Good morning.
Children taken to A&E because they have fainted from hunger. Others hiding food stolen from their classmates’ lunchboxes to take home to their families. Rickets and scurvy on the rise. Children failing to grow properly because they are malnourished.
These accounts are profoundly shocking, but according to a new survey of school nurses and children’s dentists in the UK, incidents like these are not unusual. Hunger, poor nutrition and dental problems have worsened over the past year as the cost of living crisis has spiralled, according to the survey, with serious consequences for children’s physical health, mental wellbeing and education.
For today’s newsletter, I spoke to Sharon White, CEO of the School and Public Health Nurses’ Association (Saphna), about the deprivation some of her members said they encounter every day. “Children of six, seven, eight shouldn’t be stealing food,” she says. “They shouldn’t be worried all day if mummy or daddy has got food, or what they are going to have to eat. Or if they can steal from somebody else’s lunch box. But these are the true, living realities for so many of our kids at the minute.”
More on that story after the headlines.
Five big stories
Thames Water | The Guardian has revealed that estimates presented to ministers and regulators suggest Thames Water could be facing a hole of £10bn in its finances. The water company, which serves 15 million customers, is in emergency talks with the regulator, Ofwat, over its ability to continue operating without a multibillion cash injection.
Crown estate | The crown estate has generated record profits of almost half a billion pounds from Britain’s offshore windfarms. The scale of the estate’s renewable energy windfall has delayed a decision by the prime minister and chancellor on what proportion of the estate’s wealth should be shared with the king.
Education | A Guardian investigation has found that one in 10 GCSE-year pupils have been absent from school in England each day this year, up 70% since before the Covid pandemic. Anxiety, illness and the cost of living crisis have fuelled extraordinary levels of absence.
Titanic sub | Presumed human remains have been recovered from within the wreckage of the Titan, the submersible that imploded on a voyage to the Titanic. The US Coast Guard will transport the evidence recovered to a US port where medical professionals will conduct a formal analysis of the remains
Madonna | Madonna’s upcoming Celebration tour has been postponed after the singer was hospitalised with a “serious bacterial infection”, according to her longtime manager Guy Oseary. “Her health is improving, however she is still under medical care,” Oseary said.
In depth: ‘We’re having to pull kids out of the fire, rather than stopping them falling in’
“As public health nurses and school nurses, we are supposed to prevent health problems in the first place,” says Sharon White. Their role within schools is health education, she says – teaching children how to make healthy choices and how to prevent disease. They also advise families who may be struggling how to find additional support. “But actually, we’re having to pull kids out of the fire, rather than stopping them falling in.”
There have been many warnings over the levels of poverty faced by some British schoolchildren. By polling school nurses and dentists, the Saphna report captures the experiences of those closest to the public health frontline across the UK (while most respondents came from England, the survey included members across all four home nations).
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A downward spiral
The report’s findings were sobering. Two-thirds of those surveyed had seen an increase in children’s health issues related to hunger or poor nutrition over the past year. For more than a quarter of all respondents, the number of incidents had increased “by a large extent” in 12 months.
Seventy-eight percent reported higher rates of tooth decay than usual. Over half said they were encountering more children who had low energy, or were unusually slow or anxious. Of the 313 respondents, 53% had encountered children who were not growing or putting on weight at the expected rate because of poor nutrition.
Almost 40% had witnessed slower than expected rates of cognitive development or language acquisition. And close to half said these were things they were encountering at least once a week – for 18%, it was a daily occurrence.
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A widening affordability gap
Faced with such daunting challenges, those tasked to help often feel powerless, says White. “We used to be able to work with families to show them how to budget better or how to deliver healthy meals for less. Or we could link them to things like a local cooperative, or help them get an allotment.” The scale of the affordability gap is so large now, however, “none of that works any more”.
School professionals would often subsidise struggling kids from their own pockets, she says, “but our teachers are struggling too. We can’t bring in the crumpets and the toast and the milk and the cereals that we all used to do out of the goodness of our hearts. And the local community can’t respond when we just call the local church and say, we’ve got a hungry family.”
Budget cuts have exacerbated the problem – school nurse numbers have declined by 35% over the past 10 years, according to White. “The resources that are available are becoming more and more scarce, the demand has gone through the roof, and also our workforce is also suffering the cost of living crisis. So … it’s a mess.”
