Get back to work!

Two stories in the press last week grabbed my attention. One was the exhortation of lone parents to get back to work. The other was the escalating cost of childcare.
The government has a point. Too many single parents are stuck in the benefits system. They and their children suffer the malaise of the marginal. Shoes are made of man-made fibres, food is low on wholesomeness, and holidays are something that happens when school terms come to an end but they don’t mean you get to go anywhere. It is horrible to be poor and raising a family.
‘Only 56 per cent’ of our lone parents work, but in Finland 80 per cent work. (If you’ve ever been to a Finnish nursery, and I have, you’ll understand the attraction. Think warmth, timber architecture and professionalism.) The quality of nurseries is one thing; the cost another.
Here the weekly national average for a full-time nursery place for a child under two is £142; in inner London it’s almost £200. Just how is a lone parent to afford this expense along with all the other survival costs s/he must meet from a salary? Beats me.