Poverty and child health . N Spencer. (Pp352, 2nd ed.) Radcliffe Medical Press. ISBN 1-85775-477-8 . I noted contrasting newspaper headlines in the week I read this book (February 2001): “5m Britons living on the breadline” (referring to the Breadline Europe survey in September 1999), and “Parents are to blame for child poverty”, a Peterborough City Council Leader commenting on the finding of the Poverty in Peterborough 2000 report. These summarise the breadth of attitudes represented in the country, and doubtless too in paediatricians, over the causes of child poverty. How much is it really parents' fault that children go to school dirty, with holes in their shoes, and without any breakfast, or indeed do not go to school at all? The blame culture …