"...The Child Trust Fund is, or rather was, part of the beginning of an asset-building social policy. So far, it has boosted savings as since the inception of the Child Trust Fund more parents are saving more for their children..."

"...Michael Gilbert, a very vulnerable adult, had been tortured and treated like a slave for a decade..."

"...income splitting can be very advantageous for those couples where one partner earns less than the individual tax allowance of £6,475. An example: one spouse earns £4000 per year, the other spouse £12,475. The first pays no tax at all, the second pays tax on £12,475-£6,475=£6,000. At the basic tax rate of 20 percent this is a tax bill of £1,200. Now, let’s apply income splitting. The combined income of the couple if £16,475. Divided by two this is £8,237.50. So each spouse is allocated (for tax purposes) an income of this amount. For tax calculation the personal tax allowance is deducted: tax of 20 percent is paid on £8,237.50 - £6,475 = £1,762.50; the tax take is £352.50 each. Multiplied by two, this is £705, considerably lower than the tax bill of £1,200 in case joint income splitting is not applied. So maybe income splitting should be restricted to those married couples on very low income?..."

"...The cost of child poverty is high – it is estimated to stand at £25bn per year – so the fight against it should be part of the plan for economic recovery, not something that can be treated on the sidelines..."