"More UK children living in poverty"

The paper version of this article contains a classic quote:

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokeswoman Jenny Wilson said: 'It is impossible to understand why, as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Britain should have one in five of its children living in poverty.

Er, look love, it's because people with incomes below a fairly arbitrary poverty line choose to have children.

Having a welfare/tax system that encourages such people to have children and then discourages them from getting married or starting a job is of course largely to blame. So how about flat-rate universal benefits that alleviate poverty without discouraging work or marriage? How about reducing means-testing to no more than the basic rate of tax?

How about scrapping Employer's National Insurance, stupid employment regulations and the National Minimum Wage to increase the number of jobs? How about getting rid of VAT, that would make everybody's money stretch further? How about having education vouchers to ensure that children get the best (i.e. most appropriate) education possible at the lowest cost to the taxpayer? Continued page 94.