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The way forward
In response, Saphna and the British Dental Association are campaigning alongside the National Education Union (NEU) for free school meals to be made available to all primary schoolchildren in England, as is being rolled out in Wales and Scotland. No such plans have been announced in Northern Ireland, where the assembly remains suspended, although the NEU said that the Northern Irish threshold for eligibility is almost double that of England. “We view this campaign, which focuses on bringing England up to speed with the majority of the UK, as a stepping stone towards achieving true universality,” says a spokesperson.
The government has so far resisted calls to offer meals to all primary age pupils, and this week Labour also ruled out widening access if it gets into power, despite pressure from some MPs and unions; the party reportedly believes other measures would be more effective in tackling poverty.
For White, however, any kind of means testing risks missing some children in need. “This isn’t just about low-income families – we’re seeing electricians, nurses, teachers, professionals, turning up at food banks who are destitute.
“I know that fiscally, there will be lots of arguments around [extending free meals to all]. But we are in such a pickle, I don’t think we can afford not to.”
What else we’ve been reading
From Bhangra to Bollywood, British Asian DJs and artists shone at Glastonbury. The Guardian’s Neelam Tailor explores the rising presence of south Asian music at the festival (pictured above), as well as artists’ aspirations for future years. Nyima Jobe, First Edition intern
Orangutans can make two sounds at once, like a beatboxer, scientists have discovered. Which is not only immensely impressive, but may also teach us new things about human speech. Esther
The UK government has come up short when protecting marine mammals, with MPs demanding stronger protections. Helena Horton’s latest piece explains the difference between the UK’s poorer safeguards and those of other countries when it comes to whale and dolphin hunting. Nyima
Since it was launched in a London attic bedroom in 1973, Virago has published 4,000 titles by women, including Sarah Waters, Margaret Atwood and Maya Angelou. Some of its authors look back on 50 years of the feminist publisher, and explain why it is still needed. Esther
Do you have a joint bank account with your spouse? It might work for you, but Arwa Mahdawi reckons you can be happier by just using internet banking to transfer what you need to each other, and avoiding all that unnecessary paperwork. Nyima
Sport
Football | Arsenal have finalised an agreement in principle with West Ham to sign Declan Rice (pictured above) for £105m after Manchester City pulled out of the race for the midfielder. City, meanwhile, are joining Liverpool and Chelsea in a race for Celta’s Gabri Veiga.
Cricket | It took a surprise two-wicket intervention from Joe Root to prevent day one of the second Ashes Test from being fully dominated by Australia. The tourists were still in the best position come stumps, reaching 339 for five from 83 overs, with Steve Smith 85 not out from 149 balls.
Cycling | The Tour de France will start in the Basque Country this year, and the Guardian’s cycling columnist has a stage-by-stage guide to this year’s race.
The front pages
The Guardian leads with “Crisis talks as Thames Water faces £10bn deficit”. The Telegraph says “Government prepares to take over water firms”, while the Financial Times reports “Threat to Thames Water’s survival spurs interim nationalisation plans”. The i says “UK taxpayers could bail out failing water firm owned by China and Abu Dhabi”.
Elsewhere, the Times reports on new national health measures, with the headline “DIY kits for midlife MoT to help drive down illness”. The Mail says “NHS doctors allowed to do private work on strike days”. The Mirror claims “Isis plots major UK terror attack”, based on a warning from Iraq’s top counter-terror officer.
Finally, the Sun reports on the postponement of Madonna’s world tour, with “Madge intensive care dash”.
Today in Focus
Guards at Del Monte pineapple farm in Kenya accused of killings
Emily Dugan, a senior reporter with the Guardian, tells Michael Safi how, through work with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, she uncovered claims from villagers living near Thika, in Kenya, of guards assaulting and killing people suspected of trespassing on one of the country’s biggest pineapple farms, owned by Del Monte. Del Monte says the claims are extremely serious and it is urgently investigating.
Cartoon of the day | Steve Bell
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Classic music acts from Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac to Elton John and Kylie Minogue are finding new fans in an unexpected place: the social media app TikTok. Minogue’s latest hit, Padam Padam (picture above), gained ground on the app before becoming a chart success – despite initial reticence from “youth” radio stations. “We don’t have any constraints as to who can be successful,” said Darina Connolly, head of TikTok’s label and artist partnerships. “The community is really age-agnostic and genre-agnostic.” As for Elton, Connolly said that the Glastonbury headliner “absolutely knows how to use the platform and have fun with it. He posts about his music, his life, live shows, content from behind the scenes, he brings friends in.”
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
