This documentary on homeless young mums and their kids is very good. First part was last year, second part has just been released. It's focused on a hostel in Luton https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p08y455j/the-hostel-for-homeless-young-mums-episode-2

I read one review that took an annoying these women are so brave and inspiring which I don't agree with - the women are likeable and have faced adversity with impressive resilience, but the message of the doc is really how they've been misused.

There are some painful and insightful comments made by some of the women, e.g. one 20 year old with young twins who goes to see a possible council flat and turns it down because she finds women's underwear abandoned outside and wonders if "walking girls" (bless her) work nearby

... and she's worried she might get sucked into prostitution. It's a revealing moment because of course that's what's hanging over all of them - that, and an abusive boyfriend arriving on the scene.

The women are all desperate to get out of the hostel and into a council flat of their own, which is understandable, given the stigma attached to living in a hostel (e.g. one lady says she doesn't feel able to host a birthday party there for her toddler, because who would come?)

But you can't help but worry about them living on their own, since most have no support. At least in the hostel there's company and people watching out for the women and their kids. They do things like share childcare so that mums can go out to work, it's really good.

This hostel is intended to be temporary, but you wonder what a permanent set up could look like - is there a way it could shrug off stigma and provide long-term support networks for women and children who otherwise have nothing?

The tragedy is that these single mums still feel ashamed and marginalised, even in the c.21st, whereas the men who impregnate them suffer nothing. We see one man who occasionally comes to visit his son but is otherwise absent, promising to "one day" provide a stable presence.

At one point he says to the camera "obviously I'd like to spend more time with him, but sometimes you've got to prioritise your lifestyle" and I wanted to rain down hellfire on him