The hard truth behind the Queens' success.
Stephen Fry made the best speech at the Jubilee concert asking:
‘How many local sewage works has Her Majesty opened with a bright smile? How many plaques unveiled? How many trees planted? How many ribbons cut, ships launched? How many prime ministers tolerated, for that alone no admiration is high enough.’
And everyone nodded and smiled and clapped at her diligence, and NO ONE mentioned the fact that the Queen has only been able to wholly dedicate herself to her role, because she had great childcare. Like Margaret Thatcher, the Duchess of Cambridge, Sheryl ‘Lean In Out’ Sandberg, Michelle Obama... including me, and many of you.
The Sunday Times made no link in its piece about how childcare costs in the UK have increased 16% from £236 a week in 2018 to £274 in 2022. Which means that 5% MORE women are not in paid work because they’re looking after family.
📈 This is the first sustained rise in 30 years, at a time of a talent crisis, when trains, planes and restaurants are struggling to operate without enough people.
Since before the financial crash, before Covid, before ‘Eat Out to Help Out’, it has universally been decried as too expensive for the government to organise affordable childcare. Yet Canada’s experience is that every dollar invested in childcare generates between $1.50 and $2.80 for the economy.
Rage against the machine?
When Boris Johnson realised on Sunday how big of a political mess he was in, he called in his inner-guard. Let me tell you their names:
Stephen, Chris, Guto, Lynton, Grant and Ross. Not a woman in the room.
And the next day his only political promise was something vague about tax cuts.
Our political system seems totally out of touch with what people really need to thrive—not imperial measures, not ridiculous plans about Rwanda, or the ownership of Channel 4—we need to embrace policies that move us forward.
👦 Add into affordable childcare.
♻️ Make the UK a leader in the circular economy (the redesign, repair and reuse of materials so we don’t just buy stuff from China and bury it, and buy more every two years).
🏡 Dramatic improvements to our system of house buying.
Next week
Our 100th vlog 🎉 and…We Have News!
See you then.
Christine
