Tory MP blames food bank use on people not knowing how to cook or budge

I wonder if those who have never suffered grinding poverty can really understand how soul destroying and stressful day to day life can be, without being lectured about how to cook and manage finances better.

When you are constantly worrying about where the rent money is coming from, or how to feed and clothe the kids, how to juggle work and childcare, you can do without criticism from judgemental folk who do not understand that a cigarette or takeaway may be something that just makes life bearable for you.

Easy to judge without real understanding or empathy.

westendgirl

I heard the interview between Jane Garvey and Mr Anderson on Radio 4 this morning too, OakDryad.Bombastic in the extreme he came across as a know it all with no time for anyone else.
Dreadful.

I detect a man having a crisis of cognitive dissonance; no idea who he stands for or what he represents other than himself.

In the Michael Crick film, the woman who challenged Anderson said he is very good at whipping up intolerance in the local community. The more I learn about this story, the way it has unfolded over the last few days, particularly Anderson’s collaboration with Laurence Fox’s Reclaim party to slander Jack Monroe, the more I read about Anderson, I realise this is all about publicising himself and his views and very little about his local community.

When Labour MP for Ashfield Gloria de Piero decided to step down, Anderson who was a Labour councillor wanted to be selected in her place. He was rejected by the party because of sexist behaviour; inappropriate remarks about women's breasts and saying that women with children shouldn’t be councillors. Along the way he also collected an ASBO. So he defected to the Tories and was and is supported by substantial donations from the Cayzer Trust, the wealthy family who put up cash to get and keep Tories in northern “red wall” seats.

www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=25894

Anderson criticises Monroe but I suspect that since being elected in December 2019, he has never been so well off in his life: MPs salary and the ability to claim expenses for things that ordinary folk have to pay out of their own pocket. His expenses claims, 220K and counting, are considerably higher than the average MPs.

He is alleged to have bought a very expensive house in the summer of 2020 which he says he was forced to do after he was persecuted because he did not support footballers who took the knee. From March 2021 he also declares a rental property worth over 100K which he rents out for over 10K a year. That and the substantial income from the Cayzer Trust will make him very comfortable.

His wife was elected as Tory councillor for Eakring district in 2019 and is currently deputy leader of Mansfield District Council.

There is plenty of media evidence to suggest that this is a man who, apart from his 2019 election win, is not popular in his own consituency. I doubt stigmatising people who need foodbanks is going to help much nor is making outdated and hard to substantiate claims about being able to cook meals for 30p based on a college Ready Steady Cook challenge eight months ago.

Call me cynical, but just like North West Durham “red wall” MP Richard Holden, the man who (also aided and abetted by Laurence Fox) stirred up the Beergate story, I detect two men who fear for their seats and their lifestyle come the next general election. That is what is behind all the noise.

I've had an aversion to Shredded Whaeat ever since!!

Wheat

Duh

Farzanah

I wonder if those who have never suffered grinding poverty can really understand how soul destroying and stressful day to day life can be, without being lectured about how to cook and manage finances better.

When you are constantly worrying about where the rent money is coming from, or how to feed and clothe the kids, how to juggle work and childcare, you can do without criticism from judgemental folk who do not understand that a cigarette or takeaway may be something that just makes life bearable for you.

Easy to judge without real understanding or empathy.

Agreed. This notion that freely donated goods can only be give to the poor on condition that they do compulsory courses on money management and cookery is abhorrent. When we donate clothes to a charity ship to sell for a couple of quid, or buy charity shop goods ourselves, we don’t expect to have to do courses to improve our money management and sewing skills. Why aren’t you making a frock from a bit of old curtain like women did in the war or turnng that old garden hammock into something to wear like they did on Sewing Bee? Food, like clothing, is a fundamental need. People shouldn’t have to perform for an unpleasant, self-promoting MP in order to be eat.

This letter sums it up:

Lee Anderson’s comment has made it totally clear to me: the Tories have all the right policies, it’s just that the UK has all the wrong kind of poor people.

www.theguardian.com/society/2022/may/15/tory-mp-lee-anderson-serves-up-a-30p-recipe-for-ridicule

Farzanah
Sun 15-May-22 20:35:05

I wonder if those who have never suffered grinding poverty can really understand how soul destroying and stressful day to day life can be, without being lectured about how to cook and manage finances better.

Good post Farzanah

It's quite possible that many of those trapped in poverty know how to cook and manage their finances.

They just don't have enough money to pay for the food and fuel - and they manage their finances as best they can by cutting down on everything or doing without, because they have no other options.

I wish all those who judge them could spend one year working in a job that doesn't pay enough to live on - or doing a 'gig' job which makes budgeting virtually impossible.

Dickens I am in complete agreement with you.

