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Sesame Street was brought to you today by the letter P (for poverty)


She's got pink hair, she's terribly cute and she's hungry. In a bid to reflect the harsh realities of recession-era America, the makers of the nation's favourite children's TV show have introduced a new puppet. Her name is Lily and her chief character trait is that she lives on the breadline.


The so-called "hungry Muppet" was introduced to viewers on a special episode of the programme aimed at educating the public about the growing proportion of US families suffering from what sociologists term "food insecurity."

And Conservatives are quite upset...

Thanks to the polarised state of US politics, there are few public gestures that don't provoke at least some controversy, however. And Lily has been criticised by right-leaning commentators who believe that she represents an effort to brainwash the nation's youth about the perils of unchecked capitalism.

"Why is Lily a class, a group?" asked Eric Bolling, a commentator for Fox News. "Do we single out the black Muppet? Or the Hispanic Muppet? Why do we need to single out the hungry Muppet?"

The Blaze, a blog that is very popular with American conservatives, was more succinct about the programme's new star. "Uh-oh," it announced. "It's time to redistribute the Cookie Monster's cookies!"

Lily doesn't understand why Mr. Romney wants to take away her food.