A heartbreaking BBC documentary, Poor Kids, from the award-winning producer Brian Woods, documents the lives of just a few of the 3.5 million children living in poverty in this country. It shows hungry children going to the fridge, only to be greeted by a single tub of margarine, a half-drunk carton of milk and an open tin of chopped tomatoes.
It made me ashamed of all the times I've said there was nothing to eat in the house. My idea of 'nothing' could easily include multiple jars of gourmet jams, olives, capers, several pristine packets of French unsalted butter, yogurts, a serviceable head of broccoli, juices, oddments of parmesan… The film powerfully brings home that those of us with employment and comfort have little idea how the other half lives.
Take Courtney, an eight-year-old in Bradford. She is the eldest of three girls of a single mother, who really struggles. We see Courtney eating supper: a giant flabby sausage roll. No veg. What did she have for breakfast, the film-makers ask? 'Nowt,' she replies.
One in five families in poverty reports regularly skipping meals, the film says. I suspect the true figure is higher, given the shame involved in confessing you can't feed yourself. Courtney gets free school lunches, but in the holidays her mother often manages just one meal, with the odd jam doughnut in between. Sam, 11, from Leicester, describes what it's like when he's not had lunch. 'I'll go, "Yeah, I'm not hungry," and I'll save up my hunger for when dinner comes.'
Sam is one of the lucky ones in that his father has the skills and motivation to cook regular hot meals. We see him dicing carrots and keeping various pans on the boil. Sam's mother walked out when he was two and, since then, his father has coped alone with Sam and his 16-year-old sister, Kayleigh. Life isn't easy. Kayleigh attempted suicide a couple of years ago and Sam gets bullied at school for wearing his sister's hand-me-down blouses. (read more)
