-balanced children is for mum to stay at home.
As Laura Perrins, who gave up her own successful career as a barrister to raise her children, pointed out to Clegg: ‘There is absolutely no provision within the tax system to help families like myself. Ministers think we’re worthless.’
A spluttering Clegg replied: ‘I massively admire your choice and you should be proud of the choices that you make in your own life.’
In which case, why did you take away the child benefit that many stay-at-home mums relied on to compensate for their lost income, while rewarding those who return to work?
Budget bulletin... Flattered: George Osborne said he nearly choked on his Coco Pops when he saw this newspaper's front page mock-up of him as the Iron Lady What an unedifying response Ed Balls made to the Budget, relying on a smutty reference to a 20-year-old picture of Osborne with a dominatrix. ‘We know he likes a bit of “whip crack-away, whip crack-away, whip crack-away!” ’ a swivel-eyed Balls shrieked. With the economy in chaos, we could have expected a little more maturity from the Shadow Chancellor than a panto performance worthy of Lily Savage.Clearly flattered by the comparison with Margaret Thatcher, George Osborne said he nearly choked on his Coco Pops when he saw this newspaper’s front page mock-up of him as the Iron Lady with the headline: The Laddie’s Not For Turning. Not half as much as the great Lady herself would have spluttered seeing the comparison with a man she wouldn’t trust to carry her handbag, let alone the red box.Cameron famously dismissed Twitter saying: ‘Too many tweets make a tw*t.’ Now Dave and George are regular twitterers, with the Chancellor choosing Budget day to join the social network. Miliband’s response to the Budget was: ‘He (the Chancellor) could have got it all into 140 characters: Growth down, borrowing up, families hit and millionaires laughing all the way to the bank. Hashtag downgraded Chancellor.’ Twits, the lot of them. Launching her TV search for a supermodel, Naomi Campbell says she’s looking for girls who have it all: a healthy, toned body, strong work ethic, drive and personality. No doubt contestants in The Face will also need to pass Ms Campbell’s other exacting requirements for being a top model — the ability to throw a mobile phone at an underpaid assistant at 35 mph. Perhaps Gordon Brown should audition. African dancers in red polka dot pyjamas. A woman archdeacon officiating. Prayers in French . . . I could cope with all of these unorthodox adornments while watching the installation of the new Archbishop of Canterbury.But when I heard the tambourines and jungle drums accompanying a Punjabi hymn I became convinced it had to be a spoof. Surely this wasn’t Dr Justin Welby’s enthronement but another Comic Relief skit by Rowan Atkinson that had been aired by mistake. Heaven help us all. Sue's half-baked Thrilling: Hot on the heels of her latest sitcom about a lesbian vet, Sue Perkins is now making a pilot for a panel show, called Name DroppingThe BBC wants to turn stupendously unfunny comedienne Sue Perkins into the next Stephen Fry.
Hot on the heels of her latest sitcom about a lesbian vet, the Bake Off presenter is now making a pilot for a panel show, called Name Dropping, which will test two teams about famous people who share the same names. Sounds thrilling.
I’m all for diversity, but couldn’t she just stick to the cupcakes and scones? As Fry proves, there’s a difference between being ubiquitous and being popular.
Despite the bloodbath he helped to unleash, Tony Blair used the tenth anniversary of the Iraq war to make the case for putting our troops on the ground in Syria. Isn’t there something obscene about a man who makes his millions parading as a peace-maker being so quick to call for more British lives to be risked fighting unwinnable wars in the Middle East?
Perhaps if his own son Euan had signed up to serve his country, Blair would be a little less gung-ho about sending other young boys to die on doomed missions in the desert.
A Shameless poster girlA Manchester housing association suggested to its tenants that, in these hardened times, it might be worth considering whether or not they could afford ‘Sky TV, fags, booze and bingo’.
This dose of common sense was met with predictable outrage from the hand-wringers of the Left, and the Association was duly forced to apologise for being ‘deeply patronising’.
One resident, Tracey MacDonald, even went on ITV’s Daybreak to state: ‘We get our benefits and we should be able to spend them on what we choose.’ She would do well to remember that our welfare system was designed as a safety net to provide the truly needy with a roof over their heads and food on their tables.
Today, it’s too often become a piggy bank that pays out for the lifestyle choices of the idle and ungrateful.
Cigarettes, alcohol and satellite TV may be desirable, but are certainly not essential. Tracey should be the Tories’ poster girl for the 2015 election — she makes Vicky Pollard look respectable.
Golden years, but are they art? Aladdin Sane: The new David Bowie exhibition at the V&A has sold out alreadyThe new David Bowie exhibition at the V&A has sold out already. Yet I can’t help wondering what the museum is doing, hosting this glorified plug for the star’s lacklustre new album.
Yes, Bowie was a great showman in his time. But painting a zigzag on his face and dressing in Spandex leotards hardly makes his old cast-offs museum masterpieces.
What Queen Victoria and Prince Albert would have made of it, I dread to think.
Some poor deluded fool has bought the original Chinese Girl painting — the most copied picture in the world — for nearly £1 million. Prints of the ultimate kitsch portrait were bought by millions of people for a few quid in Woolworths in the Fifties. Which makes you wonder why anyone would pay a million for a painting everyone will assume is a High Street print. Proof yet again that wealth is no guarantee of taste. Just look at the Ecclestone girls!How Kate pipped precious PippaMuch embarrassment as Kate’s Uncle Gary uses a spread in Hello! to try to push up the price of his tacky Ibiza villa. Roll up, roll up!
The purchaser of La Maison De Bang Bang will be able to sleep in the bed Kate and William once occupied and luxuriate in the gold-tiled bath they shared.
Most telling, though, were Gary Goldsmith’s recollections of the young Middleton girls: ‘Kate worked really hard at everything, whereas everything came very easily to Pip, as she is a bit brilliant.’
Really? Fast forward a decade and Kate is now a much-loved member of the Royal Family carrying the next heir to the throne, while precious Pip is a vapid, vacuous, publicity-seeking hanger-on.
Clearly her uncle’s niece, then.
