THE HAPPIEST DAYS?

It is a beautiful picture - the idyllic notion of "schooldays are the happiest days of your life", but for many kids it is a cruel fallacy."Ministers should draw up an emergency plan to tackle extreme levels of poverty as new research showed that more than one in four live in penury in some major UK cities. The figures, compiled by Save the Children, show that 1.6 million youngsters live in severe poverty, which the charity condemned as a "national scandal". With unemployment rising and a radical shake up of the welfare system seeing £18bn wiped from benefits, the charity fears the number of children living without the basics will rise unless action is taken." (Guardian, 23 February) Well-meaning charities may talk about "emergency plans" and "national scandal", but the realities of capitalism dictate government policies not noble sentiments. RD