BACKGROUND
George Osborne has announced that families who have a third child will not receive more child support than they would for two children. The Chancellor announced in his emergency budget that families who have a third child, or subsequent children after 2017 will not receive additional tax credits or universal credit support. There have already been warnings that the move will hit families hard, with Chief Executive of The Children's Society Matthew Reed saying: "The announcement to limit child tax credits to two children is effectively a two child policy for the poorest families." Full story >>
THE CARTOON
The cartoon by Mac from The Daily Mail shows a couple in bed. There is a big dividing screen in the middle of the bed with the words: "Tax credits will be payable for only two children. Wev'e (sic) got two." The husband calls to his wife: "Well it makes a change from 'I've got a headache!'"
EXPLANATION
The wife does not want to have another child for which they would not receive tax credits, so she's fixed up the screen (using ropes and pulleys) so that her husband can't have sex with her. If you look closely, you can see the two children they already have sleeping in bunk beds on the left. As for the husband's comment, pretending to have a headache has long been acknowledged as the most common excuse to avoid action in the bedroom, and we must assume it's one he's often heard before!
PUNCTUATION
Did you spot the punctuation mistake? Yes, it should be "we've" not "wev'e" The apostrophe is there to replace the missing letters 'ha' from the word 'have' (just like in "I've", which is written correctly). Even the best cartoonists (and bloggers) make mistakes sometimes!