Me too. Also, I know it’s been said before, but I can’t help thinking that all MPs (or maybe cabinet members) should have to live on benefits for at least a month before they can take office. No added extras, such as full cupboards and wardrobes, no expenses, no loans that can’t be paid back out of their allowance. They should maybe have to start by living on the average wage for a month, and then have to wait 5 weeks to get their first benefit payment.

It wouldn’t be the same as living it for longer, but it might give them an idea of the lives their policies force others to live.

You need time to reduce costs. Then you can probably get to a market for veg/fruit. You can then shop around and take advantage of any reduced food. You can do all your own cooking (if you can afford the gas/electricity) and waste less by making soups etc. That is fine for the retired or those who are not working but there is only so much energy when you go to work and have a family. I am 80 and been married for 62 years and I have experienced real struggles with just feeding the family, also coming home from long hours so tired I can hardly put one foot in front of another. I would have given my right arm to have been able to buy a ready made meal but there was nothing much available. However, if you are fortunate enough to have a freezer it is possible to conjure some bits up to help the situation. Meanwhile I am so sympathetic with all young mums facing the situation today.

Many of those using food banks are in full employment. Many live in areas with few supermarkets.

When you work all day, you do not have time or energy or, money for bus fares to go from shop to shop seeking bargains, after you finish work. Especially if you have young children who also need caring for and nurturing.

I have never been anywhere near the breadline, but when I sopped work when I had children our income virtually halved as I earned nearly as much as DH. We lived on the edge of a town centre and once a week I would bung the babies in the pram and amble down to the townentre and price check my shopping list at International, Sainsbury's and Tesco. I would then go onto the market and get fruit and veg and wander back through the three supermarkets buyingthe items they had at the cheapest stores. All this took all morning, but it helped us cope with the growth in family sixe and rop in income.

The moment I went back to work, that stopped, quite simply I did not have enough time to shop like that. I just opted for the supermarket that usually worked out as cheapest and shopped there.

I do wonder why so many people who have never been on the breadline at the level most Food Bank clients are demand that they reach standards of budgetaru control and cooking prowess, which few, if any of the most censorious could reach, if their positions were reversed.

Was there not a Tory MP years ago who tried to live on unemployment benefit for a week and couldn't do it?

In 1984, with unemployment at 3.5 million, the then Tory MP Matthew Parris attempted to live on the dole for a week. He couldn't. The World in Action programme is here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDb4G8ZikHM

I appreciate that there is no way of making an experiment like this 'real', but there is a massive difference between living something for a weekend knowing that it is your life for the foreseeable future. Apart from the fact that it's unlikely that your shoes will wear out that week on the same day that the washing machine breaks, you won't have the constant underlying stress of knowing that you might be evicted from your home, or that you might accidentally miss an appointment and get sanctioned.

It's a bit like those house swap programmes where a rich family swaps with a poor one - yes, they might experience a trip to the supermarket with an empty purse as part of their poverty tourism, and their children might miss that week's pony riding class in favour of a walk in the park; but as Jarvis Cocker put it, they'll 'never live like common people do'.

This says it

Except from leftovers from the previous day ! Like us.
Just joking I shouldn't be on this subject. We're a retired couple used to "if you haven't got you learn to do without"
But most of my friends with families say their children wouldn't eat 'leftovers'.

Thought this might appeal.

Oh, Daddima and Grandmabatty- great examples of a picture painting a thousand words! Thank you, both.

Chocolatelovinggran

Oh, Daddima and Grandmabatty- great examples of a picture painting a thousand words! Thank you, both.

I’ll second that!??

???

I’ve had a reply from my MP (who was on tv the other day saying you could buy three chickens for £10) to say the three chickens for £10 that she referred to were cooked chickens. Now, in the context of the debate I would have assumed she meant uncooked chickens that you could then make several meals from eg stews, curries salads. A cooked chicken (from what I’ve seen of supermarket cooked chickens they’re very small) would only provide one or two meals and would have to be eaten within a couple of days. I suppose you could boil the carcass to make stock but that would use a lot of electricity. So, what she said was correct but, imo, misleading.

Where did she say she bought the chickens?
I'm still sceptical, I'm afraid.

The Coop.If I wasn’t still getting my shopping delivered I’d go to the shop to check.

Cooked chickens (the very small ones that sell for £2.95 raw) are £5.00 each in Sainsburys.

Hmmm.
I'm afraid I don't believe 3 chickens cost £10.
I stand to be corrected though, obviously.

MissAdventure

Hmmm.
I'm afraid I don't believe 3 chickens cost £10.
I stand to be corrected though, obviously.

Just had a quick look on my Tesco app small chickens £2.89 each Aldi price match