The pandemic has not been kind on either libertarians or people in poverty. The libertarian argument that the state should generally leave people alone to make their own choices has not often succeeded as government, largely backed by the electorate, has chosen to respond to a collective risk with collective action, even if some of that action is compelled.
For people on low incomes, Covid-19 has meant more economic hardship and an increased chance of death. It has also meant that their children are more likely to go hungry. At the Social Market Foundation, we reckon 16 per cent of children – nearly two million – went short of food last year.
No one is indifferent to the notion of children going hungry, which is one reason the footballer Marcus Rashford has been such an effective campaigner: he picked the right issue to make noise about. He’s currently taking issue with the quality of food being delivered to the homes of children who would otherwise be in school and receiving free school meals.
Though Rashford has made this ‘news’, this isn’t a new issue: almost as soon as the first lockdown started last March, head teachers started warning that the food being allocated to their FSM kids was unhealthy and inadequate.
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