One thing we know for sure. Sure Start is a good thing. What we also know for sure is that the best childcare in the world can't cure the worst places in the world. Why would anyone think that Sure Start could make Murder Mile a better place to live? Why would anyone think that a child born into a dangerous milieu will be saved by Sure Start from the assault on its wellbeing that everyday life will bring?
Sure Start was always burdened by a New Labour fantasy that early years intervention would inoculate feral children, born to feckless mothers who smoke and screw around, from a career in crime. What evidence was there that early years intervention would, in and of itself, cure a child of criminogenic tendencies, living in a neighbourhood where crime is what works?
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